Book Nook Cafe discussion

I've chosen my personal Determination List for 2023, separate from our 100 Challenge DL. It is as follows:

Finish the The Leatherstocking Tales. I have only two remaining-- The Pioneers and The Prairie. I enjoy the stories about the early years of our nation and want to complete them.

Add two more Presidential Bios, to wit--
William Howard Taft: The Travails of a Progressive Conservative--Jonathan Lurie.

The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made--Patricia O'Toole.

Additionally, i want to complete three books i began in the last year or two. Each was laid aside because i became too busy or was preparing to hit the road.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness--Michelle Alexander

Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution--Nathaniel Philbrick, whose history NF i have long appreciated.

Gladius: The World of the Roman Soldier--Guy de la Bédoyère.

madrano wrote: "I've chosen my personal Determination List for 2023, separate from our 100 Challenge DL. It is as follows:

Finish the The Leatherstocking Tales. I have only two remaining--[book:The..."

Very nice deb. I have one more prompt that I need as I usually do 12 items on my DL. I'll try to get to that today.

Good luck. I'm not sure i realized you had 12 on your list each year. I hope you had many this year which overlapped with the 100. My memory declares you did but i cannot be certain. :-)

As it happens i thought of another i want to add. For decades i've promised myself i would read The Canterbury Tales--Geoffrey Chaucer but laziness has prevented me from doing so. Granted, i've read several stories from it but that's not the same. So, this is one i want to add but am waiting for further illumination before i edit (again!)

That's a difficult one ! Good luck if you add it.

madrano wrote: "Good luck. I'm not sure i realized you had 12 on your list each year. I hope you had many this year which overlapped with the 100. My memory declares you did but i cannot be certain. :-)."

No. I basically go through my TBR notebook and select books, authors, or topics I've made note of for my DL.

It's why I read a lot of books that ended up fitting one prompt and other prompts I never got to at all. Since I read about 70 books a year, this 12 need not fit the 100.

I see. This year i tried to cull from my hand-written TBR. I've gotten quite muddled with the GoodReads list. And my library's isn't long but none of them are calling to me...still!

Very interesting, indeed! This year's challenge has done a lot for my own TBR backlog, so an not seeing need to set aside "must reads" for next year in advance.

madrano wrote: "Good luck. I'm not sure i realized you had 12 on your list each year. I hope you had many this year which overlapped with the 100. My memory declares you did but i cannot be certain. :-)

As it hap..."

Oh, my goodness! I had to analyze that for college! Good luck!

John wrote: "Very interesting, indeed! This year's challenge has done a lot for my own TBR backlog, so an not seeing need to set aside "must reads" for next year in advance."

John, i can understand that. I've done well on both my personal TBR challenge & the 100, while eliminating a number from my enormous TBR mountain. This is why i decided to give both a try again. In years past, reading only my personal, and with very few titles listed, i still usually didn't finish them.

Perhaps something about the combo is motivating me. Or, likely, i just had time a-plenty, as we didn't travel much this year. Regardless, i thought i'd give it another whirl. :-) We'll see how that goes.

Kiki, i've heard rough things about the Tales but i've liked the bits i've read thus far. I won't be writing papers or reading for profundity, so perhaps it won't be as daunting. The good thing about the Determination List is that either way (read it or abandon), i will know whether or not i want to pursue it.

Of course, if i succeed, i'll probably want to add some Dante Alighieri the following year! Yikes!

madrano wrote: "Kiki, i've heard rough things about the Tales but i've liked the bits i've read thus far. I won't be writing papers or reading for profundity, so perhaps it won't be as daunting. The good thing abo..."

Oh, I love Dante! Reading him is a real treat!

Great Encouragement, Kiki. Thank you.

I have completed the first of my 2023 Determination List books, The Pioneers--James Fenimore Cooper. To complete the Longstocking series i will read his The Prairie this year, as well. If you like reading about early American conflicts and settlements, these are good books, not quite contemporary, 40-50 years after much of the action, these are good primers.

Good going - congrats!

Thanks. This is the second book titled The Pioneers that i've read this year. The first was for the Prompt Challenge, The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West--David McCullough. No more planned. :-)

I have completed my reading of William Howard Taft: The Travails of a Progressive Conservative--Jonathan Lurie this week. I am a bit peeved because the author ended the book after Taft's presidency but did not cover his subsequent service on the Supreme Court, our first former President to serve there. Why? To expand the bio for The Chief Justiceship of William Howard Taft, 1921-1930!!!

ANYway, i posted about the book (too long, sorry) at this link, Post 145.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Well done, Deb !

I guess the book just wanted to focus on the presidency. I would think covering the supreme court cases could be a whole book in itself.

Apparently Lurie agrees with you, Alias. Me? I'll just mosey on along to The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made--Patricia O'Toole next, as i am not interested in reading more about Taft. It'll be awhile before i address the Wilson book, however. :-)

Oh my. I can tell right now that my DL for this year is going to be Very Wanting. Of the Seven books listed, i have read two--The Pioneers--James Fenimore Cooper and William Howard Taft: The Travails of a Progressive Conservative--Jonathan Lurie.

Three of my seven selected books are ones i abandoned in the past but planned to read in '23. Ain't gonna happen! I'm not in the mood for any of them, let alone the time. So, deferment to '24? Possibly. As i own one, Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution--Nathaniel Philbrick, this is a possible book for next year but that's all.

The final selection, The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made--Patricia O'Toole is another i own. I might try this one but will not be upset if i don't. I think.

I will, however, read Cooper's The Prairie, the final unread book (by me, that is) in his Longstocking Tales. Just thought i'd get the facts straight & share them here. :-)

madrano wrote: "Oh my. I can tell right now that my DL for this year is going to be Very Wanting."

I am doing okay with my Determination List. I think next year I will make my DL with the 100 challenge in mind. Kill two birds.....

Yes, excellent idea!

Presently i'm giving a bit of thought to next year's lists, deciding how much i want to participate or not. The ending of this year has me viewing things differently than in Jan & Feb. We'll see. This TBR must be tamed!*

*said Every Reader Every Where, throughout Time

BUST!

I only finished two of the seven books on my '23 Determination List. Both of those were read in January! Apparently i am not equipped to work on two lists at one time, therefore, i am going with the Prompt Challenge Book list this year.

Nonetheless, i am going to read the next Presidential bio,
The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made--Patricia O'Toole and The Prairie--James Fenimore Cooper. Whether i tackle those books i listed as not completed, is anyone's guess.

Another one for your presidential challenge, deb. Nice. I am going to try and focus on a few presidential bios this year.

We'll finish someday!