Quaisior's 2013 75 Book Challenge

1. Winning Colors- Elizabeth Moon
2. We Won the Cup! Boston Bruins 2011 Stanley Cup Champions- Boston Herald
3. Dragon Ship- Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
4. Love and Rockets- edited by Martin H. Greenberg
5. The Borrowers- Mary Norton
6. A Dangerous Magic- edited by Denise Little
7. Peter Rabbit and Eleven Other Favorite Tales- Beatrix Potter
8. The Worst Witch- Jill Murphy
9. Return to Howliday Inn- James Howe
10. Isaac Asimov's Space of Her Own- edited by Shawna McCarthy
11. The Fire Rose- Mercedes Lackey
12. Nighty Nightmare- James Howe
13. Moving Targets and Other Tales of Valdemar- edited by Mercedes Lackey
14. T-Rex Trying- Hugh Murphy
15. First Warning- Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
16. Otherwise Known As Sheila the Great- Judy Blume
17. The Serpent's Shadow- Mercedes Lackey
18. Changing the World: All-New Tales of Valdemar- edited by Mercedes Lackey
19. Mockingjay- Suzanne Collins
20. Princess Academy- Shannon Hale
21. Second Wave- Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
22. Beauty and the Werewolf- Mercedes Lackey
23. Call the Midwife- Jennifer Worth
24. The Velveteen Rabbit- Margery Williams
25. The Time Keeper- Barbara Bartholomew
26. The Subtle Knife- Philip Pullman
27. The Gates of Sleep- Mercedes Lackey
28. Third Watch- Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
29. Scottish Brides
30. The Amber Spyglass- Philip Pullman
31. Lyra's Oxford- Philip Pullman
32. A Soldier's Duty- Jean Johnson
33. Over Sea, Under Stone- Susan Cooper
34. Necessity's Child- Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
35. Once Upon a Time in the North- Philip Pullman
36. Raven Flight- Juliet Marillier
37. Bridgertons: Happily Ever After- Julia Quinn
38. The Last April Dancers- Jean Thesman
39. The Dark Is Rising- Susan Cooper
40. Ghost Spin- Chris Moriarty
41. Greenwitch- Susan Cooper
42. Phoenix and Ashes- Mercedes Lackey
43. The Grey King- Susan Cooper
44. Heart's Blood- Juliet Marillier
45. Almost to Die For- Tate Hallaway
46. Silver on the Tree- Susan Cooper
47. Finding the Way and Other Tales of Valdemar- Mercedes Lackey, ed.
48. Twixt Firelight and Water- Juliet Marillier
49. Mister B. Gone- Clive Barker
50. Investigating Farscape: Uncharted Territories of Sex and Science Fiction- Jes Battis
51. Bastion- Mercedes Lackey
52. Trickster's Choice- Tamora Pierce
53. Blade of Fortriu- Juliet Marillier
54. The Wizard of London- Mercedes Lackey
55. Hyperbole and a Half- Allie Brosh
56. Under the Vale and Other Tales of Valdemar- Mercedes Lackey, ed.
57. Farscape Forever: Sex, Drugs, and Killer Muppets- Glenn Yeffeth, ed.

I also had 30 DNFs, so I got my eyeballs on 87 books in 2013. Not bad for a year in which I had a lot of health issues and had a very hard time finding books I liked and wanted to read.

Welcome back!

Thanks and also thank you for running this group. :)

Welcome Jenn - I read a lot of SF too - been reading some of the older stuff (any gender), newer stuff by younger women, and well, everything in between. Huge fan. Glad to see you here.

Winning Colors and the two previous books in the trilogy, Hunting Party and Sporting Chance are still my favorite science fiction by Moon, despite all her later work. I hope you enjoyed them.

> 4, thank you. I'll be sure to follow your thread. It's nice to meet a fellow Cherryh fan (although I haven't read many of her books yet).

> 5, I did enjoy them. The only other Moon books I had read before were her collaborations with Anne McCaffrey. I have the Esmay Suiza series and I have three of the Vatta's War books and can get the other two as ebooks from my library, so I plan to read all of those this year.

ANother SF fan dropping by to say welcome and happy reading!

>7 HanGerg: Thank you and welcome to you also.

I updated my list. I know it doesn't look like I've read that much, but I've been attempting to read various anthologies too and while I didn't finish three of them, I read quite a few stories from each. I'm tempted to do a separate DNF list too.

I'm currently reading Dragon Ship by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (and looking forward to their new Laiden book coming out next month) and Love and Rockets edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Kerrie Hughes.

I decided to write a few brief thoughts about each book I've read, which I used to do on my Live Journal, but haven't in a long time.

Winning Colors by Elizabeth Moon: I enjoyed the whole trilogy about Heris Serrano, which I started last year. I like Moon's competent women characters and I intend to read the rest of her science fiction books. I also have most of the books in her Paks series, so I'll try those too, but they have a plot element I can't stand, so I'm cautious about them.

We Won the Cup! by The Boston Herald. I'm a long-suffering Bruins fan who rejoiced when they finally won their first Stanley Cup of my lifetime in 2011 (maybe more than most because I had just lost my mom and then more bad things kept piling up, so I needed something good and happy). I got this book for the holidays last year, but I refused to read it until the NHL lockout ended. It was great to revisit the whole Bruins 2011 playoff run and the pictures are great.

DNFs:
Villains Victorious: I got this for the Tanya Huff story (which I liked), but then I got all of her story collections, so I decided to check out the other stories in this to see if it was worth keeping and most weren't my cup of tea. I liked Fiona Patton's story and Kristine Kathryn Rusch's story, but I don't think I liked any of the others.

Horrible Beginnings: I have no idea why I even had this because I haven't liked horror since I was in middle school. The only story I actually liked was Elizabeth Hand's, which was more creepy and less horrific or gory.

Snow White, Blood Red: I liked a few stories, but this was way too dark for me and I can't read about child rape.

My spousal unit is on a huge Liaden jag - I found them but he has taken over. But no complaints, as I am just grateful we both love SF.

I hadn't read much Cherryh either until recently - but I'm plowing through them now. So dense, so complete. Other books often seem a bit thin in comparison.

You're so lucky, my spouse just reads William Gibson.

Cherryh is a bit too heavy for me at the moment, but I hope to get back to reading her books maybe in the spring and summer (winter and SAD kick my butt).

I finished Dragon Ship and it was okay, but I prefer the pre-Theo Liaden books. I'm also a bit discouraged to find out that "the sequel" to Dragon Ship turned out to be *five* books! I'm looking forward to Necessity's Child and especially Trade Secrets (a sequel to my favorite Liaden book I read last year, Balance of Trade) though. I'll buy them in ebook format if the library doesn't get them.

I just finished Necessity's Child a few days ago after finding out the Kindle version is available already. Enjoyable if a little "lite".

What 5 books are the sequel to Dragon Ship?

Ooh, I hadn't heard about Trade Secrets--I really like Balance of Trade a lot too.

I have yet to read anything by Elizabeth Moon and I even own The Speed of Dark, I just have not managed to read it!

>12 ronincats:, I looked to see if the regular ebook (not the e-ARC) was available from Baen yet last week and it wasn't. I'm still on the fence about whether I'll buy the ebook now or wait until next year when it's the same price as the paperback now that the Baen ebook prices has gone up due to the Kindle deal. I guess if the library doesn't get it, I'll buy it soon.

The five books don't have titles yet: http://korval.com/2013/01/11/exciting-times-for-the-liaden-universe/

:) I'm on the Lee & Miller email update list, so I keep up to date on the Liaden news- otherwise, I'd never be able to keep everything straight. LOL

>13 alcottacre:, Until last year, the only Moon books I had read were her two collaborations with Anne McCaffrey, which I read because of McCaffrey's involvement.

Love and Rockets: Not what I was expecting when I saw that it was romantic science fiction. I liked most of the stories, especially Jody Lynn Nye's, but not enough to keep the book.

The Borrowers: I can't believe I never read this when I was a child (I loved The Littles and this would is similar). I loved this book (and the Studio Ghibli movie based on it). I'm a dollhouse crafter and now I desperately want to make a Borrowers house full of thimbles, spools, tin cans, marbles, and all kinds of other tiny goodies.

Book #6 for 2013:
A Dangerous Magic edited by Denise Little: Again, I think DAW and I have a serious disagreement about what constitutes romantic SFF. I didn't like very many of these stories, with "Dreamstitching" by Kristin Schwengel being the only stand-out story here.

My reading and posting have slowed way down. I'm having a "health problem" at the moment that I'm going to be vague about until I find out everything is going well, but it's making me very tired and it's also messing with my sleep cycle, so reading has been a bit tough lately. I'm glad I made the decision to read a lot of juvenile and YA books and lots of anthologies before I found out about my situation.

Hope your health problem is resolved soon.

Also sending support for resolving your health problem.

Thank you, thornton and ronincats.

I'm mostly reading children's books, anthologies, and now Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey books. I'm not sure how much reading I'm going to do this year because I'm in the midst of a major life change- probably the biggest change in my life ever. I know I keep hinting about things, but I really don't want to "go public" with my news until I'm at least reassured that everything is going well.

We shall possess our souls in patience until you are ready. Best wishes!

I was hoping to read a lot more books this year, but between being exhausted from pregnancy then finding out I had a missed miscarriage, well, it doesn't look like I'll be reaching 75 books.

Quaisior, I am so very sorry to hear about your miscarriage. I know it is a very difficult time for you and yours, and while books can at time be a palliative, reaching 75 books certainly is not of the least importance in comparison. I hope you'll drop in when you feel like it.

Thank you, Roni. It's been a rough time, even though I was kind of expecting it. I'm not giving up though and hope to try again in a couple months. I'm terrified that I'm too old or too sick to sustain a healthy pregnancy, but I'm also determined.

I've been comforting myself with cozy reads, watching baseball and hockey, frantically cleaning my house, and throwing myself back into my Barbie collecting and restoring hobby.

I'm finally almost feeling normal again and already trying to get pregnant again (I'm kind of in a rush because I turn 40 next year).

I haven't been reading as much as I'd like to because I've been busy cleaning out my house. I have too much stuff and not enough space. I'm hoping to have a yard sale soon and I'm selling a few things online too so I can make some space for new stuff and for baby stuff.

I got back into doll collecting this year and weeded out my Barbie collection to make room for new acquisitions. I have a huge pile of Barbie clothes that need to be mended too, so I'm slowly working on that. And I've been sewing for my dolls too, but I admit I'm not that great at it (maybe I should stick to knitting doll clothes, which I am much better at).

I updated my list at the top of the page. I've kind of been suffering through a reading funk and the only book I've read recently that I really liked was Call the Midwife. I love the TV show, so I got all three books and hope to read them all this year.

What, no love for The Velveteen Rabbit?

Glad you are better now, and good luck. My little sister (or more likely her friends) degraded my Barbie (the second one, with the bouffant hairdo) and her accessories. My Revlon doll, which I always loved more, survived a little more intact. I will always regret not packing them away where she couldn't get to them while I was at college.

I've found that reading books over 400 pages isn't working out too well this year. My abilities to concentrate and stay awake are shot. I'm going to stick to lighter books for the rest of the year.

I posted my final updated list. While I didn't read 75 books, I view the 36 DNFs I had last year as a success too because I didn't waste my time reading books I didn't like.

I'm with you on that. Life's too short for bad books!

I totally agree! I have over 1000 unread books, so if I don't finish the bad ones, maybe I'll get to read my entire TBR pile within my lifetime. ;-)

Congrats on finishing off the year with 87 books disposed of, one way or the other!