75 Books...More or Less! discussion

I've set a high goal for the last couple of years, but I think I'm going to start out 2021 with a goal of 75 (with permission to myself to raise or lower it as needed). I forgot how much I love crafting until I drifted back into it this year (ok, more like "retreated into at full speed", lol) and I want to make sure that I leave myself time for that :) This year is (hopefully) going to be less about trying to wrangle order out of 2021 and more about seeing where it takes me and enjoying the ride. Fingers crossed!

1. Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations

140 pages

2. Great Master: Beethoven His Life and Music Much more attention paid to the life than the music, which is fine since there are so many things available that analyze Beethoven's music. Once again I am reminded how much I enjoy Professor Greenberg and his enthusiasm (and slight irreverence) for his subject. Final take away: Beethoven was an a**hole.

6 hrs 5 mins


3. The Fortuna Island Lagoon the art is good, but the story is all over the place, like the author tried to squeeze as many oceanic and cryptic mysteries as he could into one story. It would have worked better as a tv series. In fact, I kind of hope someone does turn this into a tv series...

260 pages


4. In the Shadow of Spindrift House I know, I know... I just read this last month. But, I looked something up to answer a question for a friend... and before you know it I had read the whole thing, lol! I liked it even better the second time, when I could just focus on the atmosphere and not have to 'worry' about the mystery.

124 pages

5. The Jabberwock I enjoyed it. It made me think Under the Dome, except not rambling all over the place. My only issue is that this book is entirely setup... nothing is resolved. And going by the (rave) reviews for the other three books in the series, nothing is going to get resolved. I don't think I'll continue with this series because I don't enjoy story arcs where the main mystery never gets resolved, but I will look into the other things she's written.

230 pages

6. The Inflammation Spectrum: Find Your Food Triggers and Reset Your System. Has some interesting information, though it would be much better in a text format (I listened for free on Audible but I haven't decided if it's worth buying somewhere for the "workbook.")

6 hrs 4 mins

7. How Science Shapes Science Fiction This type of thing is precisely my jam, and this title did not disappoint. Solid 4 star leaning to 4 1/2 for me.

11 hrs 49 mins

8. The Glass Gauntlet

274 pages

9. Gladiators: Deadly Arena Sports of Ancient Rome On the one hand this was a free listen through Audible and it was interesting. On the other, the narrator mispronounces a huge amount of what he says- Greek, Latin, English...

7 hrs 37 mins

10. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris Well written, thoroughly researched, wonderfully narrated... and I just wasn't that interested. I kept listening, hoping that I would be hooked at some point, because I really enjoy this author... but this one just wasn't for me.

16 hrs 50 mins

11. Tales of the Barbarians: Ethnography and Empire in the Roman West

5 hrs. 48 mins


12. Meditation in Action

3 hrs 18 mins

13. Othello: Shakespeare Appreciated

7 hrs


14. The Fellowship of the Ring

19 hrs 7 mins


15. The Two Towers

16 hrs 40 mins


16. Taj Mahal: A Love Affair at the Heart of the Moghul Empire

10 hrs

Stacie wrote: "11. Tales of the Barbarians: Ethnography and Empire in the Roman West

12.[bookcover:Meditation..."

I love the LotR books! I try to reread them every few years.

Carol wrote: "I love the LotR books! I try to reread them every few years..."

Me too! I revisit The Hobbit and The Silmarilion regularly as well, but LotR is my favorite :)

17. The Templars: The Secret History Revealed

5 hrs 42 mins

18. Powerful Women of the Medieval World Most of the entries have been covered in Armstrong's other lectures (although, it's not a cut-and-paste carryover so I didn't find them boring) but the segments on Princess Olga, the Mongol Queens and Margaret of Anjou were new to me. I'm always happy to find new lectures from Professor Armstrong.

5 hrs

19. The Return of the King

18 hrs 19 mins


20. The Hobbit

11 hrs 5 mins

(Holy crap, guys! I just found out that there's a new unabridged audio version of The Hobbit narrated by Andy Serkis. I need that in my life, so I will be listening to The Hobbit twice this year, lol!)

Stacie wrote: "19. The Return of the King

18 hrs 19 mins


20. The Hobbit

11 hrs 5 mins

(Holy crap, guys! I j..."

Dooooope!!

Stacie wrote: "19. The Return of the King

18 hrs 19 mins


20. The Hobbit

11 hrs 5 mins

(Holy crap, guys! I j..."

Oh god yes. I might have to listen to that as well!

This is undoubtedly my worst year for remembering to keep my list updated! I now have about 50 books to log here... yikes!!!!

Stacie wrote: "This is undoubtedly my worst year for remembering to keep my list updated! I now have about 50 books to log here... yikes!!!!"

Oooh I did that all summer. lol. Catch up time!

21. The Oregon Trail

22. Searching for Extraterrestrial Life

23. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

24. Medieval Mysteries: The History Behind the Myths of the Middle Ages

25. How to Train Your Mind: Exploring the Productivity Benefits of Meditation

26. The Martian

27. Wonderlandscape: Yellowstone National Park and the Evolution of an American Cultural Icon

28. The Secret Life of Clams: The Mysteries and Magic of Our Favorite Shellfish

29. The Black God's Drums

30. The Golden Compass Graphic Novel, Complete Edition

31. American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains

32. Shadow and Bone

33. Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox

34. The Great Hurricane: 1938

35. A Promised Land

36. Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling

37. Island on Fire: The Extraordinary Story of a Forgotten Volcano That Changed the World

38. Hen of the Woods & Other Wild Foods and Medicines

39. Four Years in the Rockies: Or, the Adventures of Isaac P. Rose, of Shenango Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

40. The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know

41. The Skeptic’s Guide to the Great Books

42. Spiderman: Blue

43. Thor by Donnny Cates, Vol. 1: The Devourer King

44. Daredevil: Yellow

45. Earthquake Storms: The Fascinating History and Volatile Future of the San Andreas Fault

46. The Swiss Family Robinson

47. How Technology Influences Language

48. Watership Down

49. The History of Sugar

50. American Monsters

51. Wolves and Werewolves in History and Popular Culture

52. Dracula

53. Frankenstein

54. Our Oldest Companions: The Story of the First Dogs

55. The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy & the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia & Han China

56. The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir

57. Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems

58. The Saga of the Volsungs

59. Sweet Tooth: Deluxe Edition, Book One

60. The Wisdom of the Shire: A Short Guide to a Long and Happy Life

61. Good Omens: A Full Cast Production

62. Miles Morales, Vol. 1: Straight Out of Brooklyn

63. Miles Morales, Vol. 2: Bring on the Bad Guys

64. Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection Vol. 1

65. Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Vol. 1

66. A Christmas Carol

67. One Story, One Song

68. One Native Life

69. Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law

70. The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: A Feywild Adventure

71. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything


...which brings my log up to date. Well, up to date-ish (I'm still trying to convince myself to go through and add lengths and stars, but it's daunting and I still need to fill in my "read what you own" list. Which I haven't touched at all. *bangs head on desk*).

72. The Two Towers Serkis' narration is best when he is doing a straight read. While he has a wide variety of voices he can do, most of them wind up being distracting (every elf sounds like Andy Serkis impersonating Marilyn Monroe and all of the Uruk Hai sound like he is spraying the entire recording booth with spit) and the cadence of the speaking doesn't always align with the emotion of the character/scene. I expect I'll listen to his version of Return of the King (because I already bought it), but for future listens I'll stick to the Rob Inglis version. (Strangely enough, I prefer the Serkis version of The Hobbit but the Inglis version of LotR)

Stacie wrote: "72. The Two Towers Serkis' narration is best when he is doing a straight read. While he has a wide variety of voices he can do, most of them wind ..."

OMG haha!!

73. Call Us What We Carry GAH (insert Wookiee noises)! I'd preordered the audio version of this and three poems in I went and ordered the Kindle version for myself and the Hardback version for my sister (she's a reading/English teacher and NEEDS to have this in her classroom). If you can only get one version, get a text version (print or digital) because the visual formatting is important. I loved this so much!

Stacie wrote: "73. Call Us What We Carry GAH (insert Wookiee noises)! I'd preordered the audio version of this and three poems in I went and ordered the K..."

I've had this baby preordered since January! Should be receiving it tomorrow!

Stacie, I wish I took your idea and reduced my goal
So I built in more crafty time! I often listen to audio books while I do crafts, but I also love watching crafty YouTube videos. I probably won’t make my goal this year so I will figure out a realistic goal for next year.

74. How Luck Changes the Way We View the World

75. Cultured: The Epic Story of Cheese

I'm hoping to get at least one more finished this year, because those last two were duds and I hate when I finish up a reading year on a sour note :/

76. How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

77. A Christmas Carol

78. Exploring the Roots of Religion