Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

2021 Determination Plus Challenge.

Books 1-10. Pick 10 books any format you want that you'll been wanting to read, Could be off your own To be read mountains or library etc.
1. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin 2/6/2021
2.All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny 3/12/2021
3. Flights by Olga Tokarczuk 3/29/2021
4. The Constant Gardener by John le Carré 4/11/2021
5. The Guest List by Lucy Foley 5/11/2021
6. Lying and Dying by Graham Brack 6/21/2021
7. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune 5/16/2021
8. The Quiet American by Graham Greene 7/25/2021
9. Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar10/22/2021
10. Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us about Our Past and Future by James Shapiro 11/6/2021

The next 11 books is the "Plus" part of the challenge. Hope you enjoy and are able to find some great book that will fit in.

11. A book set in a different country than you live in.
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman 1/4/2021

12. Read a book by an author that you never read before or one by a new debut author.
The Poison Thread by Laura Purcell 2/24/2021

13. A book that someone recommended to you.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells 1/5/2021 (A fabulous series read by Nataliya)

14. A book that is a different genre than your normal type of read (could be out of your comfort zone).
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots 1/19/2021

15 & 16. Two books from a series you haven't completed yet (Everyone has that one or two books to still read to catch up in a series).
15. The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie R. King 3/19/2021
16. Tombland by C.J. Sansom 5/5/2021

17. A book that comes out in 2021.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro 3/27/2021

18. A book you meant to read in 2020 but never got around to it.
The Split by Sharon J. Bolton

19. A book that came out before you were born. (this one might be harder to do but we know you can handle it)
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov 7/1/2021

20. A book that is done by more than one author (it can be a book of short stories by different authors, or one book that is one story with more than 1 author like Patterson, or Evanovich and I'm sure there are others.
State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny 11/21/2021

21. A book that won an award.
The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston, 1/1/2021

I'm not pre-populating my list this year since I never know how much time I will have available to read in print vs. audio. My goal is always to chip away at my print piles, but I never seem to make as much progress at that as I'd like.

I like the addition of the "award" book! I do have a few of those on my TBR already. :-)

Barbara wrote: "I'm not pre-populating my list this year since I never know how much time I will have available to read in print vs. audio. My goal is always to chip away at my print piles, but I never seem to mak..."

I did a few ideas I had come up with for #21 then I shared them with Ann and she said what her favorites were then I picked one of those to use. I think Award was one of my favorites. And I just might own one I'm thinking of I might be able to use.

Barbara: I'm not pre-populating either, though I have some general ideas to chip away at my audible library tbr list. I always seem to want to get to award books too. I also think that one will be fun!

Barbara wrote: "I'm not pre-populating my list this year since I never know how much time I will have available to read in print vs. audio. ."

Add me to the "not pre-populating my list" bench. My hope is to chip away at my stacks of owned books, but which ones will depend on my mood. I am cheered that over vacation I've rediscovered the joys of print-reading (most of my reads are actually "listens") and hope to continue the discipline once I return to work.

Same here with reading in print! Ive read more print books in the past 2 weeks than in all of last year. Part of my strategy for carrying this trend forward is to encourage others in the household to stay well stocked with print books, which I hope will translate to more reading and less TV.

Barbara wrote: "I'm not pre-populating my list this year since I never know how much time I will have available to read in print vs. audio. My goal is always to chip away at my print piles, but I never seem to mak..."

I decided this year I'm using as many owned print books as I can for my challenges. I do a bunch of arc ebooks. And I keep saying I'm staying away from library if possible and take not that many NetGalley books (or ones from other publishers besides the email ones for romance I do each month). I found last year or year before ebooks are spoiling me. Because the print is better for me to read. So regular print books have been taking me longer to get though. So I try and stick to print during the day and ebook late in day or at night. But that can change. I'm still just slowing going into audio and it's only certain types of books I'll do with audio.

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Add me to the "not pre-populating my list" bench. My hope is to chip away at my stacks of owned books, but which ones will depend on my mood. I am cheered that over vacation I've rediscovered the j..."

Summer shore time helps with the print books for me because I'm outside more than inside. And unless I have a ebook arc to read then I can take the kindle outside. but going to the beach I take print books. but last summer I found I was reading a few books that a neighbor was passing onto me. Or ones I hadn't read off the shore bookcase (which is mostly my books too we have a system with those books ones I haven't read yet has a small sticky inside cover that say TBR so my sister knows I didn't want it yet then there are ones I read that I owned that are good that she has to read)

January 1 and I've already added my "award" book, quite by chance. The Woman Warrior won the National Book Critics Circle award in 1976. It's quite short, only around 200 pages, but it takes a bit to get into the writing style. I loved it.

Good luck Barbara. I'm also not pre-populating my list, I'm not that organised and what I read depends on my mood, where I am etc.

As for print books, I got rid of almost all my physical books a few years ago. I love my kindle; easier to hold and easy to make notes etc but these days I mostly use audiobooks which I can listen to while I work (driving a van), while out walking, hiking, biking, cooking etc

Brad, I also do far more listening, for similar reasons. I couldn’t enjoy nearly as many books if I was limited to print reading opportunities.

Barbara wrote: "Brad, I also do far more listening, for similar reasons. I couldn’t enjoy nearly as many books if I was limited to print reading opportunities."

Same with me, Brad and Barbara. But am determined to work through my massive stacks of owned books. DJ has given me an idea of how to make time -- borrowing fewer books from the library, which will be hard but not impossible.

Just finished. I didn't think I would make it since the two-author thing is always the biggest challenge for me. Then the other day I realized that State of Terror is co-authored by Clinton and Penny. So I did it without even trying. :-)

WTG. In 2022 My top group of books I'm thinking will be hardcovers off my print shelves. for me it will motivate me to get those done and it will make room for PBs or trade size.

Congrats Barbara! And you ended on a good note with a page-turner of a book too!
Barbara K wrote: "Just finished. I didn't think I would make it since the two-author thing is always the biggest challenge for me. Then the other day I realized that State of Terror is co-authored by..."

Ann wrote: "Congrats Barbara! And you ended on a good note with a page-turner of a book too! ..."

Yes, it really was a lot of fun. I read it with my 3-person RL book group, and I'm holding my review until the others finish as well - but I definitely enjoyed it.