On The Same Page discussion

OK. This started off as a morbid thought on my part. I was watching a show called The Repair Shop with my wife the other night. It's a British show. People bring cherished and well-used family treasures to this place where craftspeople fix them for the people and bring the items back to excellent condition. It's a simple concept and often quite emotional as these items mean so much to the people. Anyway, that's just a preamble.

In a most recent show, an elderly couple brought in an item that they had acquired early in their marriage. The husband had maybe 6 months to live and he was hoping the item (it was a peat bucket) could be repaired so his wife would have that to remember him by. Anyway, yes, it was repaired and everyone, including my wife and I were all in tears.

It kind of got me morbidly thinking.. What if I had 6 months to live? Or what if I was told I could only read for 6 more months. So that was the gist of my thoughts and what I've come up with is this challenge.

The Challenge

Assume you read 4 books a month and you are only allowed to read for 6 months (Sure, let's make it a desert island). So what I'm asking is this.

1. You can only take 24 books.
2. They have to be from your To Be Read folder

Simple? I look forward to seeing what books you take on this trip. (PS. You don't have to read the books this year, I'm just interested in your list.)

Bill's List
(This took me quite awhile as I've got over 1200 books in my TBR folder and actually on my bookshelves. So it took me a few looks to pick 24 that I'd like to read. I'm sure it would change if I looked at it in a few months. LOL) I think it's a pretty good mix, lots of my newer acquisitions, a few series, even starting a couple I think. I'd better be rescued after 6 months.

1. Transcription by Kate Atkinson I've enjoyed every book I've read by Atkinson, the Case Histories series and her others. I think it would be good to take one of her books.
2. A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle I enjoyed The Last Unicorn and I'm currently enjoying Tamsin. My local book store owner says this was a favorite of his mothers.
3. The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin I definitely would want to finish this series. It was excellent
4. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo I recently read The Poet X by Acevedo and I liked how she used poetry to tell her story. This is my poetry book.

5. Horse: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks This was one of the newest books I've purchased and it definitely sounded interesting. A new author for me as well
6. Dead Water by C.A. Fletcher A horror novel set on an island. That's what I want...
7. The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction by Neil Gaiman A selection of short stoires and excerpts from some of his novels. Sounds neat.[
8. [book:Doomsday Book|24983] by Connie Willis. The first book in a time travel series. I've had for a little while now.

9. Heart of Red Iron by Phyllis Gotlieb I've enjoyed many of Gotlieb's SciFi novels. Back in the day, I enjoyed O Master Caliban very much. This is the second and final book in this 'series'.
10. Heavenly Pleasures by Kerry Greenwood I have enjoyed Greenwood's Phryne Fisher mysteries very much and a couple of years ago, I read the first book in the Corinna Chapman series and loved it. This is #2.
11. Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks. World War Z was excellent. I hope this is as interesting
12. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. This book just sounded interesting to me. A new author for me. There are a few in this listing.

13. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. I've heard great things about this book / series. We'll see
14. Interfaces by Virginia Kidd. A collection of Sci-Fi short stories, edited by Kidd and Ursula LeGuin.
15. Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin. I love LeGuin's writing. This book was written in honor of her father's work.
16. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel It's been a few years since I read Wolf Hall. It was excellent once I got into it. Looking forward to this.

17. The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America by David Hajdu A book about the Comic book industry. How could I not take it.
18. Dorothy Parker: Complete Broadway, 1918-1923 by Dorothy Parker I've enjoyed her poetry, her humor. This book contains her reviews of Broadway plays, I believe.
19. The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson I've wanted to try Robinson's work for awhile.
20. Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff Another of those books I've wanted to read for awhile.

21. A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab A Darker Shade of Magic was excellent. Looking forward to this.
22. A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries 2003-2020 by David Sedaris I'll probably be ready for some humor after awhile.
23. Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson Another Sci-Fi author that I want to try.
24. Wanderers by Chuck Wendig It reminded me of The Stand or maybe even The Twelve, that sort of story.

So there you go. My 24 books. What about you?

Wow... this one is tough. Of course, it does make me think that I'd probably read better if I applied these rules to every book I chose -there'd be a lot less junk LOL. Hmmmm. Let me look at my list!

This is a neat idea, Bill. I will have to think about this one.

Creative idea! I often do think about which book/books I'd want to have if I was stranded on an island, but never thought about having so many. Great way to get some of the TBR shelf knocked out! I'll get it organized when I get home from traveling.

I usually have my reading planned out for the year to accommodate challenges, so I'm just going to use this list as my top 24 favourite books 🤗. And I want to re-read these as the last 24 before I die!
Thanks Bill. Great idea.
I've seen a few episodes of that TV programme. It's good.
Looking through my lists on here and also some books that I loved at different stages of my life, I here drew up the list below:

1. East of Eden
2. Down and Out in Paris and London
3. The God of Small Things
4. Girl with a Pearl Earring
5. Rosemary's Baby
6. Amongst Women
7. The Time Traveler's Wife
8. The Lovely Bones
9. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
10. Ethan Frome
11. Summer Sisters
12. Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys
13. Just Kids
14. On Cats
15. Exile by Dominique Tarle, or any Rolling Stones book.
16. Shakespeare's Sonnets
17. King Lear
18. Collection of WB Yeats poetry
19. Frankenstein
20. Jamaica Inn
21. Bob Dylan Complete Lyrics
22. Different Seasons
23. H is for Hawk
24. Flowers in the Attic

I'll link them later and give my reasons why they are in here! 😁

Ruth wrote: "I usually have my reading planned out for the year to accommodate challenges, so I'm just going to use this list as my top 24 favourite books 🤗. And I want to re-read these as the last 24 before I ..."

Nice variety, Ruth.

Just what I need for the weekend … more planning for books to read. 😄 I’ll be back!

Martha wrote: "Just what I need for the weekend … more planning for books to read. 😄 I’ll be back!"

😅😅😆🤣

Thank you for the idea! I am going to start my list today!

This is cruel!! Ingenious, but cruel, Bill!!

🤔🤔🤔😐📚📚📚📚📚👀

I will think about this

Hi everyone!
I love this idea Bill, and I also enjoy the link with the Repair Shop (I watch it with my mum 😊).
This is going to be exceptionally hard for me since I'm a mood reader: I choose my book according to how I feel and it's really difficult to plan ahead since I don't know how I'll feel in a month. However, I really want to give it a go, and I'll come back with a list of 24 books in a few minutes (hours? days? weeks? )

Aline wrote: "Hi everyone!
I love this idea Bill, and I also enjoy the link with the Repair Shop (I watch it with my mum 😊).
This is going to be exceptionally hard for me since I'm a mood reader: I choose my boo..."

I found it difficult as well. Did I want to take books I've had for a long time? Did I want to take new books (for me anyway) that have recently piqued my interest? I mean I just got two books in the mail and I kind of want to replace two books from my list with these two. LOL. Have fun with it.

Thank you for your kind words, Bill, I feel less lonely when I read I'm not the only one who struggles.

So, here we are, and faster than I thought:

1. Bleak House Charles Dickens.
I started it a few weeks ago and I want to finish what I started. Besides, I love Dickens so if my life should really end in 6 months, he would be on the list of authors I want to read before taking the great plunge in the unknown.

2. It, vol. 3 (Ca in French, the language in which I want to read it), Stephen King.
Speaking of morbid stuff, I’ve been reading Stephen King since I was 12 (my mum hated me for a summer when she saw what I was borrowing from the library 🤷‍♀️) and It has always been my favorite of his (many) books.
I’ve recently been re-reading the two first volumes (for the fifteenth time, maybe? That’s probably why my latest henna turned orange, reading about clowns turned me into one? I’m joking, my hair isn’t that bad), and I don’t see any reason why not to re-read the third one.

3. Zazie in the metro, Raymond Queneau.
It has been in my TBR pile forever (for a shocking 30 years, actually 😬 I know, I know…) so I would like to read it in the coming weeks/months.

4. Death of a Bore, M.C. Beaton.
Because what would 6 months left to live feel without a cosy mystery to accompany you along the way?


5. The Fall of Gondolin, J.R.R. Tolkien.
Tolkien is my favorite author and The Lord of the Rings is the book I would bring to a desert island. However, I just finished re-reading it in January 2023 (or was it December 2022? 🤔) So I'd love to read this one which is a new addition to my TBR (it was a Christmas present).

6. Jacob’s Room, Virginia Woolf.
I love Virginia Woolf and this short novel/novella is also a new addition to my TBR. I want to read it in the upcoming weeks, so here we are.

7. Freedom, Jonathan Franzen.
I read this one a couple of years ago and didn’t enjoy it, but I promised myself I would give it a second chance one day. This seems a good opportunity, so here it is.

8. El amor en los tiempos del coléra, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
During my college years, I studied languages and literatures, more specifically, English, French and Spanish. But I’ve noticed that, as the years go by, I’ve been reading less and less Spanish/South American lit. I want to change that from 2023 onwards 🇪🇸 and this one is among the 24 books I want to read in the next 6 months.


(Here comes a series of 8 books from authors I love. I planned to read them sometime during the year, so why not in the next 6 months?)

9. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster.

10. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray.

11. The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas.

12. What Maisie Knew, Henry James.


13. A Son of the Circus John Irving.

14. The Cement Garde,, Ian McEwan.

15. Villette, Charlotte Brontë.

16. Dracula, Bram Stoker.


(Here come the challenging ones. You know the type: these books we all want to read at least once so we can brag a bit about it 💪)

17. Ulysses, James Joyce.

18. Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift.

19. Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy.

20. Don Quijote de la Mancha, Miguel de Cervantes.


(And a final sub-list of 4 random books that I promised myself I would read this year)

21. The Gravedigger’s Daughter, Joyce Carol Oates.

22. Under the Dome, part 1, Stephen King.

23. Under the Dome, part 2, Stephen King.

24. The Complete English Poems John Donne.

This was a difficult and easy at the same time. Difficult to just pick 24 books. I want to read them ALL. It is also easy, because I want to read them ALL!! 😬😂

I refused to add books that I "should" read, and added books that would give me enjoyment. I don't need to be enlightened while trying to survive on an island. I need to mentally go elsewhere and DREAM.

Science Fiction

1. . I tried reading this years ago, and failed. After watching the newest movie, I feel more confident about reading this. Also, being surrounded by sand on an island kinda helps set the mood. 🤦🏾

2. . I hear nothing but good things about this book and the series. Easy pick

3. . The first book was fantastic. To be such a large book, the pacing was a steady ramp-up of "Oh, sh*t!"

4. . I just want to read it. I'm a sucker for great reviews. Kinda

5. . This series has some kind of weird starting point, but I think I have the correct book. It sounds like a crazy read. I can't wait.

6. . Highly recommended by Bill, and quite a few other sci-fi fans.

Fantasy

7. . I've been wanting to read this for forever.

8. . It's a classic and its Science Fiction; what could go wrong??

9. . YYEESSSS. I love this author and I loved The Faithful and the Fallen series. Again, if you liked GoT, then you will love this, as well. If not better.

10. . Joe Abercrombie. Need I say more?? Finished the first book in the First Law series. It was kinda mild on the brutality, until it wasn't. LOL

11. . Everybody. I mean, everybody, loved this book and considers it an underrated series. Sounds like my kind of book.

12. . A classic at this point. Besides, my dad brought me like 8 books!! WTH!??

13. . It's time I got to know Brandon Sanderson.

14. . It's been on my radar, and I just hear too many good things about how consistent this series is. I need another series like I need a hole in the head, but here we are.

15. . I loved and cried with the Farseer trilogy; so, I am so ready to read about Fitz and the fool.

Horror

These are horror. So, if you know me, then you know that these don't really need an explanation.

16. .
Great, graphic novel series. Very gory, and crazy storyline. There are monsters under the bed.

17. . I don't think this is technically horror. I think folks just like to pigeon-hole Stephen King.

18. . It's been so long.....

19. . I'm almost ashamed that I have not read this already. Saw the movie, it was pretty good. Weird, but okay. It did not compel me to want to read the book, but I have the book, so why not?

20. . Ronald Malfi!!!

21. . This is an obscure horror novel that I ran across on someone else's list and had to add it.

22. . Monsters, snow, and gore. Yes!!

23. . I haven't read Dan Simmons in YEARS!! What is wrong with me?? Oh yeah, his books are frigging huge! 🙄🙃🤦🏾

24. . Dresden....

Alondra, I love your list! So many fantasy/SF books. I hope you'll keep us updated and tell us what you thought of them.

Aline wrote: "Alondra, I love your list! So many fantasy/SF books. I hope you'll keep us updated and tell us what you thought of them."

Thanks, Aline. After horror, I think Science Fiction is my next favorite; but only by a smidge over fantasy, though.

Aline wrote: "Thank you for your kind words, Bill, I feel less lonely when I read I'm not the only one who struggles.

So, here we are, and faster than I thought:

1. Bleak House Charles Dickens.
I started it a..."

A great variety in your selections. I remember enjoying It very much when I was reading everything by King. Under the Dome was kind of a refresher for me in his work as I'd kind of stopped reading him the past few years. You can't go wrong with MC Beaton, always fun. I've enjoyed a couple of your challenging reads; Vanity Fair was excellent as was Far from the madding Crowd. I took Ulyssess in uni and I know I never finished it. Good on you for taking it on.

Alondra wrote: "This was a difficult and easy at the same time. Difficult to just pick 24 books. I want to read them ALL. It is also easy, because I want to read them ALL!! 😬😂

I refused to add books that I "shoul..."

Excellent list, Alondra. Some Sci-Fi favs of mine; Dune, Phlebas, Foundation.... Watership Down.. Sci-Fi bunnies.. And I see you want to read some that I also want to read. We do have similar tastes in some areas, eh?

Bill wrote: "Excellent list, Alondra. Some Sci-Fi favs of mine; Dune, Phlebas, Foundation.... Watership Down.. Sci-Fi bunnies.. And I see you want to read some that I also want to read. We do have similar tastes in some areas, eh? ..."

Thanks, Bill. We do have similar tastes, that is why I feel comfortable adding a book you've read. Also, that is why I have a list of "Bill's Recommendations!" 📚📚📚😂

This is is harder than I expected! But, I’m working on a list.

Pam wrote: "This is is harder than I expected! But, I’m working on a list."

Good luck. I hope you're finding it an interesting look through your books.

Bill wrote: "Vanity Fair was excellent as was Far from the madding Crowd. I took Ulyssess in uni and I know I never finished it. Good on you for taking it on."

Well, I'm cheating with Vanity Fair: I read it in French when I was in college, and I really want to give it a go in English, so it will be a re-reading, just in another language.
Ulysses scares me to be honest, especially this infamous last chapter. But it's a sort of milestone and I feel like I need to at least give it a try.

Non Fiction Books:
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Favorite Authors:
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Series:
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Classics:
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Just Because:
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Bill, this is a great idea 💡 I have to look through my books 📚. That alone could take 6 Months. I’ll Make My List Up. Then Maybe 🤔 Read Some!
1.

Denise wrote: "Non Fiction Books:
1.
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3. [bookcover:Frien..."

Interesting mix. I've been wanting to try Breakfast at Tiffanys the past couple of years.

Kristine (Trying to Get Back to Reading) wrote: "Bill, this is a great idea 💡 I have to look through my books 📚. That alone could take 6 Months. I’ll Make My List Up. Then Maybe 🤔 Read Some!
1."

LOL. Great idea.