Pick-a-Shelf discussion

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing" (Helen Keller). It's a new year, where is it going to take you?
Here is the link: http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/a...

Great shelf choice :)

Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

I'm gonna go with Treasure Island by R.L Stevenson and maybe a re-read of The Hobbit by Tolkien!

I'm going to start with Robinson Crusoe , have read it before but my Mum was watching a film version the other day - a really bad one it must be said - and very little of it was familiar so am going for a re-read. Then The Five Greatest Warriors: A Novel ,after that I don't know yet

I'm going to start with Life of Pi. I didn't do as well with January as I'd hoped, so let's set my sights low for February!

Adventure should be a fun shelf!!

I am going to read
The Sea of Monsters
The Golden Compass
The Well of Lost Plots
and maybe Watership Down.

This list had a lot of good choices of series.

Here are the ones that I am going to start with.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
Temple by Matthew Reilly

And if I can

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

OK - The Count of Monte Cristo in 1274 pages, so I probably won't get to that one this month, lol.

And the two I have read so far are not even on this list, lol. So much for lists.

Witch and Wizard by James Patterson
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

I'm choosing three from my TBR Mini-Game list:

* Spirit Walker by Michelle Paver - oops, read it a few days too early
* War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
* My One Hundred Adventures by Polly Horvath

I'll add:
* Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy by L.A. Meyer

And maybe I'll get to The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne in February. It's one of the classics I want to read this year, and also on the Lost Lit List.

Here are my adventure picks:

Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
In the Belly of the Bloodhound by L. A. Meyer
and maybe some Sherlock Holmes and Brian Jacques if I get to them :)

Wow, I have more on my list than I thought and they were all in my mini game, yeah!! Here is my list...

The Well of Lost Plots
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
On the Road
Alice in Wonderland
Artemis Fowl

I'm in the middle of reading Outlander and I'm really enjoying it.I was originally put off by it's british title which is Cross Stitch and by the fact that I thought it was a romance but it is more historic fiction. Natasha wrote: "I've been skimping recently and even skipped a month. So I'm going to read at least five books to make up for my laxness.

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Moby Dick by Herm..."

I am going to add Spyder Web and Blood Eagle to the two books I've already picked

Wow, Some great books on your list Natasha. And some hefty ones. Outlander is excellent, but HUGE!

Karen wrote: "I'm going to start with Robinson Crusoe, have read it before but my Mum was watching a film version the other day - a really bad one it must be said - and very little of it was familiar..."

I loved Five greatest warriors, it was the best! Now I wanna go back and read the three books one right after the other... once I get my copy back from my mum that is!

Sophie wrote: "Karen wrote: "I'm going to start with Robinson Crusoe, have read it before but my Mum was watching a film version the other day - a really bad one it must be said - and very little of i..."

My mum is itching to get her hands on my copy of five greatest warriors but she'll have to wait. I would let her read it first but she takes so long to read anything that I'd be lucky to get it back before christmas

Karen wrote: "Sophie wrote: "Karen wrote: "I'm going to start with Robinson Crusoe, have read it before but my Mum was watching a film version the other day - a really bad one it must be said - and v..."

Normally my mum is pretty good but she's been in a bit of a reading funk lately... it's because of christmas! She just needs to get back into the reading groove again!

Sophie wrote: "Karen wrote: "Sophie wrote: "Karen wrote: "I'm going to start with Robinson Crusoe, have read it before but my Mum was watching a film version the other day - a really bad one it must b..."

Mine can take about three weeks to read a book, don't know the source of my book addiction but it's certainly not genetic although having said that the only places I've found people who read as much as I do is on this site and the reading room

Great choice :). I think there are lots on this shelf that I want to read.
I have A Lion Among Men on my shelf so I am going to read it. I also have some Lemony Snicket that I have been meaning to read to see if I want to recommend them to my granddaughter so this is the time to do that.

I'm glad to see that people have choices already lined up. I am going to try and get hold of The Hunger Games. Sticking to one for now!

Karen wrote: "Sophie wrote: "Karen wrote: "Sophie wrote: "Karen wrote: "I'm going to start with Robinson Crusoe, have read it before but my Mum was watching a film version the other day - a really ba..."

I thought I was the same until I sat down and had a long discussion with mum one day, turns out my adiction to books is genetic! :) But what a lovely little genetic thing it is as there are many worse things that I could have gotten... touch wood!

Sunflower wrote: "I'm glad to see that people have choices already lined up. I am going to try and get hold of The Hunger Games. Sticking to one for now!"

If you're choosing just one, that's an awesome choice! Except I bet you'll immediately want to go on to Catching Fire! :)

Luann wrote: "Sunflower wrote: "I'm glad to see that people have choices already lined up. I am going to try and get hold of The Hunger Games. Sticking to one for now!"

If you're choosing just ..."

I was thinking the same thing, Sunflower. They were both quick reads for me though.

I have more adventure books on my book shelves than I thought. Will probably start with Life of Pi because my copy has a picture of a person on it so that takes care of a book in the mini-game as well. Then maybe The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea, and another YA book called The Gatekeeper, by a local Brisbane author who signed my copy when I purchased it at my son's school carnival last year.

I only finished one of the books on my mystery-thriller list for January (with another to be finished by the end of the month) as I kept getting distracted by other books in my to-read pile! I won't make any promises to myself regarding this month's shelf, but I'm interested in reading these:

* The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
* Blackout by Connie Willis

(Edit to add: It doesn't look like I'll get to these following few, and I had to remove a couple because they won't be available at my library to read in time.)
* The Scar by China Miéville
* The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
* The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
* The Road by Cormac McCarthy (I know this sounds bad of me, but I don't really want to read this, although I'm generally a fan of apocalyptic fiction. But it's part of another challenge, as well, so...)

Candiss, I thought "The Road" was great! Not a comfortable read, but one that stays in your mind for ages afterwards. Don't be put off by how it sounds....

Lyn M wrote: "Here are the ones that I am going to start with.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
Pride an..."</i>

Ug, I have to warn you, I thought "Master and Commander" was one of the most boring books I have ever read. Right up there with "The Old Man and the Sea". If you want a sea adventure, read [book:Mr. Midshipman Hornblower instead. Just my opinion.

Okay, clearly this is one of my FAVORITE shelfs as I have already read almost every book on the first 2 pages. That doesn't mean that I found a shortage of books I want to read however. I have 31, books picked out! I won't put them all on my list though, only on my TBR pile. Here is my list:

The Last Olympian
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Outlander
The Looking Glass Wars
First Among Sequels
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Throne of Jade
Lionboy
Dead to the World
Nick Of Time
and the only one I don't already own...
The Warrior Heir.

We'll see how many I get to and in what order.

Wow - Great list. I know what you mean. When I looked at the list I had read a lot of them also. I really want to read some of the ones on your list, like The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Looking Glass Wars, and eventually First Among Sequels.

Lyn M wrote: "Wow - Great list. I know what you mean. When I looked at the list I had read a lot of them also. I really want to read some of the ones on your list, like [book:The Mysterious Benedict Society|8..."

All you have to do is wait until I finish them and then come visit me!

How about if I come visit even before you finish them??

What a great shelf! Well I'm going to read one new
The Maze Runner
and and old favorite
Assassin's Apprentice
to begin with.

Am really struggling with getting through books at the moment so I'd be really happy if I was able to start & finish these two.
The Secret River By Kate Grenville
Map of Bones By James Rollins

Hi my name is mandy I am new to this site and group,just wondering how many books you have to read from the adventure shelf or do you just pick one or two? There is a lot of books to choose from, great shelf:)

There were quite a few on my To-read, so I wrote them all down. We'll see how many I can manage!

The Hunger Games/Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Eldest/Brisingr by Chris Paolini
Phillip Pullman His Dark Materials
Stardust/Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Artemis Fowl series
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Mandy wrote: "Hi my name is mandy I am new to this site and group,just wondering how many books you have to read from the adventure shelf or do you just pick one or two? There is a lot of books to choose from, g..."

Mandy, you choose how many you want to read each month. And you're also never strictly tied to your plan. But the more books you read and post about for the shelf of the month, the more chances you'll have to be chosen as a Shelf Picker.

Luann wrote: "Mandy wrote: "Hi my name is mandy I am new to this site and group,just wondering how many books you have to read from the adventure shelf or do you just pick one or two? There is a lot of books to ..."

ok thank you for your help Luann

Em wrote: "Here are my adventure picks:

Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
In the Belly of the Bloodhound by L. A. Meyer
and maybe some Sherlock Holmes and B..."

Em I will be interested to know your thoughts on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I keep looking at it and want to read it but wonder if it will spoil/taint my love of the original...??

I have finally picked two:
1. The Clan of the Cave Bear and
2. The Valley of Horses by Jean M Auel

My friend has read this series also and said it was pretty good.

It will be interesting to read a book without supernatural beings in it, cant wait :)
I have horses so I might enjoy the second one more but here goes!

I loved those books Mandy. In fact, I have been thinking of re-reading them at some point.

OK I've browsed the list, 60% of the books I have read appear in this category. I was looking for one to match up with one on my to-read list. (Is that cheating?) Found one that combines my two favourite categories classics & fantasy + my No.1 favourite book Jane Eyre. What more could you ask for? Call it adventure if you will. It was on the list.

The Eyre Affair
Life of Pi

As am new, I don't wish to over commit myself just yet.
Dumb question. How do I create the hyperlink back to the original book?

Gail - When you post a comment, there is a link right atop the comment box that reads "add book/author". You input a title and choose (at the bottom of the box that pops up) if you want to add the title in text or the book's cover picture. Another tab in the same pop-up box lets you add a link to an author.

Incidentally, I loved The Eyre Affair! I still need to work my way through the rest of the series.

Gail - The Eyre Affair is great. I am on the 3rd book in the series, but I hear that they just keep getting better.

Thank you Candiss. I was over looking the obvious.

Candiss, Lyn,I stumbled onto The Eyre Affair from comments people had made from an earlier months book shelf (although I couldn't find my way back to them). I was pleased to find it on Februaries book shelf, it's given me an excuse to read it sooner rather then later.

Refer message 46, I will get the hang of this!!!!

Gail wrote: "Refer message 46, I will get the hang of this!!!!

"

Don't worry Gail. THere aren't any quizes! :)

Gail wrote: "Refer message 46, I will get the hang of this!!!!

" Are you sure? I thought I was fairly computer literate, I have to revise that. I will now have to be put into the remedial class!!!

Gail wrote: "I was looking for one to match up with one on my to-read list. (Is that cheating?)"

Definitely not, Gail! You don't have to go outside of your TBR unless you can't find something that will work - or unless you really want to.

Wow! I stopped looking after finding 2 dozen that are in my TBRs. I'm first going to list the ones that I already have in other challenges in February. If I finish those, I'll add more:

1. Prey (didn't get to this as a January 'mystery-thriller' choice, and was glad to find it here) Feb 24 (4*)
2. The Hunger Games Feb 4 (5*) Here's my review
3. The Road (my son-in-law gave this to me, but I'm not eager to read it, so I figured putting it in challenges would encourage me!)
4. The Silver Chair Feb 2 (4*) Here's My Review
5. The Knife of Never Letting Go
6. Stuart Little Feb 1 (5*) Here's My Review
7. The River by Gary Paulsen Feb 14 (5*) Fiction, Adventure My review
8. Lady Friday by Garth Nix Feb 11 (3.5*)

Hunger Games! Hunger Games!!

Also, I just read The Knife of Never Letting Go a few days ago. Wow!! That's all I'll say. Wow! I look forward to your review, BJ.

It might be a bit ambitious but I'm going to go with the classics this month:

1. Don Quixote
2. Moby-Dick: or, The Whale
3. Robbery Under Arms: A Story of Life and Adventure in the Bush and in the Goldfields of Australia - as part of my resolution to read more Aussie books