Fantasy Aficionados discussion

Jackie and I thought it would be fun to dedicate ourselves to reading ONLY from our dreaded To Be Read shelves for one month.

That means, no book buying.

Okay, okay. A little too challenging, I know. You can buy yourself books. But if you do, you can't read it until this little challenge is done.

Sound like fun? Or, at least challenging? Feel free to join us on our quest.

This is going to be exciting!

I'm currently reading A Game of Thrones from my pile.
I recently read The Summer Tree from my pile but then I had to buy the next two in the series.

With that said, I'm going to try really hard to read series I already have, or standalone novels. It's not like I don't have plenty on my shelves waiting for me to choose them.

There's a library book sale in my area in February and I keep telling myself that I'm not going to it but you and I both know I'm in denial and I'll be on line an hour before they open on the first day, LOL

I'm certain that I'm getting H.P. Lovecraft: A Life. If I do get it, I'm reading it right away. It is something liuke 700 pages, though, so that might chew up some time. So I am undecided what I will add into the challenge with it. I probably won't know until Christmas.

I never know what I'm going to read until the moment I choose it. I always have a plan on what I'm reading next, but it never works out that way. When I'm done with Thrones, I'll see what I'm in the mood for.

I'm the same way, so I'll probably do the same.

Right now, I'm reading Agents of Light and Darkness. Shouldn't take me too much longer to finish that one, unless the next couple of days are too hectic, which is a big possibility. I might be able to get some good reading time in tonight, though.

Is Agents from off your shelves?

Um I gotta finish my current library stack first. Got about 6 books yet to read...

Amanda, What titles do you have from the library?

Wow.....this challenge works for me. We will be moving sometime in 2011 and I need to cut down on the books I have. I have too many TBR books....LOL, I know there no such thing as too many books!

Agents has been on my Kindle for months.

Jason, that's good then, making a dent.

Christine, sure, never too many books, but there is such a thing as too little space, LOL

More like a shaving...LOL


Jackie wrote: "Jason, that's good then, making a dent"

Jackie, I knew I liked your way of thinking, you are right there is too little space. LOL

We all need castles to house our books.
I really wish I could have kept all the books I've read but then I'd need to rent another house or two, LOL

Jackie wrote: "Amanda, What titles do you have from the library?"

I'm working on Wicked and I have:

The Heartsong of Charging Elk by James Welch

The Seduction of Water by Carol Gooodman

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

The Man With the Golden Torque

Benighted by Kit Whitfield

also.

Wow Amanda, that's quite a selection. When do they have to be back?

Dents in the pile of books sounds like an amazing challenge! I always buy books and throw them on my shelf, get really excited about a different book and read that instead. I already bought Assassin's Apprentice, so I guess the no-book buying will have to start as on Jan 1st. A Storm of Swords is definitely on the list... I'll have to see what I'm in the mood for after that :)

A Storm of Swords is a good one!

My first, technically, will be H.P. Lovecraft: A Life.

Jackie wrote: "Wow Amanda, that's quite a selection. When do they have to be back?"

About halfway into January if I don't renew. I read all kinds of books so they run the gamut.

With Tax return time coming I'll probably be book shopping soon so i might have to wait a bit to get started...

Good luck to you guys!

I finished A Game of Thrones, which was brilliant. Now to 'make a dent', I chose a standalone book off my shelf, The Sight. Yay for me.
I think I'll try to get rid of standalones first since I don't have all books to my series, and that would only further add to my book buying compulsion.

Yes! Series are horrible for that! lol

And the majority of Fantasy is series.

I've decided to drop The Sight. Besides being rife with inaccuracies on basic wolf behavior, it's not interesting and far too slow.
It's difficult for me to drop a book without finishing it and I struggled with the decision all day. But as Jason pointed out, life is too short to read bad books. I have far too much on my shelves to waste time with something I'm not enjoying.

I've chosen Never After by Rebecca Lickiss because it seems like it'd be fun. And that's what I want right now: some fun.

Great challenge, good luck to all! Not sure I'd be up for it, although I do intend to make a dent in my TBR shelf.

One down, I just finished The Rossetti Letter by Christi Phillips. Good read if you like historical fiction.

Awesome, Christine!

The dents are starting, Christine!

I'm still reading through H. P. Lovecraft: A Life. Although I am enjoying it immensely, I'm surprised that Joshi didn't add Lovecraft's dental records...LOL

I have The Best of H.P. Lovecraft sitting on my shelf. Maybe now is the time to start reading it. I've read the Introduction. Now for some of the tales????

Go for it! Have you read him before?

No, I have not which is surprising because I do read a lot of horror books.

Christine wrote: "No, I have not which is surprising because I do read a lot of horror books."

You'll have fun and may read some thigns that remind you of other work you've read because of his influence on the genre. If you've ever read Stephen King's Night Shift and the first story "Jarusalem's Lot" you'll recognize some of the plot of "The Rats in the Walls" for instance. There's also been plenty of film and television translations of his work like in several episodes of Night Gallery.

Stephen King's The Mist is a great ode to Lovecraft, as well!

There's also a podcast with two guys, Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer, who explain Lovecraft's fiction (his prose can be somewhat difficult) with excerpts read by professional readers. Their goal is to read and explain all the important stories by Lovecraft. I highly recommend it. It's very entertaining and funny. You'll also learn lots of interesting things. If you're interested, here's the link to their webpage:

http://hppodcraft.com/

They also have it available at iTunes. Just search hppodcraft

I counted 31 To Read books in my house last night. If I can get through at least half of those this year, I'll be extremely happy!

Jason wrote: "Stephen King's The Mist is a great ode to Lovecraft, as well!

There's also a podcast with two guys, Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer, who explain Lovecraft's fiction (his prose can be somewhat diffi..."

The Mist is one of my all time favorite stories by Stephen King. I am a huge fan of SK. I will check out the webpage later on today. Thanks! This is exactly why I love GR. There are always opportunities to find new treasures.

Weenie wrote: "I counted 31 To Read books in my house last night. If I can get through at least half of those this year, I'll be extremely happy!"

Erm I have a coupla hundred at least...

Weenie, Good Luck in your Dent Making. You have a realistic goal.

Amanda wrote: Erm I have a coupla hundred at least... "

You must have big shelves! :-)

Jackie wrote: Weenie, Good Luck in your Dent Making. You have a realistic goal.

Thanks!

Started on The Brass Dragon by Marion Zimmer Bradley late last night. Making good progress on it.

Weenie wrote: " Amanda wrote: Erm I have a coupla hundred at least... "

You must have big shelves! :-)

Jackie wrote: Weenie, Good Luck in your Dent Making. You have a realistic goal.

Thanks!"

Nope I don't :( I have two standard ones and I own about 2,000 books all told. A few years ago I edited them down by getting rid of what I just wasn't going to read. Before that there were 3,000.

Amanda, Where do you keep them all?

Making another Dent with Vampire of the Mists.

Where do you keep all those books? I'm envious!

I'm reading Storm Front by Jim Butcher. I think I am in love! Harry Dresden is great!

Did you ever see the short lived TV series 'The Dresden Files'? It was pretty good, I was disappointed when it got yanked.

I think I only saw one episode.

Did you like it?

I saw the Dresden Files series. I thought it was pretty great. Now that I've finally read the first book recently, though, I'd say that the book is better.

But the television show was pretty good too. Too bad it only lasted one season.

I don't remember much of the show I watched. It seems that most people liked the books better. I'm happy to stick with the books.

Books are always better, it can't be helped.

Jackie wrote: "Amanda, Where do you keep them all?

Making another Dent with Vampire of the Mists."

Well most are paperbacks or i'd be really overrun with them. Right now I have a bunch on the shelves and then a bunch more in 4 of those big rubbermaid tubs and a few boxes. Yes I do think i should probably start investing in some more shelves.