All About Books discussion

Overview:
I always want to read far more than I will ever accomplish. And I have over 2,000 books in my TBR lists.
1. Random Reads: I draw 30 titles to highlight as Random Reads, which is no guarantee that I will read them in a given year, but it does give them some priority. My goal is to read at least 12.

2. Book clubs and online group reads: My face to face group, Daytimers, is a guaranteed 12 books. I'll read other online group picks as I please. The main theme I chose for this year is Stars (with some other "sky" titles) (5 titles). There are also two other mini-themes: titles with water (5 titles), and there are 3 titles featuring Native Americans.

3. A Good Yarn - Reading the Alphabet: This is another face to face group that I am in, but we pick themes rather than titles. I'll also read at least one book for each letter. And then I have some catching up to fill in from 2019... We also pick an annual theme for ourselves, and since I have focused on Stars (and other Sky titles) for the Daytimer's list, that will also be my personal theme for the year.

4. Authors and series: Last year's "author of the year" was Madeleine L'Engle. I haven't made much of a dent, so that will be continued. I'll also list some authors and series from previous years that I want to continue or finish.

5. Leftovers and library books: a combination of old and new. Sort of a catch-all for anything that doesn't fit above.

My overall goal is 52 - a book a week, OR (because so many books on my list this year are chunky monsters), 16,000 pages, however many books that is.

Annual theme: STARS
READ 2019 The Map of Salt and Stars
READ Alone with the Stars
READ When Stars Are Scattered
READ The Fault in Our Stars
READ This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl
READ The Stars Are Fire
The Giver of Stars
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
The Movement of Stars
Where the Forest Meets the Stars
READ The Starless Sea
Under the Wide and Starry Sky
READ A Bend in the Stars
Written in their Stars
Children of the Stars
READ The Pull of the Stars

Quarterly/seasonal themes:
Winter/Spring (and probably all year...)RUSSIA
READ The Bear and the Nightingale
READ The Girl in the Tower
READ The Winter of the Witch
READ War and Peace
READ Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
READ A Bend in the Stars
Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Other Geniuses of the Golden Age
Russka - reread
The Bronze Horseman

Summer: ARTHURIAN/MEDIEVAL
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur
The Story of the Champions of the Round Table
The Book of Joby
The Summer Queen
Queen By Right
READ The Demon's Brood: A History of the Plantagenet Dynasty
Bloodline

Fall: MACBETH/Thorfinn/Vikings
King Hereafter
Lady Macbeth
Macbeth: A Novel
Macbeth
READ A Mighty Dawn
Tomb for an Eagle
Flight of the Wren

Winter: WINTER
Midwinter of the Spirit
Rebecca - reread
Mrs de Winter
Winter's Tale
Winter of the World
The Winters
The Winter's Child
Winter Counts: A Novel
The Winter King
Winter Counts
Winter Solstice
The Winter Vault
Winter in Madrid
A Wild Winter Swan
Winter of Despair
Death and Nightingales (main character: Beth Winters)

Planning ahead 2021 (all year?): ODYSSEY
The Odyssey and The Iliad
A Short History of Myth
Ulysses
Ulysses: Complete Text with Integrated Study Guide from Shmoop
An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic
Circe
Sing, Unburied, Sing

Goal #1 - Random Reads from my TBR
On second thought, my random reads are not so random this year. There are too many things I've started and want to finish, or books that have been on my night stand forever. There will be more than 30 listed here. The goal is at least 12.
*Starred items are previous random reads from 2018 and 2019.

Nonfiction:
READ The Demon's Brood: A History of the Plantagenet Dynasty - owned
READ Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia - meant to accompany War and Peace
The Outlandish Companion: Companion to Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn - meant to accompany a reread of the Outlander series...
The Celtic Gods: Comets in Irish Mythology
Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life
READ *The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria

Wales and Arthurian:
READ The Cold Light of Mourning
Arthur Rex
Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur
The Fall of Atlantis
From Hand to Hand: the Welsh novel O Law I Law
*The Long Walk Home
*The Story of the Champions of the Round Table
*To Carry The Horn (Book #1, Hounds of Annwn)
*The Book of Joby

Next in Series:
A Conspiracy of Friends
His Dark Lady
A Pitying of Doves
City of Masks
*Bloodline (Wars of the Roses #3)
READ *Murder on the Ballarat Train (Phryne Fisher #3)

Next in series of books just read...
READ Summer at the Garden Café (Finfarran #2)
The Mistletoe Matchmaker (Finfarran #3)
A Brush with Death (Penny Brannigan #2)
Death at Victoria Dock (Phryne Fisher #4)
The Mastersinger from Minsk (Hermann Preiss #2)
Never Sorry (Leigh Koslow #2)
Two for Joy (John the Eunuch #2)
The Heavens May Fall (Detective Max Rupert #3)
In the Market for Murder (Lady Hardcastle mysteries #2)
A Rose for the Crown (not really a series, but the next book chronologically...Wars of the Roses)


New Series:
A Game of Thrones
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
*Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga #1)
*One for Sorrow
*Death in Bordeaux

Themes (old and new):
The Sparrow
The Plum Tree
The Sparrow Sisters
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
Pride and Predator
The Plover
Pride and Prejudice: The Scenes Jane Austen Never Wrote
*The Chocolatier's Wife (Wife titles)
*The Seventh Magpie (Bird titles)
*Railsea (Moby Dick)
*The Drago Tree (Tree titles)
*Peregrine (Bird titles)
*Blackbird House (Bird titles)
*Orfeo (Music and musicians)
*A White Wind Blew (Music and musicians)

Historical Fiction:
Courting Mr. Lincoln
Wolf Hall
The Pillars of the Earth
The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers
King Hereafter
Kristin Lavransdatter
READ War and Peace
*The Golden Horn (11th cent. Vikings)
*The Summer Queen (12th cent. France)
*Queen By Right (15th cent. England)
*Season of the Raven (12th cent. England)
*When Knighthood Was in Flower
*By Honor Bound
*Searcher in the Dawn

Other:
Hounded
Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love
...And Ladies of the Club
Library of Souls
Independent People
Hollow Kingdom
Awayland
*Stone's Fall (19th/20th cent.)
*The Evening Chorus (WWII)
*Letters from Skye (dual timeframe, 1912, 1940)
*Waterfall Glen (contemporary Scotland)
*Mothering Sunday (20th cent. England)
*Neverhome (Civil War - U.S.)
*Freshwater Road
*Wicked Like a Wildfire

Ooh, I strong recommend Shards of Honor & the rest of the Vorkosigan series (except for the last book, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen which I didn't much like)!! I reread the whole series this year and enjoyed it just as much the second time around :)

Here's to a good year of reading in 2020!

Goal #2 - Book Clubs

Daytimer's Book Club
Read all 12. Themes: Stars, Water, Native American

READ Jan: If The Creek Don't Rise
READ Feb: The Fault in Our Stars
READ Mar: There There
READ Apr: The Shell Seekers
READ May: The Stars Are Fire
READ Jun: Manhattan Beach
READ Jul: The Current
READ Aug: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
READ Sep: The Water Dancer
READ Oct: Beneath a Scarlet Sky
READ Nov: This Tender Land
READ Dec: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek -too many holds still on The Giver of Stars....

Online group reads:
READ The Bear and the Nightingale (All About Books, December 2019)
READ Christmas Bells (On The Porch Swing, December 2019)
READ The Starless Sea (You'll Love This One! buddy read)
READ Hamnet (Tudor History Lovers, December 2020) (Reading Loft, December 2020)
READ Rest You Merry (Cozy Mysteries, Dec. 2020 featured author)

Goal #3 - A Good Yarn, Reading the Alphabet
A year-long challenge. Will post here books read that fit the challenge...

JANUARY:
L is for Light
READ The Cold Light of Mourning
A Vision of Light
Where the Light Enters

L is for Libraries
READ The Library at the Edge of the World
Library of Souls

Title beginning with L:
READ The Library at the Edge of the World
Library of Souls

FEBRUARY:
M is for Money
READ The Spies of Shilling Lane

M is for Murder
READ Murder on the Ballarat Train

Title beginning with M:
READ Murder on the Ballarat Train

MARCH:
N is for Night
Night Birds' Reign
Thirteenth Night
READ All three book in the WINTERNIGHT trilogy by Katherine Arden

N is for North
The Long Walk Home (by Will North)
READ The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria

Title beginning with N:
READ Never Buried
READ Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
Nelly Dean: A Return to Wuthering Heights

APRIL:
O is for Orange
READ There There

O is for One
One for Sorrow

Title beginning with O:
Outlander
One for Sorrow
The Other Side of the Sun

MAY:
P is for Persons
READ Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree

P is for Pioneers
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree

Title beginning with P:
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree
Pride and Predator
READ The Pull of the Stars

JUNE:
Q is for Queens
The Catherine Howard Conspiracy
Queen By Right
The Summer Queen

Q is for Quiet
READ A Quiet Life In The Country

Title beginning with Q:
READ A Quiet Life In The Country
Queen By Right

JULY:
R is for Race
READ How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America

R is for Renaissance
READ Hamnet

Title beginning with R:
READ Rest You Merry

AUGUST:
S is for Summer
The Summer Queen
READ Summer at the Garden Café

S is for Scandinavia
READ A Mighty Dawn

Title beginning with S:
The Summer Queen
READ Summer at the Garden Café


SEPT:
T is for Trees

T is for Translations
From Hand to Hand: the Welsh novel O Law I Law
READ War and Peace

Title beginning with T:
Troubled Blood
READ This Tender Land
READ Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man

OCTOBER:
Paused the group for the rest of 2020. Will continue with U in January 2021.


Leftovers:
A is for Africa
Boy, Snow, Bird
READ When Stars Are Scattered

B is for Body Parts
Heart of a Samurai
From Hand to Hand: the Welsh novel O Law I Law

C is for Clothing
Courting Mr. Lincoln
READ Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love - has a dress on the cover

D is for Directions
Queen By Right
READ The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria

D is for Dancing
READ Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia

I is for Ice
Independent People

J is for Jungle
Into the Jungle

J is for Japan
Heart of a Samurai

Title beginning with J:
The Joys of Love

K is for Key
READ Murder in A-Major

K is for Kings and Kingdoms
Hollow Kingdom
READ The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria

Title beginning with K:
King Hereafter
Kristin Lavransdatter
READ Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
READ The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria

Goal #4 - Authors and Series lefovers

New:
Diana Gabaldon
Virgins - short story
Outlander
The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel
Dragonfly in Amber
A Fugitive Green -short story
Voyager

Lord John and the Hellfire Club - novella
Lord John and the Private Matter
Lord John and the Succubus - novella
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade
Lord John and the Hand of Devils - novella
The Custom of the Army - short story
The Scottish Prisoner
A Plague of Zombies - short story
Besieged - short story

Drums of Autumn
The Outlandish Companion: Companion to Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, and Drums of Autumn
The Fiery Cross
A Breath of Snow and Ashes
An Echo in the Bone
Written in My Own Heart's Blood

A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows - short story
The Space Between - short story
The Outlandish Companion, Volume Two

Madeleine L'Engle(continued from last year)
Here is "sort of" a chronological list of books featuring the Murrays, the O'Keefes, the Austins, and a few other crossover characters, and maybe a few books that don't have any crossover but I'm including them anyway...

The Other Side of the Sun
READ 2018 Ilsa
The Small Rain
And Both Were Young
The Joys of Love
Camilla
A Winter's Love
Love Letters
------------------------------------------
READ 2019 A Wrinkle in Time
READ 2019 A Wind in the Door
READ 2019 Many Waters
READ A Swiftly Tilting Planet
------------------------------------------
Meet the Austins
The Moon by Night
------------------------------------------
The Arm of the Starfish
Dragons in the Waters
A House Like a Lotus
------------------------------------------
The Young Unicorns
A Ring of Endless Light
Troubling a Star
------------------------------------------
An Acceptable Time
------------------------------------------
Certain Women
A Live Coal in the Sea
A Severed Wasp

Other leftovers from previous years:
Alexander McCall Smith:
44 Scotland Street series:
#09 Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers
#10 The Revolving Door of Life
#11 The Bertie Project
#12 A Time of Love and Tartan

Corduroy Mansions series:
#3 A Conspiracy of Friends

Rita Mae Brown:
Mrs. Murphy series:
#13 Cat's Eyewitness
#14 Sour Puss
#15 Puss 'N Cahoots

Alan Bradley:
Flavia de Luce series:
#01 The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (reread)
#02 The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag (reread)
#03 A Red Herring Without Mustard (reread)
#04 I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (reread)
#05 Speaking from Among the Bones

Goal #5 - Leftovers and Library Books:

Series

Wolf Hall
Bring Up the Bodies (Wolf Hall #2 - #3 not out yet)
Pride and Predator (Ben Reese #2)
The Pillars of the Earth
World Without End (Kingsbridge #2)

On the Night Stand(s)
Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life
The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers
...And Ladies of the Club
King Hereafter
READ The Demon's Brood: A History of the Plantagenet Dynasty
The Sparrow
The Prague Sonata
First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen
Dreadfully Ever After
The Canterbury Papers
Eleanor de Montfort: A Rebel Countess in Medieval England
The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors
Blood & Roses: the Paston Family and the Wars of the Roses
Blood Sisters: The Women Behind The Wars Of The Roses
The Lusitania Murders
The Plum Tree
The Half-Drowned King
The Fountain Overflows
His Dark Lady
Making Marion: Where's Robin Hood When You Need Him?
READ Murder in A-Major
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth
A Rather Lovely Inheritance (trilogy)
The Fugitive Wife
Gretel and the Case of the Missing Frog Prints
Pride and Prescience: Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged
The Pendragon Murders
The Ludwig Conspiracy
The River of No Return
Black Rabbit Hall
Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer
Yankee Doodle : the story of a pioneer boy and his dog
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Miss Garnet's Angel

From the library
Library of Souls
A Map of Days
Awayland
The Evening Chorus
Dark Winds Rising
The Sparrow Sisters
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two
Boone: A Biography
City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan
READ The Spies of Shilling Lane
Lady Macbeth
Dark Fire
Heartstone
READ A Mighty Dawn

May I ask you the reason of the title of your challenge? Pie in the Sky is also a title of a short novel of one of the most important children writer in Italy, a real genius, Gianni Rodari, A pie in the sky.
He was a man who has written real masterpieces for children, rymes as short stories. He died in 1980, but he is still widely read in Italy. I've had the honor and pleasure of having met him in person, when he came to visit my first grade school in 1978. Do you know him?

I have never heard of him Laura but 'pie in the sky' is an idiom which means wishful or hopeful of future benefits (usually implied is that the wish is unrealistic).

Yes, thanks Leslie. "Pie in the sky" is an idiom that means the aspiration is unrealistic. I can set these goals, but the reality is that most of these books listed will remain unread. Laura, I also chose it as sort of a reference to my Daytimer's theme this year. I intentionally picked a number of books for the group that have stars in the title, but also sky and moon. There are 5 on that list, plus the book we are reading this month which is The Map of Salt and Stars. So I might be adding some other "star" and "sky" titles to read as well. So I'm adding that to post #1 to track those reads.

Leslie wrote: "Ooh, I strong recommend Shards of Honor & the rest of the Vorkosigan series (except for the last book, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen which I didn't much like)!! I r..."

Bujold has been on my radar for years, and I have all of the Vorkosigan titles as ebooks from Baen. I might be adding her to Goal #4 as a new "author of the year" to focus on. I just have so many leftovers, I don't know if I want to add that. I'm also going to be editing my post #2 Random Reads. I haven't drawn slips yet for 2020. What you see above right now are all the leftovers from 2019 copied and pasted as a place holder for now. I will be drawing slips and making changes to this post...

January plans:

READ If The Creek Don't Rise (Goal #2 Daytimers)

Library of Souls (Goal #3 Good Yarn)
Letters from Skye (Goal #3 Good Yarn)
READ The Cold Light of Mourning (Goal #3 Good Yarn)

READ The Bear and the Nightingale (Goal #2 online group read)
When God Was a Rabbit (Goal #2 online group read)

READ Wuthering Heights - critical edition with essays

Laurel wrote: "Yes, thanks Leslie. "Pie in the sky" is an idiom that means the aspiration is unrealistic. I can set these goals, but the reality is that most of these books listed will remain unread. Laura, I als..."

I see, thanks!
We do not have such an idiom in Italian, and almost all people of my age would think of Rodari if listened to this!

#1 A Swiftly Tilting Planet
5 Purple stars - my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Meant to finish this in 2019, but it's not a bad way to start the year...

I have added some quarterly themes to post #1 above. I am not adding more books... Just adding more incentives for reading by grouping according to some broader themes. The overall goal is still 52 books!

Oh help me! Help me! I think I need an intervention!

Dovegreyreader just post on her blog a year long read of Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time, a series of 12 books which lends itself nicely to one book a month. I associate him with Wales, although he was actually born in London. And I have Powell ancestors. So this has been on my TBR forever.

Fortunately, the books are relatively short, so I'm going to give it a go. Adding this author to Goal #4 (message 6) above, along with Diana Gabaldon as I also want to do a reread of the entire Outlander series...

Currently reading:
READ War and Peace - over 3 months
READ Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia - over 3 months
READ The Bear and the Nightingale - audiobook
Outlander - about 25 pages/day
READ Wuthering Heights - over January
A Question of Upbringing - over January
READ Christmas Bells - will finish this weekend, then will start
READ The Cold Light of Mourning

Laurel wrote: "Oh help me! Help me! I think I need an intervention!

Dovegreyreader just post on her blog a year long read of Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time, a series of 12 books which lends itself..."

I started that series eons ago and then didn't continue after the first 3-4 books. Maybe I will piggyback along with you once you get to where I stopped...

#2 Christmas Bells
3.5 Red stars (rounded up)
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Meant to finish this before the New Year. Now to finish reading Wuthering Heights in this critical edition.

Updates (probably of interest by no one - just for my own reference...)

Added Written in their Stars to the STARS theme, but since it is the 3rd of a series, I have to read the first two books first...
The Lady of the Tower (audible purchase) and
By Love Divided

Added Russka (audible purchase) to the RUSSIA theme.

I am so far keeping up with War and Peace, but it's a bit much daily, especially since I am reading two different translations simultaneously, plus Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia is a big chunky, and I want to reread Russka now. I am extending the first "quarter" through April, since I have no big chunky reads for the ARTHURIAN theme which will be shortened to May and June. And the Outlander series reread may be extended over two years instead of one. I need to cut back my daily reading schedule - Haven't been keeping up with Wuthering Heights at all....so I have some catching up to do!

AND, I am already thinking ahead to 2021, and I have picked WINTER as the first quarter theme, which may include a reread of Rebecca and reading some Rebecca spin-offs, like The Winters, and Mrs. De Winter. I've also been wanting to read Midwinter of the Spirit which is a "next in series" to read, and one of my earliest Audible purchases... I doubt I will get to it THIS winter, with all the chunky Russia books I'm trying to read!

Laurel wrote: "Updates (probably of interest by no one - just for my own reference...)

Added Written in their Stars to the STARS theme, but since it is the 3rd of a series, I have to read the fir..."

lol - I did that too. I wanted to read Green Mars for the AAB color challenge but since it was the final book of a trilogy, I had to add all 3 books to my TBR.

#3 The Bear and the Nightingale
5 Gold stars - a wonderful mishmash of various Russian folk-tales and mythological creatures. 1st of a trilogy.

Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

#4 If The Creek Don't Rise

3 Pink stars - good writing and great characters, but hard to read about such abuse and poverty.

Total: 4 books, 1242 pages

#5 The Library at the Edge of the World

3.5 Red stars rounded up - I want to read the next in the series.

Totals: 5 books, 1581 pages.

#6 Wuthering Heights

5 Purple stars - 4 Blue stars for the accompanying material in the Norton Critical Edition. The annotations on the dialect was helpful. And I expecially was interested in the essay on the film versions, though it didn't include any recent ones. But now I'm going to binge watch all the film versions I can find.

Plans for February:

To finish:
READ The Cold Light of Mourning

To continue:
READ War and Peace
READ Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
Outlander

I have fallen behind on all of these, but my end date is somewhat flexible. I may rethink attempting to read all of Dance to the Music of Time... We'll see.

New:
READ The Girl in the Tower
READ The Fault in Our Stars - Daytimers
READ Murder in A-Major
READ The Spies of Shilling Lane

Maybe:
READ Murder on the Ballarat Train

#7 The Cold Light of Mourning

3.5 Pink stars - maybe more, but it's the first of a cozy series set in Wales. Started slow, but grew on me.

Total: 7 books, 2322 pages

Laurel wrote: "#7 The Cold Light of Mourning

3 stars - maybe more, but it's the first of a cozy series set in Wales. Started slow, but grew on m..."

Sounds like a book I might like - I'll have to see if my library has it.

#8 The Girl in the Tower

5 Gold stars - every bit as good as the first book in the trilogy. Characters continue to develop and grow.

8 books, 2685 pages

#9 Murder on the Ballarat Train

3.5 Red stars - Short and fun escapist reading.

9 books, 2836 pages

Looking ahead at March...

READ There There - Daytimer's book

Reading the Alphabet letter is N - North and Night
READ The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria
The Long Walk Home, by Will North
READ Never Buried
Night Birds' Reign
Nelly Dean: A Return to Wuthering Heights

Continuing the Russia theme:
READ A Bend in the Stars
READ The Winter of the Witch
The Bronze Horseman

and Continuing....
READ War and Peace
READ Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
Outlander - reread

Laurel I read that book called The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Reading it now, Christine. Book club is Friday so I hope to get it done in time!

Laurel I hope you like the book and Laurel I’m sure you’ll be done that book before Friday

#10 Alone with the Stars
3 Green stars - An Audible Original and freebie. I picked it up because it fit my STARS theme. A short, 2-hour listen which turned out to be just right, because my eaudiobook of The Spies of Shilling Lane expired, and it took a couple days to get it back again...

#11 The Fault in Our Stars
4 Red stars - Not really my "thing" but I can see the merit in it.

11 titles, 3149 pages (no page count for Alone with the Stars)

Laurel I thought that book called The Fault in Our Stars by John Green was pretty good and Laurel I would give that book four stars too

#12 Murder in A-Major
4 Blue stars - Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, madness, and murder. Will definitely read more.

#13 The Spies of Shilling Lane
4 Blue stars - Very, very improbable, but jolly good fun. This ought to be a TV series.

13 books, 3765 pages

#14 There There

Powerful and disturbing. 4 Blue stars. Probably should be 5.

14 books, 4059 pages.

#15 This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl
3 Green stars - A lovely tribute to a lovely young woman, just too much and needed editing.

#16 Take It Away, Tommy!: A Breaking Cat News Adventure
Always 5 (Gold) stars. Just what the doctor ordered!

16 books, 4634 pages

So here it is April already. March was a hell of a month with the novel coronavirus crisis deepening across the U.S. I finished two books early in March and then could not concentrate on reading for several weeks.

I think I am finally getting some of my reading mojo back. Now that we've sort of established a new work routine for the library, and I'm using some of my accumulated PTO so I have time to do more reading and relaxing. I'm playing catch-up with a number of things I should have finished in March, mostly my "N" themes for A Good Yarn book club.

So, I'm still reading
READ The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria by Max Adams - NF about the life of Oswald of Northumbria who lived in the 600s in northern England. I love this time period - well, all of British medieval history. Got it through interlibrary loan, and maybe it's a good thing the library is closed, because I wouldn't have finished it before it was due back. We'll probably be closed into May, but I hope to finish this in another week.

Resumed listening to
READ The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. Not liking it as much as The Night Circus, but still enjoying it. Purchased via Audible so I don't have to worry about how long it takes. Not driving much for the time being. I COULD listen to it in the house, but I have enough other things to read. So it will take as long as it takes. I have about 8 hours left to go.... We'll see. I might get out a jigsaw puzzle this weekend, and then I can listen to it while I do that.

Still reading
READ Never Buried by Edie Claire. 1st in a cozy mystery series. My N title for March. Fun so far, but not a high priority.

Just started last night -
READ A Bend in the Stars by Rachel Barenbaum. Top priority right now, as it has a hold waiting for it. Even though I won't accrue fines on it until the library reopens, we are offering curbside pickup of holds at two locations, so I do want to get it back so whoever is waiting can have it. So I'm setting myself 40 pages a day...

THEN, I'm renewing my pledge to get
READ War and Peace read this year finally. I have not kept up on trying to read at least a little every day. But I've just discovered the blog Tolstoy Together which started on March 18 reading ~12 pages a day. I'm about two weeks behind from where I stopped, so I have some catching up to do, but reading with a group is such a good incentive! Wish me luck!!!

I meant to get to some other things in March, too. The "Night" title may have to wait. I do want to finish up the Winternight Trilogy with
READ The Winter of the Witch (hey! maybe that counts as a "night" title...)
and I wanted to reread
Russka: The Novel of Russia on Audible

April is O themes for A Good Yarn. Fortunately, I've already my "orange" title (There, There by Tommy Orange.) The other O theme is One and I'm planning to read
One for Sorrow which has "one" in the title, is #1 of a series, and it's a title that starts with O: three in one. And oh, look, it's also orange: Perfect!

War and Peace
I've abandoned my Barnes and Noble Classics edition in favor of this Oxford World's Classics edition. Both translated by the Maudes, but this edition restores the French passages and the Russian forms of names. And I think this editor has made some changes with the dialects too. I'll have to compare some passages. I reset the date started to today - I wasn't so far that I couldn't start over. I also have the Pevear translation and I may or may not keep reading that one alongside. That makes a lot of extra reading! My problem with the Pevear is that on the Kobo version I bought long ago, there are two sets of footnotes and one of them is not highlighted, which means going back and forth in a convoluted manner and it's very annoying. I do like the translation though.

#17 The Starless Sea
3 Yellow stars - Started out really interested in it, but it just got more and more convoluted and bogged down. I didn't understand it in the end.

Pages: 5132

#18 Never Buried
3 Pink stars - Light-hearted and humorous.

I love your themes Laurel. I am very late in planning my challenge this year and it’s great to read through your ideas and progress. And inspiring me to step up!

Welcome back, Tweedledum! I think I have too many themes! And then one of my real-life book clubs is reading two themes a month. The stay-at-home order has decimated my audiobook listening. So I feel like I'm WAY behind. I'm going to have to extend my Russia theme past April. Determined to get through War and Peace finally, but I'm only on "Book Two." Will look forward to seeing what you plan for your challenge.

May plans:
I probably shouldn't be making any plans for May, since I have not made a dent in April at all, and have still not finished all of my March plans.

Still reading War and Peace, though just barely. I have not given up. I just haven't been giving it any priority. I did give up on trying to read two editions, so I have DNF'd the Pevear translation. Along with that, I am still reading Natasha's Dance.

Looking back at March, I did finish my March book club book, and an N title for A Good Yarn. But I am still working on the other two themes:
READ The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria - this is an ILL book, and I've let it stall because ILL is essentially closed, but I still need to get it read. I only have 125 pages to go. So if I put my mind to it, I could finish it this week. The Night theme will have to be put off...

Although my April book club has met, I am still working on that title. It's an audiobook, and I haven't been going anywhere, so hard to make progress. I may get out a puzzle this afternoon and give it priority. I have 10 hours of listening left. This one does not lend itself well to increasing the speed.
READ The Shell Seekers

I started my O book for April, and fortunately it ticks both themes (One and Orange) as well as being a title that starts with O:
One for Sorrow

For my Stars theme, I am still reading
READ A Bend in the Stars

And for my Russia theme, I still need to listen to the 3rd of the Winternight trilogy
READ The Winter of the Witch
There are some other Russia books I had planned to read, and I'm going to have to go into May instead of starting my 2nd "quarter" Arthurian theme. Maybe I'll push those off until June or even July. Would like to read
Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Other Geniuses of the Golden Age
and reread (purchased on Audible)
Russka: the Novel of Russia
I also purchased
The Bronze Horseman and since that is a trilogy, I may put that off for now.

My May book club book is
READ The Stars Are Fire - audiobook and it looks to be short thank goodness....
A Good Yarn is up to P and the themes are Personal and Pioneers. I have found a book that ticks both themes and is a P title, so planning on
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree

So not counting War and Peace and Natasha's Dance, that is 9 books. Not impossible, but I won't be holding my breath either!

I quite enjoyed One for Sorrow - hope you do too!

Thanks, Leslie. It is good so far, though I am still not reading very much these days. Hard to finish books!

#19 The Shell Seekers

3.5 Red stars (rounded up)
Slow and drawn out, with mostly unlikeable characters, but lots of period detail.