The 2014 Books of Evilmoose

This is my first time joining a group on here, hooray! I thought I'd try joining in the challenge in the hope of finding a few more recommendations on books to read, as I often tend to end up listening to the audiobooks my husband acquires, which lean far too consistently into sci-fi/fantasy for my tastes.

I mostly do my reading through audiobooks, just because it's the only way I can fit it in these days. Otherwise my book selections tend to be based on picking through old classics I haven't read yet, and anything newer I can get my hands on, or whatever looks good in second-hand book shops. In 2013 I managed 58 books, 2012 I managed 19, and in 2011 I read 96 - so who knows what 2014 will bring!

Definitely reading in 2014
Margaret Atwood - The Blind Assassin (picked up 2nd-hand and in to-read pile) READ
Ian McEwan - Atonement (picked up 2nd-hand and in to-read pile) READ
Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveler's Wife (picked up 2nd-hand and in to-read pile) READ
Jonas Jonasson - The 100-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared (Christmas present) READ
William Golding - Lord of the Flies (re-read, haven't read it since high school - picked up 2nd-hand and in to-read pile) READ
Agatha Christie - Ordeal by Innocence (I was half-way through this when my kindle broke. Unreplaced. I'll have to find a paper copy to finish the mystery) READ
China Mieville - Kraken (I have the audiobook, and have never read Mieville before) READ
John Irving - The World According to Garp (Widely referenced, but I've never read it) As soon as I started, realised I've read it already!
Lev Grossman - Magician King (Finished The Magicians in December 2013, and interested enough to give the sequel a try, have the audiobook) READ

Hopefully reading in 2014
Neal Stephenson - Maybe The Diamond Age and Snow Crash? And Cryptonomicon. And Zodiac. (I started listening to Anathem in 2013, but decided to give up and start with something a little easier of his.... and now my list of Stephenson books to read is growing, but I think I'm on board with this!)
Neil Gaiman (There are still a few Gaiman classics I haven't read) Odd and The Frost Giants, The Graveyard Book, Sandman?...
Peter Carey - Oscar and Lucinda (found the e-book)
Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (I've enjoyed the musical, I should really read the book)
P.G. Wodehouse (Haven't read any yet, and feel I really should)
Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo READ
Some Oscar Wilde short stories READ, but must read more Oscar Wilde!
China Mieville - The City & the City (as recommended by ianink) READ
Madeline Miller - The Song of Achilles READ
Hugh Howey - Wool READ
Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus READ
Gary Shteyngart - Super Sad True Love Story (recommended by Kate) READ

And my top 7 of 2013
Neil Gaiman - Anansi Boys (Finally got around to reading some more classic Gaiman this year, and this was just wonderful)
Alfred Lansing - Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (Not a literary masterpiece, but did such a wonderful job of conveying their situation that it had me captivated from start to finish. But I'm into stupid adventures myself, so definitely not for everyone)
W.E. Bowman - The Ascent of Rum Doodle (Classic mountaineering tale which I finally read. Has convinced me to bring many more cases of champagne along with me on my expeditions.)
Edward Abbey - The Monkey Wrench Gang (Great classic piece of environmental anarchism and hi-jinks)
Allie Brosh - Hyperbole and a Half (Much anticipated, lovely read)
Michael Law - Law Unto Himself (An obscure autobiography by an Australian rock-climber who writes wonderfully well)
Margaret Atwood - Oryx and Crake (I read the whole trilogy this year, but I think this one was my favourite of the three - they each have something to say for them though!)

Megan aka evilmoose

My books read, with a short review:

January 2014 (12)
1. Robert Galbraith - The Cuckoo's Calling (audiobook)
I drifted off a little during the middle, and had trouble maintaining interest. All in all it was a reasonable little read, but for me, not super enthralling.
★★★

2. Robert Heinlein - Starship Troopers (audiobook)
Finally! War, bugs, and some good old Heinlein social commentary thrown in.
★★★

3. Christopher Bennett (editor) - The Cordillera Vol 5 - Literature from the world's toughest bike race
A collection of stories from people who raced the Tour Divide in 2013, a crazy 4418km self-supported mountain bike race from Canada to the Mexican border. Interesting reading for me as I'm planning to race the Tour Divide in 2015 - so what wasn't wonderfully written was at least educational!
★★★

4. Neil Gaiman - Odd and the Frost Giants
Absolutely loved it, I wish I'd been able to read Gaiman when I was a bookworm child, his books just feel soothing to the soul.
★★★★★

5. Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash (audiobook)
Enough quirky, humorous, and just downright fascinating elements to avoid reading as straight sci-fi cyberpunk, there were a lot of moments that just made me grin. Fun and interesting read. ★★★★

6. Jonas Jonasson - The 100 year old man who climbed out a window and disappeared
Sweet and improbable, I probably would have enjoyed this more if I've stumbled across without having come across any of the related hype.
★★★½

7. Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book
Spooky and captivating, another Gaiman tale with a young main character (he's barely walking in the opening chapter) which is unbearably sad, worrying, heartwarming, tragic and compelling. The only good thing about it being so short (336 pages) is that it will be easier to fit in a quick re-read whenever the fancy takes me - because I really will have to buy a copy.
★★★★½

8. China Mieville - Kraken (audiobook)
The phrase "a be-tentacled love-story to London" springs to mind. There was such an uneasy sensation of dread throughout the book, of weirdness, and wrongness, and unnatural things happening, that I ended up having a lot of nightmares. At times it was hard to keep track of things, and that just added to the sense of unease for me. It was interesting, and different, and there was a lot of cephalopod musing, and underworld, and magic, a mystery to solve, and a series of reveals towards the end. All in all, it's enough to have made me curious about Mieville, and to try another book or two of his, although I wouldn't bother re-reading this one.
★★★

9. Lev Grossman - The Magician King (audiobook)
A follow-on from The Magicians, which was a kind of coming of age tale for a group of magicians with Narnian undertones. Like the original, the sequel had a lot of of interesting ideas, and Narnia references but it didn't all tie together in a captivating read for me. The introduction of an Australian character didn't help, as I was listening to the audiobook, and the narrator really couldn't manage anything resembling an Australian accent, which was quite distracting!
★★★

10. Oscar Wilde - The Happy Prince and other tales (audiobook)
Absolute perfection! A collection of beautiful and bittersweet short stories, read by Stephen Fry. I had to re-listen to them all as soon as I'd heard them the first time. I must read more Oscar Wilde!
★★★★★

11. Alexandre Dumas - The Counte of Monte Cristo (e-book/audiobook)
A ripping yarn, that just got better and better, until the very end, when I felt just a little bit let down.
★★★★½

12. Neal Stephenson - The Diamond Age
Loved it! The world building, the mad technology, the strong female characters. The start and finish were definitely weaker than the bulk of the story, but that part in the middle was great.
★★★★

February (7)
13. Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn: The Final Empire (audiobook)
Surprisingly enjoyable - very much following-the-fantasy-rules kind of fantasy, but done well, and I'll admit to enjoying allomancy as a well-structure form of magic. Definitely going to keep reading the rest of the trilogy.
★★★★

14. Margaret Atwood - The Blind Assassin
Great read. A family mystery slowly revealed, a premise which I've gotten sick of recently, but which was done so well here. There are three separate stories told here, woven together and interspersed with newspaper clippings about the events affecting the family. I didn't have any difficulty following the separate strands, although I'm very glad I didn't read this one as an audiobook. And I felt compelled to stay up late and finish it, I just HAD to read the last 100 pages.
★★★★½

15. Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn: The Well of Ascension (audiobook)
Losing interest a little, especially throughout the middle. Too many fight scenes and formulaic fantasy for my taste. It mightn't have been so bad if I found the romance side of things a little more interesting, but I just never really got into the relationship between Vin and Eland, or the love triangle that developed, and so didn't feel at all invested in the outcome.
★★★½

16. Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn: The Hero of Ages (audiobook)
I think this one would be better read as a paper book - just so I could skim over the sections which started to drag a little. Entertaining enough fantasy read, but for me it was let down a little by the slower sections. Things did start getting a little more interesting towards the end though, and there were some sections of the book that were definitely captivating - wondering if I should pick up the next one... hmmm.
★★★

17. Mira Grant - Parasite (audiobook)
Mira Grant really is just a master of having me on the edge of my seat, just waiting for the next terrible thing to happen. I really enjoyed her Newsflesh trilogy (zombies!), and there are a lot of similar themes in this trilogy (large corporations & when science goes terribly wrong being the obvious ones). Listening to the audiobook, the narrator is the same as for the Newsflesh books - which didn't take too long to adjust to, as the main female characters are quite different (although the minor character with an English accent was the one grating audiobook moment for me). Good fun, although it felt like the story wasn't quite so strong as the Newsflesh books, and there were moments where I felt like explanations or character behaviour didn't really make sense.
★★★

18. Ian McEwan - Atonement
The hardest thing I found about reading this book, was that I'd already seen the movie, so knew exactly what I was waiting to unfold. And I found it constantly difficult to separate the film from the book in my head. So it's a little hard to give a balanced review.
★★★½

19. Rainbow Rowell - Fangirl (audiobook)
Plain old good fun, Fangirl tells the story of Cather as she starts out in college - with the added complications of crippling social anxiety, an identical twin sister who is pretty keen to have as much fun as possible, a deep and abiding association with a fandom that's terribly reminiscent of Harry Potter, and a desire to become a fiction writer. The first half of the book in particular kept reminding me of my own experiences in college - kind of amusing to look back on :)
★★★★

March 2014 (9)
20. Robin Hobb - Dragon Keeper (audiobook)
Apparently I wasn't really in the mood to re-enter the world of Elderlings, dragons and the Rain Wilds. I almost stopped listening once I realised what I was letting myself in for, but kept going. Maybe I shouldn't have done. I was feeling distinctly under-whelmed the whole way through, and would have given less stars, except for the nagging sensation it was me who wasn't in the mood, rather than the book failing me. I think I'll take a break before continuing with the rest of the series.
★★½

21. Ivan Goncharov - Oblomov (audiobook)
Sometimes all you need in life is some Russian literature. A wonderful book and glorious social commentary.
★★★★

22. Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower (audiobook)
On the whole, I found this a slightly irritating experience. An epistolary novel, the story is revealed through letters the main character writes to an unknown stranger. And to be honest, I just wanted to slap him. But having recently unearthed some writings of myself at 16, perhaps that's just the normal response to reading the thoughts of a 16 year old. With The Catcher in the Rye cited as inspiration, I found it also reminiscent of I am the Cheese - they certainly share a naivety/unawareness in their main characters.
★★★

23. Diana Wynne Jones - A sudden wild magic (audiobook)
Blah. A few scenes and sentences I enjoyed, interspersed between pages and pages that bored me. Sorry book, I'm just not that into you.
★★½

24. Neil Gaiman - Fragile Things (audiobook)
Aah, short stories and I never usually get along, but Neil Gaiman reading his own work is always captivating.
★★★★

25. Cornelia Funke - Inkheart (audiobook)
I can't help but wonder if my current higher than usual volume of book reading is making me cynical and demanding, or whether I just haven't always been choosing the right books. Neither the plot or the writing really captivated me here, maybe I was expecting too much.
★★★

26. Terry Pratchett - Raising Steam (audiobook)
Terry Pratchett books really are like an old favourite pair of slippers. Maybe they're not what they once were, but they're still so warm and fuzzy and comfortable to slip into. There were all sorts of guest appearances and cameos here, and it just didn't seem to have the sharp focus and humour of some of the older Discworld books. But I still loved listening to it.
★★★½

27. Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus (audiobook)
I loved The Night Circus, and the night circus Morgenstern created. The characters and the story were both wonderful, and entrancing, and I felt a little like I was staring at a beautiful work of art that just spoke to me, although I wouldn't have been able to explain why to anyone who came by and saw me staring at it. I can think of faults, but they didn't diminish my enjoyment.
★★★★½

28. Garth Nix - Sabriel (audiobook)
What's not to like about plucky teenage necromancers? I seem to be reading quite a lot of sci-fi/fantasy with female main characters this year. Sabriel wasn't genre busting, but good fun fantasy, and I would have loved it as a teenager too I think.
★★★½

April 2014 (4)
29. Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace (audiobook)
Thought provoking, intelligent, but at times a bit tedious.
★★★½

30. Hugh Howey - Wool (audiobook)
Really enjoyable read. I came into it knowing only that it was post-apocalyptic, and just found it just plain good fun... in a post-apocalyptic way.
★★★★

31. Neal Stephenson - Reamde (audiobook)
I was expecting more sci-fi, and didn't have enough patience for what felt like a slow start. So I put it down and came back to it a month later, and oooh, it's a techno-thriller! With terrorists! And clandestine border crossings and urban and wild adventures. Was a fun holiday read in the end.
★★★★

32. Audrey Niffeneger - The Time Traveler's Wife
Had seen the movie, but wanted to read the book. Which just reminded me of the movie. A pleasant enough experience, I was neither over nor underwhelmed.
★★★½

May 2014 (8)
33. Garth Nix - Lirael (audiobook)
More plucky teenage necromancers, and outsiders, and adventure. Unlike Sabriel, this one really doesn't stand alone, and you obviously have to keep reading and finish the trilogy.
★★★½

34. Gogol - Dead Souls (e-book)
Ah, good old Russian literature. I am not sure which translation I read, but I wouldn't recommend it. An entertaining satire of life.
★★★½

35. Agatha Christie - Ordeal by Innocence (e-book)
An Agatha Christie with a random mystery solver! Not one of her best, but they're always a fun read.
★★★

36. William Golding - Lord of the Flies
A re-read, the first time since high school. I found myself partially swept along and horrified, and partially unable to identify, and a bit irritated with the over-simplifications involved.
★★★½

37. Garth Nix - Abhorsen (audiobook)
Basically the second half of Lirael (see book #33). Still good fun.
★★★½

38. Edward Abbey - Freedom & Wilderness (audiobook)
Someone lent me their copy of Edward Abbey reading these stories, and once you got used to his style of reading - quite different to most of the audiobook readers I spend my time listening to - I really enjoyed it, and felt like I was sitting around a campfire with Abbey, listening to him spin his yarns.
★★★★

39. Donna Tartt - The Goldfinch (audiobook)
A super long read as an audiobook. And the sort of book that has me re-thinking my goal to try and coherently review every book I read this year. Because... it was interesting. I enjoyed listening to it. I was occasionally bored. I hadn't read any dust jacket information, so I had no idea where the story would go. I thought to myself, in the early days of listening, that if someone asked what it was about, I would say "A boy whose mother dies, and then things happen to him." I was reminded of the movie Trainspotting (not the book, because I haven't read it), and then the words "pretentious" and "waffling" came to mind. But all in all it was still an enjoyable read. But not of the sort I feel like revisiting. So, that's my jumble of thoughts about the book.
★★★½

40. Louis Sachar - Holes (audiobook)
Sometimes having no prior info about a book is just fantastic. This was one of those times. I was for some reason assuming it was going to be some sci-fi/fantasy. The story that was woven was so much sweeter than I was expecting, and not without Neil Gaiman-esque touches of isolated children adrift in an uncaring adult world.
★★★★

June 2014 (3)
41. Harry Dresden - Skin Game (audiobook)
Ahh, and so we come to another session of Megan rage-reading Harry Dresden. Last year I ploughed through the entire series to date. I was told things would get better after the first few books. Things certainly got shinier, and the tropes of the Harry world for firmly established, but 'better' is a bit of a stretch of the imagination. If you haven't met him, Harry Dresden is a wizard. He lives in Chicago. He's homophobic (haha, wackily hilarious), misogynistic and quite rude about short people. Terrible things happen, he gets really badly injured, then wins against all the odds, all while angsting about everything, lusting after every second female who walks onto the book, and moaning about how much he misses the blue VW beetle he used to drive.

And why do I keep listening to these books when it annoys me so much? Because I love James Marsters reading them. And I've come to enjoy the Harry rage.
★★½

42. Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint (e-book)
Amusing, and at times an insight into the family of my Jewish partner.
★★★★

43. Bruce Chatwin - In Patagonia (audiobook)
Meh. Can't remember why I tried this one, but I did not find it enthralling.
★★½

July 2014 (4)
44. M.R. Carey - The Girl With All the Gifts (audiobook)
Post-apocalyptic young adult fiction. A bit scary, with a neat back-story for the apocalyptic event - gradually revealed. The main scientist of the story is a bit of an alarming stereotype. Overall a fun read though, in the same kind of vein as Hugh Howey's Wool or Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake trilogy - although a much simpler story aimed at a younger audience.
★★★★

45. Jane Austen - Northanger Abbey (e-book)
I enjoyed the naive Catherine and pleasant Mr. Tilney, the poking of fun at gothic novels and the young heroines who come from appropriately romantic backgrounds. It really did feel like a baby Jane Austen book though, with moments of the brilliant Austen-ness that I'm more used to, and then more moments of meandering, and a story that wasn't so entirely robust and polished as I was expecting. But despite that, it was still a lovely more-ish read!
★★★★

46. George Orwell - Homage to Catalonia (audiobook)
Finished this one off on a four-day camping trip. Fascinating & educational tale of Orwell's time fighting in the Spanish Civil War, if only I didn't find descriptions of war so tedious I'd surely have given it more stars. Now I want to go back and re-read some Hemingway, as well as giving myself a more thorough grounding in the history of the time.
★★★½

47. Timur Vermes - Look Who's Back (audiobook)
German political/social satire based on the reappearance of Hitler in modern-day Germany. Hitler is mistaken for a brilliant method actor of himself, and ends up with his own TV show - all the while making plenty of discoveries about the way the modern world works, and the way he is now perceived. It had my partner laughing out loud, but I just largely felt a bit uneasy about the whole thing.
★★★

August 2014 (5)
48. John Williams - Stoner (audiobook)
A beautiful portrait of the life of a boy who grows up on hard farming land, to become a man who discovers he loves language. Restrained and intelligent, but also quite sad.
★★★★½

49. Edith Warton - House of Mirth (audiobook)
Well. That was very different yet at the same time left me with a very similar feeling to my last book read. I shall not say any more, as it would all be spoilers.
★★★½

50. Margaret Atwood - Cat's Eye (audiobook)
This stirred unsettling childhood memories. I was drawn in, and fascinated, but was left feeling constantly uneasy. Childhood, motherhood, ageing... and an interesting take on life in Toronto - we switch views from Elaine now, an established painter, to Elaine growing up, from childhood bullies (frenemies!), to her path through life to reach where she is today.
★★★½

51. Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham - Veronica Mars: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line (audiobook)
I love you Veronica Mars, spunky girl detective! Listening to Kristen Bell read this audiobook made it easy to imagine myself right into the middle of an episode - although I'll admit to some internal giggling at her take on some of the other accents. When you are so fond of a character it's hard to look on a related book with any sort of objectivity, so I won't even attempt it. I have no idea whether it would be a fun read for someone unfamiliar with the franchise, but if you are, close your eyes and it's just another episode. (Admittedly one that's a little short on Logan)
★★★★

52. Lev Grossman - The Magician's Land (audiobook)
The final book in the trilogy - and unlike those of Douglas Adams and his kin, this one is just a trilogy of three. Poking fun at many of the fantasy tropes, this continues in the same vein as the first two books, except now our heroes are well out of school, and the coming of age has been and gone. A satisfying conclusion, with the standard flippant treatment of the situations they find themselves in, and ironic responses to just about everything. It's not at all Harry Potter for grown-ups though, despite what they say. And in some ways this was easier to read than the first two, in the same way that living my late 20s again would be much easier than re-living my late teens or early 20s. Much less angst and discontent.
★★★½

September 2014 (6)
53. Colleen McCollough - The Thorn Birds (audiobook)
A love story to the land, and the saga of the Cleary family. This is an Australian classic I've known of for many years, but somehow never read. And it's marvellous, but I'm glad I didn't read it earlier. I appreciated it far more now than I would have done as a teenager, or in my early 20s. An Irish Catholic family growing up in New Zealand at first, before moving to Australia to take over the large sheep station belonging to a manipulative family member. In many ways it isn't perfect. It feels a little long, and sometimes the random tangents seem to splice into the story for no reason. But I loved the random tangents. I loved the descriptions of the station Drogheda, the beauty and awe-inspiring nature of the land, and the portrait of the farming family. And of course the love stories woven throughout, as family history repeats, and doesn't.

I grew up in outback Australia, so this struck many chords with me. There were many familiar characters, moments, experiences. I wouldn't recommend it whole-heartedly to anyone and everyone, but for me it was a 5 star read.
★★★★★

54. Gary Shteyngart - Super Sad True Love Story (audiobook)
I was so sure I was going to enjoy this book. It was recommended to me by a friend, when I was venting after reading a succession of downbeat kind of depressing books. I went into it with the assumption it would be uplifting. And it wasn't. I couldn't bring myself to enjoy any of the unsympathetic shallow characters, the futuristic world it was set in just felt bleak and depressing and awful, and I kept waiting for things to suddenly improve. People kept being awful to each other, nothing improved, everything was terrible, and I didn't even enjoy the journey.
★★½

55. Austin Grossman - Soon I Will Be Invincible (audiobook)
Another reminder that my husband laughing hysterically at a book won't mean I find it funny, or even particularly like it. I complained to him it was derivative. He said it was purposely derivative. I said it was still tediously boring.
★★

56. China Mieville - The City and the City (audiobook)
Just lovely. This is my second Mieville, and I do enjoy his brand of weird. A gritty detective story set in Eastern Europe, but in a city that is twinned with another city sharing the same space. The City and the City overlap, but are foreign countries, and unauthorised cross-over, or even acknowledgment of the other city, is punishable by extreme measures. Then a girl is murdered and hijinx ensue! (By hijinx, in this case I mean detective work, cursing, and further murders... and of course, unauthorised crossings between cities)
★★★★

57.Madeline Miller - The Song of Achilles (audiobook)
A mostly enthralling re-telling of the Trojan War, from the perspective of the Patroclus, the very very close friend of Achilles. I wasn't expecting the romance, but I have now been inspired to re-read The Illiad and The Odyssey, which I haven't read for at least ten years.
★★★★

58.Sarah Waters - Fingersmith (audiobook)
Another more-ish read, and my very first Sarah Waters novel. At one point, the plot was starting to get so convoluted that I had to write everything down, so as to get it straight in my head. It was certainly an ambitiously involved story, told from two viewpoints, but Waters has done a great job of pulling it off (although... I'm not hundred percent about the ending...)
★★★★

October 2014 (5)
59. Scott Thigpen - Trail magic and the art of soft pedaling
Another tale from the Tour Divide race - epic suffering and joy via bicycle, as one travels from Canada to Mexico, along the Continental Divide. Scott is endearingly naive at times, fulfilling all kinds of stereotypes of un-travelled Americans, but he is also brutally honest about what he went through as he raced - the emotional highs and lows are epic. Self-published, and fun, it tells the story of a race I plan to ride next year. So although I enjoyed it, I don't expect anyone else reading this will seek it out... but if you do, please let me know :)
★★★½

60.Norton Juster - The Phantom Tollbooth (audiobook)
A classic that I never read. And now I have read. Never-ending puns, sweet wordplay and silliness, and a young child achieving the impossible. I can see why Neil Gaiman references it as so influential to him.
★★★★

61.Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon (e-book)
Squeee! I am officially a Neal Stephenson convert. His books are joyfully geeky, and hard to put down, with deliciously woven plots. And they're not perfect Literature, but by golly they're fun to read.
★★★★★

62. Jack Weatherford - Genghis Khan and the making of the modern world
Well that was just fascinating. Although Jack Weatherford does seem to have a bit of a crush on Genghis Khan, this was a really captivating story, relating how an insignificant boy from the Steppes, named Temüjin, ended up becoming Genghis Khan. The story continues after Genghis dies, and we see how his influence on the world continues, through his actions and achievements, and through his family. I finally learnt the backstory to Kublai Khan, and his pleasure-dome, and have a much better grasp of Mongol hordes now.
★★★★

63. Helene Wecker - The Golem and the Jinni (audiobook)
I've been on a roll with book choices this October. The Golem and the Jinni is another winner. Mysticism and folklore bundled up in 1890s New York City. The Jinni who ends up living in a Syrian neighbourhood, the master-less Golem who is adopted into the Jewish neighbourhood, both trying to blend into the human world. Character development, some romance, an evil man who is up to no good, others who are trying to help, and there's even icecream.
★★★★

November 2014 (9)
64. Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse (audiobook)
Although I struggled with it at first, in the end I think it was good to listen to as an audiobook, as I was forced to pay attention to the text, to revel in its every nuance.
★★★★★

65. Jane Austen - Mansfield Park (e-book)
An enjoyable enough read, but lacking a little compared to my favourite Austen books. Fanny Price is sweet, but sanctimonious, but I have to say I related more to Mary Crawford and her lack of morals. Romances are always less fun when you're just not fussed if the two people in question actually get together in the end.
★★★½

66. X. Herbert - Capricornia (audiobook)
Blah. "Capricornia has been described as on of Australia's 'great novels'" - I'm not sure who by. It's definitely important and interesting subject matter, and a great setting for a novel, but the writing itself is just tedious, mind-numbingly tedious, with long sections of sermonising inserted into one character or another's mouth. I was going to give it at least an extra half star, but after sleeping on it, I decided the whole book reading experience was just too annoying. It compares particularly poorly after having read a succession of fantastic classic books, including The Thorn Birds, which is an actual Australian classic.
★★

67. Herman Hesse - Siddhartha (audiobook)
Yay! Gorgeous and soothing spiritual journey. The ideas flow in the same way as those in my brain - it always makes for a nice relaxing read.
★★★★½

68. Georgette Heyer - The Grand Sophy (audiobook)
Well, I'm not sure how to feel about this. I don't know that I've ever really read much in the way of romances before. I was a little alarmed by a heaving bosom at one point, but Sophy was good fun. And there's something terribly relaxing about reading a book where you know everything is going to turn out perfectly fine in the end, and you don't have to worry about the fate of your favourite characters. The next time I'm feeling completely overwhelmed by a succession of overwhelmingly depressing books, I know where to turn.
★★★½

69. Rainbow Rowell - Landline (audiobook)
I enjoyed Landline. It wasn't perfect. And I've heard other reviewers say the magical element was unecessary to the story. But I enjoyed that element - if only for the number of times I've imagined travel or communication with past selves or others. And since I finished it this morning, it keeps popping back into my head - as some relationship stories tend to do. This is the second book of Rowell's I've read, and I do really enjoy her writing. I feel like any one of the characters in her books could walk off the page and accidentally knock on my door.
★★★★

70. Bram Stoker - Dracula (audiobook)
I listened to this as a full-cast audiobook production by audible, which was well done on the whole, although I stumbled with the way Van Helsing was read. I'm not sure if it would be so jarring to read, or if it had been read aloud differently. That aside - I'm pretty sure I read a heavily abridged version of Dracula some time in the last year or two. The first four chapters were very familiar, but the rest of the book was apparently summarised down to almost nothing - but I never recorded it in LT, and I'm not sure how or why I ended up with an abridged version. The long version makes much more sense! Although I was finding things were dragging a bit from time to time. A definite classic of course though (and a few unintentionally funny moments 'Unclean! Unclean!). I'm glad I've finally read this, as it's provided some much needed context to reams of popular vampire culture.
★★★

71. Alan Bradley - Speaking From Among the Bones: A Flavia de Luce Novel (audiobook)
Oh, I love Flavia! I hadn't heard of her at all until this book popped up a few times in various threads here. I couldn't get hold of the first in the series, so I've started here, and now I'll have to go and read the rest. Really, I love her on behalf of my precocious childhood self, who would have adored Flavia, and had much the same attitude towards adults and the rest of the world that she does. I was however, no chemistry genius. And it does feel a little, that after a run of young Flavia books we may end up with either 'Flavia as an adult embittered with the system takes justice into her own hands with a series of vigilante poison-based murders, and is never caught because she's so good', or 'Flavia loses her grip on sanity and starts poisoning everyone'. (I'd still read those books too)
★★★★

72. Jane Austen - Persuasion (audiobook)
Not my new favourite Jane Austen, and it did seem a little that it was all over far too quickly. More refined than Northanger Abbey, and a better story than Mansfield Park (well, at least I found the heroine at least a little relate-able, I still want to slap Fanny Price). The love story was sweet, but I kept expecting a little more than it delivered.
★★★★

December 2014 (10)
73. Virginia Woolf - Orlando (audiobook)
Perfection. But also simultaneously made complete sense, and no sense at all. I want to go back and read it again. And read everything else Virginia Woolf ever wrote.
★★★★★

74. Oscar Wilde - A Woman of no Importance (audiobook)
Short but sweet, and enjoyable play by Oscar Wilde that was over in no time. I've only just started reading Wilde, but am enjoying the experience.
★★★★

75. Charlaine Harris - Dead Until Dark (audiobook)
I.. um... well this was just vampire porn wasn't it? It's sort of Twilight with sex. The main character is 'special', and her vampire loves her oh so much, and takes care of her, and is very protective, but she tries to be defiantly independent, and there's the good old love triangle. It was fun, and kind of readable, but it just didn't feel like enough to me. I mean, there were murders happening, and I got all excited "Oh, murders, now they'll start trying to find out who did it." Nope, just leave it to the police. Don't bother using your magical telepathic powers or anything. Three stars because I did kind of enjoy it despite the silliness, but I don't think I'll read any more.
★★★

76. Annie Proulx - Brokeback Mountain (audiobook)
Another short but sweet, I'd been meaning to read this for a while. And because Sookie ran out while I was busy pulling staples out of our stairs (ripping out carpet to put in new flooring), I needed to start something new. It finished before the staples were gone. Stupid staples. Lovely story. Although I'd seen the movie... and some of it was shot in the mountains around here. I knew roughly what to expect, but enjoyed the experience.
★★★★

77. Iris Murdoch - The Bell (audiobook)
I enjoyed reading this, but now for the earth of me can't really explain why, or come up with an even vaguely coherent review. Sexuality, power, and a lingering sense of unease, and impending doom. Or at least impending embarrassment. I was desperately hoping things would turn out ok for everyone, even though they were certainly flawed characters. But there's that pesky impending doom to worry about... and the bell.
★★★★

78. Barry Unsworth - The Ruby in her Navel (audiobook)
Oof, not my cup of tea at all. I just found the whole thing so tedious, when in theory it should be an interesting book. There were Chekhov's guns at every turn, the mystery was completely obvious, there was no plot twist that seemed surprising... and sometimes that's completely fine, and I'll still enjoy the ride, but for me, this dragged, and I just wanted the obvious unveiling to be over with.
★★½

79. Alan Bradley - The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag: A Flavia de Luce Novel (audiobook)
All of my previous Flavia de Luce comments still hold. She's like a wonderful chaser of ginger, to clear the palate after a tedious or unpleasant book.
★★★★

80. Alan Bradley - The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches (audiobook)
More wonderful Flavia. I'll admit to getting a bit squeamish when she was starting to talk about trying to bring corpses back to life though, and was rather thankful when that possibility was averted.
★★★★

81.Christopher Bennett (editor) - The Cordillera Vol 6 (2014) - Literature from the world's toughest bike race
I was actually helping edit this for release, it's a very home-grown kind of collection of stories of varying qualities. For me it's fascinating though, as I hope to race the route in 2015. I read through every story with a critical eye, hoping to glean some information that might help me out of the course - so it's a very different kind of read!
★★★½

82. Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility
Oops, I was meant to read this next year, but accidentally started it after Christmas. Gorgeous and tidy and very well-polished, it still doesn't touch Pride and Prejudice for me, because I couldn't bring myself to care for the cast of main characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the poking at English cultural traditions of the time, and the characters drawn. Some of the interactions were wonderful fun to read. And yet - I felt I was admiring the book at arms length, rather than being swept up in it. I found it hard to relate to the incredibly sensible Elinor, who will never win my heart from Eliza Bennet.
★★★★

.....

Currently reading
Alexandre Dumas - The Three Musketeers

Welcome to the 75ers, Megan, and a happy 2014 of reading reading reading. May I venture to suggest reading Diamond Age as your first Neal Stephenson book? It's a glittering gem of a read, and less demanding (physically) than hefting Anathem.

Hello Megan! Welcome.

Anathem is most assuredly worth finishing, but it is indeed quite a doorstop. I found the first bit challenging because there is no introduction to the world, but as more and more of the setting was revealed, it became so engrossing to me that I couldn't put it down. I keep meaning to get to another of his books as well.

Thanks richardderus! Sounds like a much better place to begin.

And thanks UnrulySun - I feel like I should try it again. I'll probably try and track down a physical copy of the book too, rather than trying to listen to an audiobook. Some books you just really need to have in your hands, and I think Anathem might be one of them.

Oh I agree, you need the paper (or at least ebook). There are drawings and appendices and such you just can't get on audio.

With a moniker like that Megan I'm sure you'll be a hit in the group. Happy New Year.

Hi Megan!

I thought I'd try joining in the challenge in the hope of finding a few more recommendations on books to read...

Yeah, if your idea of a few is several thousand, you're in the right place! Welcome to the madhouse... :)

Welcome to a fellow Gaiman fan! I'm also getting ready to start my very first Wodehouse, so I'll be interested to hear what you think of him, too. I'm a huge fan of the BBC Jeeves and Wooster, but I've never read any of the books. Like you, I think it's just about time.

Paul - Hi, and a Happy New Year to you too! I look forward to seeing your readings this year too - you have some amazing plans, and are among the people who are making me feel terribly disorganised :)

Diana - Hello! I've just been checking out your thread, and it looks due to be full of amazing reading starting soon!

Jim - Hah, I'm beginning to get the suspicion I'm the person who's innocently wandered up to a group of people asking for a cup of water, only to be hit by a tsunami! A madhouse sounds like my kind of place though, I'm looking forward to it :)

Amber - Hello! I came across a reference in 2013 that mentioned that Stephen Fry had typed out Frozen Assets by Wodehouse, and thought that level of dedication to an author really deserved to be investigated, instead of put off for another year. I look forward to following your readings this year too.

Welcome Megan! Definitely a madhouse here, but a very delightful one if that makes any sense! Looking forward to following your thread.

Hi Megan, I have starred your thread. Great reading list. I enjoyed Diamond Age and Kraken and in fact most all of them! :)

>12 evilmoose:: I love Stephen Fry in general (and his Jeeves in particular) so much that I have one of these, and absolutely love it (although my husband isn't as keen on being waked with it as I am):

http://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Talking-Voco-Alarm-Clock/dp/B004GBGDVE/ref=cm_cr_p...

Hah, that is fantastic!

Welcome to the group, Megan. Which side of the Rockies are you on? I ask mostly because Alberta residents are a rare breed around these parts. ;)

Thanks - and I am indeed an Albertan, lurking in the Bow Valley :)

Lovely. I'm in Edmonton (for now) but trips to the mountains are always a delight.

Hi, evilmoose, starring your thread, looks like our reading tastes coincide quite a bit!

Hi Megan. Love your username by the way. Looks like you've got some great reading coming up.

Karen - Yes they do! I clicked on the "What books should you borrow" link in your profile and it was full of books I really want to read too! Do you have a thread yet in the 2014 75ers? I couldn't spot it.

SandDune - Thanks - I've been an evilmoose since the early days of the internet :)

<22--Yes, I do--go to the homepage of the 2014 75ers group, then below the intro look for "thread book". My link is there under karspeak. This is any easy way to find people's threads, since the group is so big...

So, I should probably add these two! I was trying to get The Cuckoo's Calling finished for the end of 2013, but in the end it became my first of 2014. And then Starship Troopers was a really quick read. This book per day thing isn't going to continue!

1. Robert Galbraith - The Cuckoo's Calling
I drifted off a little during the middle, and had trouble maintaining interest, but all in all it was a reasonable little read.

2. Robert Heinlein - Starship Troopers
Finally got around to reading this (after watching the awful movie back when it came out). War, bugs, and some good old Heinlein social commentary thrown in.

Another one I started last year - the pace really is going to slow down now, honestly.

3. Christopher Bennett (editor) - The Cordillera Vol 5 - Literature from the world's toughest bike race

This is a collection of stories from people who rode the Tour Divide in 2013. The Tour Divide is a mountain bike race along the Great Divide MTB route from Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells, on the New Mexico border. The trail is 4418km (2745mi) long with around 60,960m (200,000ft) of climbing, 90% on unpaved road, lots of mud, wilderness, imposing mountains, snowy passes, impossible headwinds, waterless desert stretches, afternoon storms, bears, and all entirely self supported. The fastest people do it in under 16 days, with very little in the way of sleep or comfort along the route. But even those who manage to complete it in 25 days still undergo a fair share of suffering and torment. As could be expected, the collection of experiences ranges from fairly factual accounts, focusing on food eaten, and the matter of dealing with day to day events (bull attacks, leaking bear spray cannisters, broken bikes), to introspective pondering on whether the Tour Divide is more of a pilgrimage than a race.

It was all interesting reading for me though, as I'm planning to race the Tour Divide in 2015 - so what wasn't wonderfully written was at least educational! There are a few full books written by people about their Tour Divide experience though - Eat, Sleep, Ride and Be Brave, Be Strong are the two that spring to mind.

One other suggestion for Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon. This was my introduction to Stephenson and I loved it. It is also the precursor to The Baroque Cycle which is superb. Fair warning though, none of these books are slim.

Thanks Oberon - I'd actually been thinking of adding that one to my list to read, largely because of the excellent title, but also because I've just started Snow Crash and am finding Stephenson really enjoyable. Your recommendation was enough to tip the balance, I'll be reading it this year!

Ooh, and I meant to add this picture to go with my post for my third book... it's from one of my own bike-packing adventures last summer, my partners in crime riding along the summit ridge:

Ohmygoodness, what a gorgeous photo!

I read Starship Troopers for the first time last year and enjoyed it muchly. And then I watched the movie, which I also enjoyed, but that's because I'm a sucker for movies that are so terrible that they cross over into unintentionally hilarious. I laughed until I nearly peed my pants.

Megan - SWMBO would probably have a seizure to hear me described as organised.
Love the photo and makes me a tad nostalgic for my own cycling days. Malaysian roads are not so conducive to safe cycling.

Have a lovely weekend.

Welcome to the 75 Megan! evilmoose is a moniker I certainly cannot resist! Mieville's The City & the City was pretty much a top read of mine from 2014 - I had somehow resisted plunging into his work, but now I am mad for it.

Hi Megan!
A very short thread hijack to say I can recommend Mieville if you like quite lush language and ideas. The Kraken is a great book, and a bit like his love poem to London (in his weird be-tentacled way).

29> Ooh, I have to admit I did kind of enjoy the movie too - I watched it as a university student, so the "so bad it's good" was a often visited genre at the time.

30> Ah, I haven't been to Malaysia, but from having spent time in Thailand, I can guess at the traffic conditions you experience. I would miss my bike terribly if we were separated!

31> Thanks Lucy :) And I'll have to add that to my Mieville list, I'm looking forward to getting started on reading his work.

32> Hey Ian! There's nothing like the image of a be-tentacled love poem to make me even more keen to get started on a book! I think Mieville will be next off my pile.

4. Neil Gaiman - Odd and the Frost Giants

Well, I was at the swimming pool, but then it ended up being closed for an extra hour, and the library was right there, so I stumbled in and found this one, and accidentally read it all before the pool re-opened. I absolutely loved it, and wish I'd been able to read Gaiman when I was a bookworm child, his books just feel soothing to the soul. I knew nothing about the plot beforehand, and was pleasantly surprised to find some Norse mythology, and some laugh out loud moments (and you really have to keep reading to the author biography at the end).
★★★★½

And here's my little frost giant, out for a ski with Mama:

>34 evilmoose: I find going into a book knowing very little about it is often best. So while a review might get a book onto The List, once it's there and I pick it up, I very rarely even read the cover blurb.

Also, cute frost giant. :)

Oh, I love that photo! How cute! And I had wondered about Odd and The Frost Giants, so thanks for that lovely review!

>35 MickyFine: I used to always read the blurb, inside the jacket, everything I could before I started reading the book itself. But these days I quite enjoy picking up a book and knowing nothing, not even the genre, and then just seeing what happens. It can be pleasantly surprising when you have no expectations whatsoever.

And yes, he's pretty much the cutest frost giant I've come across :)

>36 Crazymamie: Thanks :) And I strongly recommend it, it was such a short but sweet read.

Talk about book serendipity - I've got Odd and the Frost Giants sitting right next to me on my desk, waiting to be my next book to start! Love Gaiman to death, I do.
And that wee frosty one you've got there is *adorable* - excellent photo!

5. Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash (audiobook)

After a slightly grim failed attempt at Anathem, I was a little worried about starting Snow Crash. I needn't have been! Enough quirky, humorous, and just downright fascinating elements to avoid reading as straight sci-fi cyberpunk, there were a lot of moments that just made me grin. I love his ability to take a crazy, slightly surreal idea and just run with it, and all of the early world building in particular was just good fun. Towards the end, all of the fight scenes and lengthy expositions had me verging on dropping the rating, but it all pulled together into a fun and interesting read.
★★★★

And no snow crashing photos, just some nicely track-set snow:

Beautiful snow! Do you ski for fun, or workout, or necessity? Maybe all three...

Your pic makes it look crisp but not cold, which reminds me of the only time I've been skiing-- in Banff. It was wonderful and I'd love to go back.

It was a gorgeous day! And although I'm intrigued at being able to ski commute, I only ski for the fun and the workout.

I actually live just near Banff, and this photo was taken on the trail up to Skogan Pass (leaving from the Nakiska ski hill) which is just round the corner from Banff really. Where did you ski in Banff?

The most impressive thing to me about Snow Crash is that it kind of set the bar for the cyberpunk genre early on--1994. I have liked all 5 of the books I have read by Stephenson--Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, Zodiac, The Big U, and Diamond Age. Of those, Cryptonomicon was my absolute FAVE, with Big U a second (Stephenson is embarrassed by this very early book of his, but I think it is good fun), followed by Zodiac, which is a light, fun environmental hijinks kind of book. I plan to try out Anathem this year. I will definitely skip the Baroque Cycle, or whatever its called, since historical fiction is not really my thing.

Aha, I haven't read huge numbers of cyberpunk books, but I did notice that it felt really free and un-formulaic. I hadn't realised just how long ago it was published (20 years! eep!) - it's stood the test of time amazingly well. Environmental hijinks sound fun too, I already have Cryptonomicon on my list, but maybe I should add Zodiac too.

6. Jonas Jonasson - The 100 year old man who climbed out a window and disappeared
Sweet and improbable tales of adventure, with modern day exploits woven in with the historical wanderings of the eponymous 100 year old man. I probably would have enjoyed this more if I've stumbled across it without having also noticed any of the related hype.
★★★½

And in honour of the Swedish setting, here is a photo from cycling touring in Sweden a few years ago.

Hi Megan!
I picked up The 100 Year Old Man on a kindle deal recently.

Re: 42: We went to Mt Norquay, Sunshine Village, and Lake Louise. (all commercial sites). It was me & my DH, and another couple, and none of us had ever skied much before. I enjoyed the bunny slopes and the warm lodges, and I think it was Sunshine that was the highest elevation... ? Anyway, there was one place where you got icicles on your eyelashes and I couldn't take it. HOWEVER, the cabin we stayed in was nestled back up in the woodsy mountainside, and so quaint and cute. The weather was perfect there-- cold and dry, with firm snow and lots of sunshine. I would have been happy to just stay around the cabin area the whole trip. :)

I've been chased by an angry moose or two, but haven't followed a literary one.

I've got Les Miserables on my radar for this year, too. I was home sick for a few days and watched the director's commentary on the movie--I was very encouraged that he and the actors were all filmed making references to particular parts of the book that they enjoyed and that in several places he chose to stay more true to the book rather than being an exact copy of the musical.

I read Anathem and definitely want to read more by Stephenson. I have a copy of The Diamond Age on Planet TBR.

I'll look forward to your reading and your outdoor adventures.

Welcome! I like Gaiman too. I enjoyed Mielville's The City and The City, and I'm eagerly awaiting the last volume of the Kingkiller Chronicles.

You have some great reads so far, I really enjoyed Odd and the Frost Giants and I think you will love Graveyard book as well. I was not that excited over Kraken, I just finished it about two months ago and it was just ok. Mostly I think it was because I had a hadr time understanding him. Les Mis is a good choice as well, but it is a very long read and well worth it.

46 > Ah, I'm familiar with all those ski hills. And that's the thing about this area, even though it's colder, it's sunnier too! Hardly any of these grey drizzly days, just bright blue skies and negative temps :)

47 > I've had a few moose encounters, but thankfully never been chased by one - they're as imposing as they are majestic, I've been glad to remain and their good side. And it was watching the musical, and seeing related interviews and all of the references made to the book that convinced me I needed to read it too. I'll look forward to keeping an eye on your reading this year, it looks like we may have a few books in common!

48 > Thanks :) We obviously both have awesome taste, I'll have to keep an eye on your thread. And we can join forces in willing Patrick Rothfuss to get some writing done!

49 > I'm a chapter into the Graveyard Book so far, and as always, Gaiman has me thinking about his story while I'm sitting here unable to pick it up and read it. I'm definitely looking forward to Les Mis though.

7. Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book
Spooky and captivating, another Gaiman tale with a young main character (he's barely walking in the opening chapter) which is unbearably sad, worrying, heartwarming, tragic and compelling. The only good thing about it being so short (336 pages) is that it will be easier to fit in a quick re-read whenever the fancy takes me - because I really will have to buy a copy.
★★★★½

I obviously don't have enough graveyard photos, so instead here was a slightly spooky morning, hiking up a local mountain for sunrise on Winter Solstice a few weeks ago...

Hi Megan (I will get used to calling someone else that, I am sure)
I love your photos you have posted! Welcome to the group, belatedly.
I have half committed to reading my first ever adult Gaiman book, American Gods as part of the LT group thingy...I hope I am not too log-jammed with books in March as I really have been meaning to read it.

I am going to be jealous of your skiing talk and photos, I don't ski anymore but used to loooooove it. I would dream about fast runs in anticipation of winter arriving here, and have had some overwhelming-nature moments in the snow (here in NZ, and in France). Ah, nice memories. I will take my eldest for his first ski next winter I think, and keep to the kids slope myself. Doctors orders!

Megan - Lovely photos of Sweden and extremely cute sledders here. You have also gotten off to a blitzing start with your reading.

Have a wonderful weekend.

I'm always so happy when someone else reads a Gaiman book and loves it. The Graveyard book *is* pretty amazing, isn't it?

>52 LovingLit: There's always just part of me that wants to narrow my eyes and glare at other Megans. There can only be one! But on the whole we're pretty awesome, so I try and just roll with it. And oooh, I love American Gods! You should definitely read it. I've only visited NZ once (shame on me), and never in winter, but I can only imagine the overwhelming nature moments. We've actually considered moving to NZ though, as a compromise between Canada and Australia!

>53 PaulCranswick: Thanks! And I have indeed. It will slow down later, when I get to bigger books like Les Miserables, and get bogged down with school work.... and summer adventures! I always find winter is reading weather.

>54 scaifea: The Graveyard Book is wonderful! But I'm beginning to get sad that I'm starting to run out of Gaiman books to read.

8. China Mieville - Kraken (audiobook)
I'm not sure what to say about this one. The phrase "a be-tentacled love-story to London" springs to mind. There was such an uneasy sensation of dread throughout the book, of weirdness, and wrongness, and unnatural things happening, that I ended up having a lot of nightmares (and this is why I don't read properly scary books any more, because this doesn't even rate very highly on the scary scale). At times it was hard to keep track of things, and that just added to the sense of unease for me. It was interesting, and different, and there was a lot of cephalopod musing, and underworld, and magic, a mystery to solve, and a series of reveals towards the end. All in all, it's enough to have made me curious about Mieville, and to try another book or two of his, although I wouldn't bother re-reading this one.
★★★

And as I was thinking over this review, having just finished the book, I was riding this beastie around in the snow - which is fantastic fun.


I think now I'd like to try and read a few books that don't involve dystopias, murder, or a creeping sense of dread - I've had enough of them for now! Any recommendations for some happier books?

Anything by Georgette Heyer makes me happy. If you like YA fiction, Anna and the French Kiss or Along for the Ride are some excellent contenders. And in the emerging field of new adult fiction, I adored Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell but if you're not much into nerd culture, her Attachments is also pretty endearing.

I don't generally like happy books compared to dark ones, but I read a nice collection of nature writing just recently...some of the essays are about Alaska (snow=good, right?). Called Crossing Open Ground by Barry Lopez.

I, on the other hand am looking for good literary dystopian fiction :)

>55 evilmoose:: The good news is that he doesn't show any signs of slowing down anytime soon, so hopefully we'll have new Gaiman books to read for a good long while!

Megan, that "beastie" does look like fun but cycling through the snow is tough going as I recall.

Have a great weekend.

9. Lev Grossman - The Magician King (audiobook)
A follow-on from The Magicians, which was a kind of coming of age tale for a group of magicians with Narnian undertones. Like the original, the sequel had a lot of of interesting ideas and Narnia references, but it didn't all tie together into a captivating read for me. The introduction of an Australian character didn't help, as I was listening to the audiobook, and the narrator really couldn't manage anything resembling an Australian accent, which was quite distracting!
★★★

And here's a photo from last weekend - an epic skiing day with far more ungroomed fresh snow than is ideal for cross-country skiing! At least the weather was lovely.

Oh, that's beautiful!

10. Oscar Wilde - The Happy Prince and other tales (audiobook)
Absolute perfection! A collection of beautiful and bittersweet fairy tales, read by Stephen Fry. Designated as children's stories, they're very readable as an adult. There are Wildean epigrams, and societal commentary as well as a fair few aspects that would go over the heads of most younger readers. With the darkness of true fairy tales, they're also moralistic, but so wonderfully written I had to re-listen to them all as soon as I'd heard them the first time. I must read more Oscar Wilde!
★★★★★

Five balanced rocks for five beautiful stories (an old photo, from a trip to New Zealand):


And now I have started listening to the Count of Monte Cristo - and oh no, I have a terrible sense of foreboding from this beginning...

>57 MickyFine: Thanks for the recommendations! I have added them to my list of books to try and read before I read any of the darker ones that are also lurking on the To Read pile.

>58 LovingLit: Thanks Megan :) Nature writing is always good, and one of those genres that I don't tend to gravitate towards naturally, but do enjoy if someone points me towards it.

>59 scaifea: Faster! He must go faster! Enough of this gadding about the world doing other things, it must be nothing but writing!

>60 PaulCranswick: Definitely hard work - but the downhills are just as much fun :)

>62 drneutron: Thanks - it was indeed a gorgeous day, even if all the fresh snow made the going a little slow :)

Oh but the Count of Monte Cristo is so brilliant. :)

De-lurked to wave, say Hi I 'm lurking, welcome to the 75ers, add to the CUTE re the wee frost giant and to second Micky - Count of Monte Cristo is amazing. Not sure about how well it'll go audio, but it's one of my top ten (ish - it varies year on year).

I'm another fan of the Count, ever since I read it in high school I won't say how many decades ago.

Are you interested in the group read of A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek? It's one I've previously tried and couldn't make it through, but I will give it a go with the group read. http://www.librarything.com/topic/167657#

Micky, BekkaJo and Janet - The Count of Monte Cristo is definitely shaping up to be a wonderful read/listen. The narrator seems reasonable, which tends to make all the difference. And the story is immediately gripping! I've been meaning to read it for so many years that it's become a constantly lurking presence in my life - I'm so glad to be finally begun :)

And 67 > Maybe! It sounds interesting, but I'd have to hunt down a copy. I've never done a group read before, it sounds rather fun.

Hello, fellow skier, from the eastern northwoods - Vermont - just got out on skis today for the first time since BEFORE Christmas, or maybe we took one lousy ski after, can't remember. We had lovely snow then it all turned to the worst ice, then it all melted and iced and then melted and flooded..... now we're back to new snow and cold. I do not bike, however! And snow biking, lawks!

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is a fine book in the tradition of contemplative/informative nature rambling.

11. Alexandre Dumas - The Counte of Monte Cristo (e-book/audiobook)
Well, thanks to being sick for the last couple of days (boo!), I've had the chance to curl up on the sofa and finishing reading The Count of Monte Cristo as an e-book (yay!). It would have taken absolutely forever as an audiobook, so I'm quite glad I had the opportunity to do it this way. Now if only this pesky virus would go away..... But with a background of revolution in France, and the theme of revenge running through, it was a fantastic yarn, opening with a terribly sense of impending doom, and then enticing the reader onward with wonderful promises of things to come. I have to say I felt a little let down towards the end, but that just lost it half a star, for it was an excellent adventure novel. I didn't really believe in the wonderful love that had developed between the Count and Haidee, and was a little disturbed by the age and power difference between them. And some of his decisions towards the end left a little to be desired, although it's not surprising to see a man mad with power after all that had happened to him. I also felt like the Count was portrayed as being both a cunning mastermind (when we don't see his machinations, but just the results) and a short-sighted idiot (when we see his actual thought processes)..

I was reminded of both the Princess Bride and Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler while I was reading, and am pleased to now fully understand the Count of Monte Cristo references in V for Vendetta!

★★★★½

Because I'm laying on the sofa, sick, I am of course dreaming of summer adventures....

Oh, wow. That's beautiful!

Jim - it was a lovely day out too! Back in August last year, right on the Alberta/BC border, the hike runs along the ridgeline for a couple of kilometres or so.

>70 evilmoose: Glad you enjoyed the Count, Megan. As far as film adaptations go, the version with Jim Caviezel is actually pretty decent.

I have it on my kindle for a future read. I have a bunch of classics ready just incase.

>73 MickyFine: Micky, thanks for the recommendation - I was thinking I should watch one, but there are an awful lot of them! And it sounds like most play fast and loose with the plot, although of course it would be hard not to in a book of that size. I might have to try and track down the 1934 version too, the first non-silent-film adaptation. For that's the one they watch in V for Vendetta, so I'm curious!

>74 xymon81: Hah, I had it on my Kindle too, before it died. Just in case of some unforeseen reading emergency, or perhaps apocalypse. I'm not sure how I would have kept the kindle charged in case of apocalypse, but it always seemed prudent to have as many classic works and favourite books on hand, just in case the world ended. I'm also not sure how much time I would have been able to devote to reading, but I suppose it depended on the type of apocalypse, and it always seems worthwhile to try and preserve the best works of humanity in these cases.

There's a question for anyone who might be visiting - what books would you try and preserve in case of apocalypse, if you could choose only three? You're allowed to be selfish, and think of your own future reading pleasure in an empty world, or consider the future of humanity, and what might be most important to hang on to.

Hmm, I think I'd go with the Bible, Pride and Prejudice, and The Book Thief.

That is a tough decision. I think I would do a combination of things for future posterity. Les Miserables is my first choice. Second I think would be Shogun by James Clavell. I have a weakness for that story. It is one of my all time favs. Lastly The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. My runner up is Winters Tale by Mark Helprin.

Oh, my - Wilde read by Fry... I must find this and make it mine!

Really enjoying your thread, especially the gorgeous photos!

>75 evilmoose: - Fun question. I think I would be selfish, to be perfectly honest. I would pick the books that I reread frequently, because I never seem to get tired of them. I'd want Wuthering Heights for sure. Can I glue together the entire Anne of Green Gables series, and the entire Harry Potter series for my last two books? There must be box sets available :)

>75 evilmoose: I might try the Bible too, seeing as I have never read it, and it might give me food for thought in the event of it being the end of the world..... also My Name is Asher Lev as it is my all time favourite book and something long....how about War and Peace or Dr Zhivago?

^ I love the idea of all the Harry Potter books being counted as one. That kind of wily attitude is what is going to save you in the apocalypse!

Hehe, I can totally imagine wily book-reading types sitting there gluing series together to create one enormous mega-book. Completely legitimate as far as I'm concerned! (Although possibly heavy if fleeing on foot from zombies....)

>78 scaifea: Amber It's wonderful, oh so wonderful! You really must!

Lots of brilliant choices... although I haven't read any of xymon's, if they're apocalypse worthy they should probably go on my TBR list - of course Les Miserables already is.

I'm torn between hilarious light reading (eg. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and more thought-provoking (probably something Russian!)

My first year at this, too.

Am reading Graveyard Book right now, so I thought chime in as another Gaiman fan. Have loved him since I picked up Sandman #16 on a lark while waiting for a friend who worked at comic store in college. I haven't read all of his novels yet. Can't wait to try Odd and the Frost Giants.

Hiya evenlake - would you recommend the Sandman series? I might have to buy them to read them, as I can't get them at my library, and I'm not totally sold on the graphic novel format, so I've been hesitating. I do love all of his novels I've read so far though.

>83 evilmoose: Sorry, librarian tendencies are rearing their head: have you tried requesting an interlibrary loan? You should be able to get the Sandman series that way. :)

>83 evilmoose:: YES! You *must* read The Sandman! Must!

(Sorry, I get a little over-excited over Gaiman sometimes.)

Wilde read by Fry?? Oh my goodness!!!

Megan - I would probably take the Book of Common Prayer, Lord of the Rings and Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples.

12. Neal Stephenson - The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
Lots of fun. I ended up having to set myself down and get this one finished, as I started listening to the first of the Mistborn books by Brandon Sanderson and found there were just far too many similarities between the two, and I kept getting plot elements confused (strong young girls from abusive lower class backgrounds with protective elder brothers who end up disappearing, largely/entirely absent parents, and then the learning and an introduction to a different world).

The start and finish were definitely weaker than the bulk of the story, but the world building and ideas that happened in the middle was just great. When I had just 100 pages to go it almost felt like things had only just gotten started, and I had no idea how he was going to wrap everything up in time - and so I wasn't entirely surprised when everything hurtled to an abrupt ending. There were also a few scenes that had me raising an eyebrow in that Robert A. Heinlein kind of way. I love Stephenson's irreverent take on a dystopian future - the sense of humour throughout his books prevents his worlds from feeling depressing bleak.

★★★★



And here's some ice carving from last weekend.

I might try picking up The Blind Assassin as my next paper book, but we'll see how I feel when I hit the shelves at home this evening.

84 > Micky, you're entirely right of course, and I should have thought of that. They are indeed available on inter-library loan, so once I finish one more book from my shelves, I'll have to reward myself with the first of the Sandman books :)

85 > Enablers! All of you! But I now have a cunning plan to acquire these books, so I shall have to initiate... Phase Two.

86 > Yes! It was perfection!

87 > Excellent choices Sir!

>89 evilmoose: Glad it's a helpful suggestion. :) Interlibrary loan (ILL) and requests for purchase are two of my favourite means of getting things the library doesn't currently have. :)

The Blind Assassin is my favourite Atwood novel - and that is saying something, as I LOVE her writing. Enjoy!

Megan, An impressive 75ers beginning in January. 12 books and almost a 100 posts. 5th place among the rookies in posting numbers.

Have a lovely weekend.

13. Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn: The Final Empire (audiobook)
Surprisingly enjoyable - very much following-the-fantasy-rules kind of fantasy, but done well, and I'll admit to enjoying allomancy as a well-structure form of magic. Definitely going to keep reading the rest of the trilogy. The audiobook was an easy listen too, which always helps. My brain is feeling all fuzzy from my cold, so I won't attempt a more thorough review than that.

Oh, and I hadn't realised why Sanderson's name was familiar - he's the one who got Wheel of Time finished up! I read the Wheel of Time series back in 1998-1999, but then gave up on bothering with any future books, based on how awful the last couple published at that point had been. Is the finish of the series worth reading? Especially given I'd have to probably re-read all the originals, as my memory is a little hazy about them at this point.
★★★★



In the meantime, blahhh, my cold returned with a vengeance, and I'm beginning to go stir-crazy with not being able to get out skiing and other fun outdoor activities. It has been kind of cold out though, so an ice climbing photo seemed appropriate (the climb is called Fang and Fist, and is a brutally hard 200m long climb). I started making an extended list of extra books I plan to read this year, then accidentally hit back, and POOF, all of my typing disappeared. At which point I got a little cranky and decided not to bother trying to type everything out again! Suffice to say, my to-read list has been growing ridiculously since hanging out with this group for a month!

92 > Paul, thanks for the stats! I can only imagine what an impressive spreadsheet you have hidden somewhere (unless there's a magical librarything group admin tool that helps with this sort of thing). Happy reading to you this fine weekend too :)

14. Margaret Atwood - The Blind Assassin
Great read. A family mystery slowly revealed, a premise which I've gotten sick of recently, but which was done so well here. (It's just that I tend to pick up books without knowing anything about them, and for a while there, it seemed like every single books I picked up was another family mystery being slowly revealed!)

There are three separate stories told here, woven together and interspersed with newspaper clippings about the events affecting the family: the story of the modern narrator; the story of her childhood, growing up with her sister and moving into adulthood; and the story of the Blind Assassin, the book within the book. I didn't have any difficulty following the separate strands, although I'm very glad I didn't read this one as an audiobook. And I felt compelled to stay up late and finish it, I just HAD to read the last 100 pages. Like all Atwood books I've read so far, it's thought-provoking rather than uplifting though!

★★★★½

And meanwhile, the dreams of summer continue...

>95 evilmoose: One of these days I'll read that one. Of the small number of her books I've read thus far, my favourite is still Alias Grace.

Ooh, I was looking at the description of Alias Grace and wondering if I should try and track it down too. I definitely enjoyed The Blind Assassin more than any of the Oryx and Crake trilogy (which I still enjoyed, they just hurt my brain a little more).

And now I've started on Atonement, and I'm having issues because I've seen the movie. Usually I'll have read a book long before I watch the related movie, or I just don't bother with the book. I'm having all sorts of trouble with my visual memories of the movie clashing with my mental imagery being created as I read. Pretty soon the two versions I have of Lola are going to go to war in my head.

Did you know that the 75'ers traditionally do an 'Atwood April'? Lots of great Atwood love going around that month. I'm already thinking about what I'll read-- The Blind Assassin sounds like a winner. Atwood's on my list of about a dozen authors that I want to read for sure this year.

I have had The Blind Assassin on my radar for some time just havnt picked it up yet. Inly Atwood book I have read was Handmaid's Tale. That one was a pretty interesting take on a dysotopia novel.

Ooh, Atwood April sounds great, I will have to save up Alias Grace until then.

And I would recommend The Blind Assassin for sure. Handmaid's Tale was the first Atwood book I read, and I wasn't a huge fan - maybe it was too bleak for me? I didn't enjoy it anyway, and it took me a while to come back to her after that.

>97 evilmoose: It was my first Atwood, read for a Canadian Literature course, and I fell in love with it and her writing. Up until that point, I had been scared away from Atwood by her reputation.

>93 evilmoose:: Holy Moly, that photo is crazy! But, yeah, I can relate. It's snow here. Again. Sigh.

>95 evilmoose:: Oh my goodness, the cuteness!

Argh, here is my extended TO BE READ list for 2014, to be added to the ones listed in my first post...

Fyodor Dostoevsky - Demons
Diana Wynne Jones - A sudden wild magic READ
Diana Wynne Jones - Fire and Hemlock
Fathers and sons
Robin Hobb - Dragon keeper READ
Robin Hobb - Dragon Haven
Robin Hobb - City of Dragons
Robin Hobb - Blood of Dragons
Nikolai Gogol - Dead souls (There are still a few obvious things missing in my list of classic Russian literature) READ
Ivan Gonciarov - Oblomov READ
William Makepeace Thackeray - Vanity Fair
Margaret Atwood - The robber bride
William Boyd - Armadillo
Edward Abbey - Desert solitaire: a season in the wilderness
Neil Gaiman - Fragile things READ
Iris Murdoch - The bell READ
Bram Stoker - Dracula (How can I not have?!) READ
Oscar Wilde - A woman of no importance READ
Jane Austen - Northanger Abbey READ
Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility (re-read)
Jane Austen - Persuasion READ
Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint READ
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Clandestine in Chile
Georgette Heyer - The Grand Sophy READ
Rainbow Rowell - Fangirl READ
Barry Lopez - Crossing Open Ground
John O'Hara - Appointment in Samarra
Patrick White - Voss
Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower READ
Muriel Spark - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Cornelia Funke - Inkheart READ
Alan Bradley - Speaking from among the bones READ
Alexander Solzhenitsyn - One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich
M.R. Carey - The girl with all the gifts (because Joss Whedon liked it) READ
John Williams - Stoner (based on a good review on Vulpes Libris) READ
Donna Tartt - The Goldfinch READ
George Orwell - Homage to Catalonia READ
Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace READ
X. Herbert - Capricornia (an Australian novel I've seen recommended) READ
Chinua Achebe - Things fall apart NOT READING
Hermann Hesse - Siddhartha READ
Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse (it will be my first Woolf novel) READ
Austin Tappan Wright - Islandia (may be tricky to find)
Ford Madox Ford - Parade's End
William Gadis - J R
Garth Nix - Sabriel READ
Garth Nix - Lirael READ
Garth Nix - Abhorsen READ
Lewis Grassic Gibbon - A Scots Quair
Louis Sachar - Holes READ
Annie Dillard - Pilgrim at Tinker Creek NOT READING
Something by Terry Tempest Williams

A slightly eclectic selection, and hopefully I'll at least be able to read through a chunk of these this year. I fully expect to be distracted and read other books instead though.

15. Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn: The Well of Ascension (audiobook)
Losing interest a little, especially throughout the middle. Too many fight scenes and cliched fantasy for my taste. It mightn't have been so bad if I found the romance side of things a little more interesting, but I just never really got into the relationship between the two main characters, or the love triangle that developed, and so didn't feel at all invested in the outcome. Despite that, it was still a bit of fun, and thing got a little more interesting towards the end - so I'll have to keep on with the trilogy!
★★★½

Another 75er recently found the Sanderson maddening as an audibook - didn't like the narrator much and all the Pushing and Pulling is so tedious even when you are reading it - I am enjoying the series a lot more now that I skim/skip those bits..... the actual story is fine.

We've finally had some good skiing and snowshoeing here, it's been a long wait! Or rather, a good start in December and then a long wait.

>103 evilmoose:: Wow, what a great list! Do you mind me asking how you came up with it?

16. Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn: The Hero of Ages (audiobook)

Well that took a while! I think this one would be better read as a paper book - just so I could skim over the sections which started to drag a little. Entertaining enough fantasy read, but for me it was let down a little by a few slower sections - I feel like the story wouldn't have lost anything for losing a good few chunks of text here and there. Things did start getting a little more interesting towards the end though, and there were some sections of the book that were definitely captivating - wondering if I should pick up the next one... hmmm. Oh, and I couldn't shake the feeling throughout the trilogy, that it was setting itself up to be ready for a future movie/TV/game/some sort of visual media.

★★★



And, the view of town on winter solstice.

>105 sibylline: - Sibyx, yes, I definitely think this series is one to read as a paper book. Some books make for fantastic audiobooks, for me, this wasn't one of them - I really needed to be able to skim the bits that didn't interest me! Which always makes me feel a little terrible.

>106 scaifea: - Amber, they're just a mix of ones grabbed from my long-term "To Read" spreadsheet (that's been in existence for about 15 years now) and some newer ones that I've come across in the last 6 weeks or so, since hanging out in this group! All just things that caught my eye :)

>103 evilmoose: great list of books you have there! (glad they didn't disappear the second time- what an annoyance that is)

Your photos are so crisp and clean- what kind of camera are you using? They are fabulous from content alone, but I love the quality of the images too.

I am keen to read To the Lighthouse as well, my first Woolf too :)

>109 LovingLit: Mostly my lovely Canon EOS, but quite a few were taken with my little Canon Powershot too, and the last one was a phone photo with my old old Samsung - I do try and make an effort to make sure I have good light for a shot though, and that can make all the difference :)

And hurrah for Woolf reading!

Oblomov is one of my beyond favorite books. That is a terrific list!

17. Mira Grant - Parasite (audiobook)
Mira Grant really is just a master of having me on the edge of my seat, just waiting for the next terrible thing to happen. I really enjoyed her Newsflesh trilogy (zombies!), and there are a lot of similar themes in this trilogy (large corporations & when science goes terribly wrong being the obvious ones). Listening to the audiobook, the narrator is the same as for the Newsflesh books - which didn't take too long to adjust to, as the main female characters are quite different (although the minor character with an English accent was the one grating audiobook moment for me). Good fun, although it felt like the story wasn't quite so strong as the Newsflesh books, and there were moments where I felt like explanations or character behaviour didn't really make sense. The reveal that ended the book seemed pretty obvious to me as well, so it was a bit of an abrupt and anti-climactic ending - I do wish I'd just waited until the rest of the trilogy was out now!
★★★½



And out skiing yesterday - the toddler skied for the first 1.5km, then got to hang out and relax.... it didn't stop snowing all day.

Your photos are just so gorgeous, Megan - they almost make me think positively about winter! Almost :)

113 > Heh Cait, I have to work so hard to be positive about winter. This is my 7th Canadian winter after growing up in Australia, and the short days and cold weather drive me to absolute distraction sometimes!

Having a ball reading Fangirl at the moment! And I have the Oblomov audiobook to listen to next :)

I have that book in my to read stack beside my bed. I saw it at Barnes and Nobles and immediatly put it on request at my library.

Having a ball reading Fangirl at the moment!

Huzzah!!! :D

Oblomov is in my top ten books. Enjoy. I hope you have a great reader worthy of the task!

19. Rainbow Rowell - Fangirl (audiobook)
Plain old good fun, Fangirl tells the story of Cather as she starts out in college - with the added complications of crippling social anxiety, an identical twin sister who is pretty keen to have as much fun as possible, a deep and abiding association with a fandom that's terribly reminiscent of Harry Potter, and a desire to become a fiction writer. The first half of the book in particular kept reminding me of my own experiences in college - kind of amusing to look back on :)
★★★★

Great to see that FanGirl is so much fun Megan. I have it as part of my eldest Daughter's birthday presents for tomorrow.

Oops, I just realised I missed 18. Ian McEwan - Atonement. Even days afterwards I'm not really sure what to say about it. I saw the movie when it was first out, and felt like I was re-living the movie more than reading a book. Most peculiar. Usually if there is a book behind a movie, I will have read the book before seeing the movie, and prefer things that way around. ★★★½

20. Robin Hobb - Dragon Keeper (audiobook)
Apparently I wasn't really in the mood to re-enter the world of Elderlings, dragons and the Rain Wilds. I almost stopped listening once I realised what I was letting myself in for, but kept going. Maybe I shouldn't have done. I was feeling distinctly under-whelmed the whole way through, and would have given less stars, except for the nagging sensation it was me who wasn't in the mood, rather than the book failing me. I think I'll take a break before continuing with the rest of the series.
★★★



And because it's been a ridiculously cold weekend, with temperatures well below -30oC with wind chill, here is a glacier. It seemed appropriate.

I've started on Oblomov too, and I'm really enjoying it.

21. Ivan Goncharov - Oblomov (audiobook)
Sometimes all you need in life is some Russian literature. A wonderful book and glorious social commentary.
★★★★


From the wrong period in time, but the most Russian photograph I could find. This was taken in Grutas Park, in Lithuania, where Soviet statues and artwork have been collected and are displayed alongside a small zoo. It's an odd place, but they have quite a good collection of owls.

22. Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower (audiobook)
On the whole, I found this a slightly irritating experience. An epistolary novel, the story is revealed through letters the main character writes to an unknown stranger. And to be honest, I just wanted to slap him. But having recently unearthed some writings of myself at 16, perhaps that's just the normal response to reading the thoughts of a 16 year old. With The Catcher in the Rye cited as inspiration, I found it also reminiscent of I am the Cheese - they certainly share a naivety/unawareness in their main characters. I'm curious to see the movie now though, it seems like it could work quite well in that format.
★★★



Meanwhile, I'm sick again. Which is immensely frustrating. Here's a photo of a fun trip from last summer - where there was no illness at all! Although my son was stung by a wasp at one point.

I saw the movie and i really enjoyed it. I know my wife liked the book as well. Which is unusual, it is usually one or the other rarely both.

>123 evilmoose: I quite liked the book and the film is really wonderful as well. I think it's helped by the fact that Chbosky wrote the screenplay and directed it (if memory serves).

>123 evilmoose: I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower some years ago and felt pretty much the same way. I love the biking picture - I used to live in Colorado and it really reminds me of the wildflowers you'd see everywhere up in the mountains there. (You seem to be in the same mountains, just much farther north?)

>125 MickyFine: That sounds familiar, from the little wikipedia stalking session I went on after finishing the book (I think someone else bought the rights, wrote a screenplay, never did anything with it, died, and then Chbosky wrote the final one for the movie - using some of the first screenplay that had been written).

>126 ursula: Hah, glad it's not just me! I've only ever been in Colorado in Fall, but I can only imagine how gorgeous it must be there in wildflower season. And yes, I'm just further north on the same mountain range :) And a total sucker for fields of wildflowers!

23. Diana Wynne Jones - A sudden wild magic (audiobook)
Blah. A few scenes and sentences I enjoyed, interspersed between pages and pages that bored me. Sorry book, I'm just not that into you.
★★½

24. Neil Gaiman - Fragile Things (audiobook)
Aah, short stories and I never usually get along, but Neil Gaiman reading his own work is always captivating.
★★★★



And some spring skiing for good measure!

>129 evilmoose: Neil Gaiman has an excellent reading voice. Did you see the video of him reading Green Eggs and Ham on YouTube? Also, if you haven't listened to it yet, I highly recommend the BBC radio play of Neverwhere (you can get it on iTunes and it's worth purchasing - the cast is amazing).

Yes, I saw the Green Eggs and Ham video :) But oooh, Neverwhere as a radio play! Radio plays are fun *notes this down to find*

Don't think I'd be upright for long on skis but those mountain trails look mighty tempting and may head me towards greasing that chain and climbing aboard my own oft-neglected bike to breathe in some cleanish air above Kuala Lumpur.

Have a lovely weekend, Megan.

25. Cornelia Funke - Inkheart (audiobook)

I can't help but wonder if my current higher than usual volume of book reading is making me cynical and demanding, or whether I just haven't always been choosing the right books. Neither the plot or the writing really captivated me here, maybe I was expecting too much.
★★★

>133 evilmoose: I loved the first book in the trilogy and then it slowly fell apart for me to the point where I largely skimmed the final book (something I almost never do).

All the skiing photos are reminding me of my childhood! I am the youngest of three so was always the one skiing inbetween my dads legs, or on the toboggan. We used to go on the coolest adventures in the mountains, I am getting all nostalgic.....

26. Terry Pratchett - Raising Steam (audiobook)
Well, a new Terry Pratchett book was released, so I dropped everything and read it... Terry Pratchett books really are like an old favourite pair of slippers. Maybe they're not what they once were, but they're still so warm and fuzzy and comfortable to slip into. There were all sorts of guest appearances and cameos here, and it just didn't seem to have the sharp focus and humour of some of the older Discworld books. But I still loved listening to it.
★★★½


Out running in Edmonton on Thursday evening, visiting the big city for a couple of days.

>135 LovingLit: Awww, the childhood I never had! Growing up with no snow at all... I never even saw the stuff until I was in my 20s. I'm constantly convinced I'm forgetting major elements of this snow-parenting business.

>136 evilmoose: Ah, I just missed you! I was in the midst of the packing and moving madness when you were in Edmonton. Hope the city treated you well.

Well, here's two books finished for the price of one. Sabriel was a quick read, so before I'd even gotten organised in regards to The Night Circus, I'd finished that one too. Enjoyed them both :)

27. Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus (audiobook)
I loved The Night Circus, and the night circus Morgenstern created. The characters and the story were both wonderful, and entrancing, and I felt a little like I was staring at a beautiful work of art that just spoke to me, although I wouldn't have been able to explain why to anyone who came by and saw me staring at it. I can think of faults, but they didn't diminish my enjoyment.
★★★★½

28. Garth Nix - Sabriel (audiobook)
What's not to like about plucky teenage necromancers? I seem to be reading quite a lot of sci-fi/fantasy with female main characters this year. Sabriel wasn't genre busting, but good fun fantasy, and I would have loved it as a teenager too I think.
★★★½

And WILL IT EVER STOP SNOWING!? ARGH! (This photo is from the beginning of the extra few inches of snow)

This has turned out to be a very loooonnnnnngggg winter. And endurance winter, no sprint.

I agree om the night circus. It was so beautifully crafted. It is on my list to actually put on my shelf someday.

29. Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace (audiobook)
Thought provoking, intelligent, but at times a bit tedious. Couldn't touch The Blind Assassin for me, and not as enjoyable as the Oryx and Crake trilogy, it rated down with The Handmaiden's Tale as not one of my favourite Atwood books. And yet I feel like I should re-read it.

★★★½

>140 sibylline: Boo to long winters! Boo! We finally got a warm(ish) day today. Although it rained. And most of the trails around town are still icy. Or covered in snow *shakes her fist at the sky*

>141 xymon81: Wholeheartedly concur :)

30. Hugh Howey - Wool (audiobook)
Really enjoyable read. I came into it knowing only that it was post-apocalyptic, and just found it just plain good fun... in a post-apocalyptic way. Now I have to decide whether to launch into the rest of the books - is it worth it? There are quite a lot of them.
★★★★

And now I'm back to reading Reamde by Neal Stephenson. A title which bothers me immensely because it looks so much like a typo of readme.

Yea for Wool! I enjoyed almost the whole series, except for one book, but I really didn't care for the other 2 series he wrote afterwards, a prequel and sequel series for the silos.

Also, I read another book Howey wrote, Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue--not recommended, just stick with the Wool series!

I loved Oryx and Crake, but had no idea it was trilogy until this post!! (The Blind Assassin is one of my favorite books of all time)

I enjoyed Wool and the prequel Shift is on my list of books that I really want to read this year. I do best with series if I can spread them out a bit. I get bored when I read them all in a row.

We had two days of temperatures in the high 60's last week, followed by snow on Saturday night that didn't melt off until about noon on Sunday. Snowpack in the mountains is at about 131% of normal. I'm a bit worried about flooding this year. I need warm days and cold nights so it will melt slowly.

Hurrah, I shall keep going with the rest of the series in Wool then, and not bother with anything else - thanks for the recommendations karspeak and streamsong! I keep accidentally happening across series or trilogies after not researching the original book recommendation. It means instead of knocking books off my To Read list, each time I read one more, I have to add at least a couple more!

>147 SweetbriarPoet: It is, it is, you get to find out what happens next! It does do quite well as a stand alone book though, which I like.

>148 streamsong: I escaped to a warmer valley on Sunday, which was lovely, but here in town all our trails are still snow covered. Here at least our snowpack is within normal range, unlike last year. And we're all crossing our fingers hoping for no crazy rain events, and NO MORE FLOODS.

Our snow is almost all melted, just a bit of ice here and there in the narrower brooks. I am so RELIEVED. Glad you got out to a warmer snow-free spot.

So hang on a minute....Oryx and Crake is part of a trilogy? What are the other two? I just read the handmaid's Tale and really enjoyed it. Scary as it was....

And is that an avalanche up there in the latest photo?

>151 LovingLit: The other two are The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam. I haven't read any of them (one of these days) but as I understand it, they're a very loose trilogy.

Well, I've been away on vacation, so here's the post-vacation catch up!

31. Neal Stephenson - Reamde (audiobook)
I was expecting more sci-fi, and didn't have enough patience for what felt like a slow start. So I put it down and came back to it a month later, and oooh, it's a techno-thriller! With terrorists! And clandestine border crossings and urban and wild adventures. Was a fun holiday read in the end.
★★★★

32. Audrey Niffeneger - The Time Traveler's Wife
Had seen the movie, but wanted to read the book. Which just reminded me of the movie. A pleasant enough read, I was neither over nor underwhelmed.
★★★½

33. Garth Nix - Lirael (audiobook)
More plucky teenage necromancers, and outsiders, and adventure. Unlike Sabriel, this one really doesn't stand alone, and you obviously have to keep reading and finish the trilogy.
★★★½

34. Gogol - Dead Souls (e-book)
Ah, good old Russian literature. I am not sure which translation I read, but I wouldn't recommend it. An entertaining satire of life.
★★★½

35. Agatha Christie - Ordeal by Innocence (e-book)
An Agatha Christie with a random mystery solver! Not one of her best, but they're always a fun read. I'd been reading this last year when my Kindle died, so had to eventually get back and find out whodunnit, after obtaining a new book-reading device.
★★★

36. William Golding - Lord of the Flies
A re-read, the first time since high school. I found myself partially swept along and horrified, and partially unable to identify, and a bit irritated with the over-simplifications involved.
★★★½

And so now I'm listening to Abhorsen, and reading Portnoy's Complaint. No proper vacation photos yet, but here's one from the phone (bonus points if you can tell me where it is). Sadly we arrived back in town to nearly a foot of fresh snow though.

>151 LovingLit: and >152 MickyFine: - It is indeed a trilogy! As Micky says, it's a loose trilogy, but only in the sense you don't finish one book and immediately get cranky because there are so many obvious cliffhangers that you feel more like you're read Part 1 of a three part book. You do get to find out what happens next. But also what else happened previously, to other people.

>151 LovingLit: Megan, that is an avalanche! They always notify us when they're doing avalanche control on that road, so we can go and watch the helicopters dropping explosives onto the mountain. Good fun.

Another update, as I've been distracted with purchasing the place we rent (eep!) and enjoying the final disappearance of THE SNOW (woo!)

37. Garth Nix - Abhorsen (audiobook)
Basically the second half of Lirael (see book #33). Still good fun.
★★★½

38. Edward Abbey - Freedom and Wilderness (audiobook)
Someone lent me their copy of Edward Abbey reading this selection of stories, and once you got used to his style of reading (quite different to most of the more professional audiobook readers I spend my time listening to) I really enjoyed it, and felt like I was sitting around a campfire with Abbey, listening to him spin his yarns.
★★★★

39. Donna Tartt - The Goldfinch (audiobook)
A super long read as an audiobook. And the sort of book that has me re-thinking my goal to try and coherently review every book I read this year. Because... it was interesting. I enjoyed listening to it. I was occasionally bored. I hadn't read any dust jacket information, so I had no idea where the story would go. I thought to myself, in the early days of listening, that if someone asked what it was about, I would say "A boy whose mother dies, and then things happen to him." I was reminded of the movie Trainspotting (not the book, because I haven't read it), and then the words "pretentious" and "waffling" came to mind. But all in all it was still an enjoyable read. But not of the sort I feel like revisiting. So, that's my jumble of thoughts about the book. And as I read through the reviews now, many others seem to have put down my thoughts more eloquently than I ever could - and oh, a Pulitzer?
★★★½

Woah so many books! Nice reading.
Pretentious, waffling? A Pulitzer Prize winner? Never ;)

40. Louis Sachar - Holes (audiobook)
Sometimes having no prior info about a book is just fantastic. This was one of those times. I was for some reason assuming it was going to be some sci-fi/fantasy. The story that was woven was so much sweeter than I was expecting, and not without Neil Gaiman-esque touches of isolated children adrift in an uncaring adult world.
★★★★

>157 LovingLit: Hah! Yes, the whole thing made a lot more sense once I realised it had a Pulitzer :)

>158 evilmoose: Oh, I'm glad you liked Holes - I did, too!

41. Jim Butcher - Skin Game (audiobook)
Ahh, and so we come to another session of Megan rage-reading Harry Dresden. Last year I ploughed through the entire series to date. I was told things would get better after the first few books. Things certainly got shinier, and the tropes of the Harry world for firmly established, but 'better' is a bit of a stretch of the imagination. If you haven't met him, Harry Dresden is a wizard. He lives in Chicago. He's homophobic (haha, wackily hilarious), misogynistic and quite rude about short people. Terrible things happen, he gets really badly injured, then wins against all the odds, all while angsting about everything, lusting after every second female who walks onto the book, and moaning about how much he misses the blue VW beetle he used to drive.

And why do I keep listening to these books when it annoys me so much? Because I love James Marsters reading them. And I've come to enjoy the Harry rage.
★★½



And this photos is from the overnight bike trip I did Thursday/Friday. My friend (pictured) joined me for the Friday leg of the trip. It was wonderful!

42. Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint (e-book)
Amusing, and at times an insight into the family of my Jewish partner, I'm glad I've finally read this infamous and oft-referenced book.
★★★★

43. Bruce Chatwin - In Patagonia (audiobook)
Meh. Can't remember why I tried this one, but I did not find it enthralling.
★★★



Brilliant night to camp out last night, in a tent without a fly, we could gaze at the stars. And I've started listening to The Girl With All the Gifts, which is proving to be entertaining, with just enough "uh oh, doomsday scenario" to keep you thinking. And I'm finally reading Northanger Abbey! Which is delightfully fun.

I'm so fond of Northanger Abbey. I'm most like Catherine Morland of all the Austen heroines and Henry Tilney is definitely the Austen hero I'd pick for myself (no matter how swoony Darcy is).

>163 MickyFine: So far they are just so likeable and sensible! Which makes a nice change from wanting to yell at a book because people are being so ridiculously oblivious.

What gorgeous photos! Looks like you are having an amazing summer!

>164 evilmoose: Catherine is a bit naive but I like her. I also highly recommend the film with JJ Feild and Felicity Jones. Best adaptation of the book, I've seen.

44. M.R. Carey - The Girl With All the Gifts (audiobook)
Post-apocalyptic young adult fiction. A bit scary occasionally, with a neat back-story for the apocalyptic event - gradually revealed. The main scientist of the story is wildly stereotyped as a bit of a villain. Overall a fun read though, in the same kind of vein as Hugh Howey's Wool or Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake trilogy - although a much simpler story aimed at a younger audience.
★★★★

45. Jane Austen - Northanger Abbey (e-book)
I enjoyed the naive Catherine and pleasant Mr. Tilney, the poking of fun at gothic novels and the young heroines who come from appropriately romantic backgrounds. It really did feel like a baby Jane Austen book though, with moments of the brilliant Austen-ness that I'm more used to, and then more moments of meandering, and a story that wasn't so entirely robust and polished as I was expecting. But despite that, it was still a lovely more-ish read!
★★★★


(Another photo from bikepacking last weekend)

>165 streamsong: Thank you! It has been quite a lovely summer so far :)

> Mickey - she certainly is a bit naive isn't she? But I do love that her whole family is just inclined to think the best of people, and not get overly dramatic about a situation. I feel like her family is one of the Austen families I could happily spend time visiting - although I'm always a bit alarmed when people come to visit, and there's mentions of "several minutes passed in silence" - how terribly awkward! I've made a note to hunt down that film though, it seems like a book that could do well as a film.

46. George Orwell - Homage to Catalonia (audiobook)
Finished this one off on the camping trip pictured below. Fascinating & educational tale of Orwell's time fighting in the Spanish Civil War, if only I didn't find descriptions of war so tedious I'd surely have given it more stars. Now I want to go back and re-read some Hemingway, as well as giving myself a more thorough grounding in the history of the time.
★★★½



And now I'm onto more Atwood: Cat's Eye. I'll admit to feeling a little worried, it seems like it will be a little depressing. But of course, it's Atwood, so I know what I'm getting myself in for now.

47. Timur Vermes - Look Who's Back (audiobook)
German political/social satire based on the reappearance of Hitler in modern-day Germany. Hitler is mistaken for a brilliant method actor of himself, and ends up with his own TV show - all the while making plenty of discoveries about the way the modern world works, and the way he is now perceived. It had my partner laughing out loud, but I just largely felt a bit uneasy about the whole thing.
★★★



And golly, I'd better get a move on, I've not been reading much these past few months. But summer is for playing outdoors!

48. John Williams - Stoner (audiobook)
A beautiful portrait of the life of a boy who grows up on hard farming land, to become a man who discovers he loves language. Restrained and intelligent, but also quite sad, this is a novel originally published in 1965, but rediscovered more recently. Definitely worth a read.
★★★★½

49. Edith Warton - House of Mirth (audiobook)
Well. That was very different yet at the same time left me with a very similar feeling to my last book read. I shall not say any more, as there would be spoilers.

50. Margaret Atwood - Cat's Eye (audiobook)
This stirred unsettling childhood memories. I was drawn in, and fascinated, but was left feeling constantly uneasy. Childhood, motherhood, ageing... and an interesting take on life in Toronto - we switch views from Elaine now, an established painter, to Elaine growing up, from childhood bullies (frenemies!), to her path through life to reach where she is today.

My third Atwood for the year, after reading three or so last year too!
★★★½

51. Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham - Veronica Mars: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line (audiobook)
I love you Veronica Mars, spunky girl detective! Listening to Kristen Bell read this audiobook made it easy to imagine myself right into the middle of an episode - although I'll admit to some internal giggling at her take on some of the other accents. When you are so fond of a character it's hard to look on a related book with any sort of objectivity, so I won't even attempt it. I have no idea whether it would be a fun read for someone unfamiliar with the franchise, but if you are, close your eyes and it's just another episode. (Admittedly one that's a little short on Logan). Just the light-hearted sort of read I needed after my run of more-serious-and-slightly-depressing books.
★★★★

>162 evilmoose: I wasn't overly fond of this one either, I gave it away asap to my dad hoping he would get more from it.

>170 evilmoose: woah!!!
Great pictures this round, I mean really, great! I am thinking maybe if I move to Canada I will have a life like yours....then again, if I just biked more here and sought out some nature, I might have some success in that area too!??!

>174 LovingLit: Thanks Megan - but you're in NZ, where I would also love to live! Wonderful mountains and scenery and beaches! The trick is finding the time to enjoy them, which is always harder if you're living in the city. Which is exactly why I ran away to the mountains :)

52. Lev Grossman - The Magician's Land (audiobook)
The final book in the trilogy - and unlike those of Douglas Adams and his kin, this one is just a trilogy of three. Poking fun at many of the fantasy tropes, this continues in the same vein as the first two books, except now our heroes are well out of school, and the coming of age has been and gone. A satisfying conclusion, with the standard flippant treatment of the situations they find themselves in, and ironic responses to just about everything. It's not at all Harry Potter for grown-ups though, despite what they say. And in some ways this was easier to read than the first two, in the same way that living my late 20s again would be much easier than re-living my late teens or early twenties. Much less angst and discontent. Still plenty of dashes of cynicism though.
★★★½

53. Colleen McCollough - The Thorn Birds (audiobook)
A love story to the land, and the saga of the Cleary family. This is an Australian classic I've known of for many years, but somehow never read. And it's marvellous, but I'm glad I didn't read it earlier. I appreciated it far more now than I would have done as a teenager, or in my early 20s. An Irish Catholic family growing up in New Zealand at first, before moving to Australia to take over the large sheep station belonging to a manipulative family member. In many ways it isn't perfect. It feels a little long, and sometimes the random tangents seem to splice into the story for no reason. But I loved the random tangents. I loved the descriptions of the station Drogheda, the beauty and awe-inspiring nature of the land, and the portrait of the farming family. And of course the love stories woven throughout, as family history repeats, and doesn't.

I grew up in outback Australia, so this struck many chords with me. There were many familiar characters, moments, experiences. I wouldn't recommend it whole-heartedly to anyone and everyone, but for me it was a 5 star read.
★★★★★

What an absolutely amazing photo!

Thanks streamsong :)

54. Gary Shteyngart - Super Sad True Love Story (audiobook)
I was so sure I was going to enjoy this book. It was recommended to me by a friend, when I was venting after reading a succession of downbeat kind of depressing books. I went into it with the assumption it would be uplifting. And it wasn't. I couldn't bring myself to enjoy any of the unsympathetic shallow characters, the futuristic world it was set in just felt bleak and depressing and awful, and I kept waiting for things to suddenly improve. People kept being awful to each other, nothing improved, everything was terrible, and I didn't even enjoy the journey. Now I just want to go and sit underneath a blanket in my papasan and pretend the world doesn't exist.
★★½

55. Austin Grossman - Soon I Will Be Invincible (audiobook)
Another reminder that my husband laughing hysterically at a book won't mean I find it funny, or even particularly like it. I complained to him it was derivative. He said it was purposely derivative. I said it was still tediously boring. He raised an eyebrow at me. I went and ate a cupcake. So all's well that ends well I guess, but still, don't read this book unless you're into superheroes and the whole Marvel/DC Comics universes.
★★

56. China Mieville - The City and the City (audiobook)
Just lovely. This is my second Mieville, and I do enjoy his brand of weird. A gritty detective story set in Eastern Europe, but in a city that is twinned with another city sharing the same space. The City and the City overlap, but are foreign countries, and unauthorised cross-over, or even acknowledgment of the other city, is punishable by extreme measures. Then a girl is murdered and hijinx ensue! (By hijinx, in this case I mean detective work, cursing, and further murders... and of course, unauthorised crossings between cities).
★★★★



Thank goodness all that snow is gone! It wasn't just that we had about four days of snow falling, it was that it was combined with nasty mornings where I'd get up and it would be -10oC! This is acceptable over winter, but in September is just a bit too much.

Woohoo, two more books I really enjoyed! And an inadvertent theme developing.

57.Madeline Miller - The Song of Achilles (audiobook)
A mostly enthralling re-telling of the Trojan War, from the perspective of the Patroclus, the very very close friend of Achilles. I wasn't expecting the romance, but I have now been inspired to re-read The Illiad and The Odyssey, which I haven't read for at least ten years.
★★★★

58.Sarah Waters - Fingersmith (audiobook)
Another more-ish read, and my very first Sarah Waters novel. At one point, the plot was starting to get so convoluted that I had to write everything down, so as to get it straight in my head. It was certainly an ambitiously involved story, told from two viewpoints, but Waters has done a great job of pulling it off (although... I'm not hundred percent about the ending...)
★★★★

59. Scott Thigpen - Trail magic and the art of soft pedaling
Another tale from the Tour Divide race - epic suffering and joy via bicycle, as one travels from Canada to Mexico, along the Continental Divide. Scott is endearingly naive at times, fulfilling all kinds of stereotypes of un-travelled Americans, but he is also brutally honest about what he went through as he raced - the emotional highs and lows are epic. Self-published, and fun, it tells the story of a race I plan to ride next year. So although I enjoyed it, I don't expect anyone else reading this will seek it out... but if you do, please let me know :)
★★★½

60. Norton Juster - The Phantom Tollbooth (audiobook)
A classic that I never read. And now I have read. Never-ending puns, sweet wordplay and silliness, and a young child achieving the impossible. I can see why Neil Gaiman references it as so influential to him.
★★★★

61.Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon (e-book)
Squeee! I am officially a Neal Stephenson convert. His books are joyfully geeky, and hard to put down, with deliciously woven plots. And they're not perfect Literature, but by golly they're fun to read.
★★★★★



Picture from Friday's hike along Tent Ridge - all hail the wonderful October of prolonged good weather! May the snow and -20oC temperatures leave us alone until late November.

>184 evilmoose: Yea!!! One of my most fave books ever, ever!!

>61 evilmoose: Now that you have read Cryptonomicon you have to read his Barogue Cycle - the prequel!

Seriously, I slogged through all three books in the cycle but very much enjoyed it.

>186 Oberon: There's more? Hurrah! I've been having so much fun with Stephenson this year, I'm going to be sad when I eventually run out of his books to read.

I wouldn't worry about running out unless you are a much quicker reader than I am. The books are: Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World. They are not small but if you read Cryptonomicon you are familiar with how big and dense some of his work can be. All jokes about the amount of shelf space the books take up aside, I loved the three books and will almost certainly reread them at some point which is a high compliment for me.

62. Jack Weatherford - Genghis Khan and the making of the modern world
Well that was just fascinating. Although Jack Weatherford does seem to have a bit of a crush on Genghis Khan, this was a really captivating story, relating how an insignificant boy from the Steppes, named Temüjin, ended up becoming Genghis Khan. The story continues after Genghis dies, and we see how his influence on the world continues, through his actions and achievements, and through his family. I finally learnt the backstory to Kublai Khan, and his pleasure-dome, and have a much better grasp of Mongol hordes now.
★★★★

Does anyone have any recommendations for other 'soft' history books like this? Something that makes for easy/entertaining reading, rather than being heavy on footnotes and paragraphs worth of detail regarding quantities of pig iron produced in a given year (yes, I was scarred by Russian history readings as an undergrad).

>189 evilmoose: That one sounds good! I'd suggest anything by Bill Bryson. Simon Winchester is also excellent.

>190 scaifea: Ooh, thanks Amber. I'll have to give Simon Winchester a go. I'm not a huge fan of Bill Bryson... I have enjoyed Jared Diamond before too, but am hoping to find some books that are less.... hand waving and thesis-like than his.

>189 evilmoose: Are you looking for just "soft" history or also other genres of "soft" NF? Some history-ish ones that come to mind and that I would vouch for are Wild Swans by Jung Chang, 1491, Team of Rivals, and Gertrude Bell: Desert Queen.

>192 karspeak: Thanks Karen :) I have read Wild Swans a couple of times and loved it. The others you mentions sound interesting, and have been added to my To Read list - I've realised I need to get back into a little more NF reading, I've been on an absolute novel binge recently.

63. Helene Wecker - The Golem and the Jinni (audiobook)
I've been on a roll with book choices this October. The Golem and the Jinni is another winner. Mysticism and folklore bundled up in 1890s New York City. The Jinni who ends up living in a Syrian neighbourhood, the master-less Golem who is adopted into the Jewish neighbourhood, both trying to blend into the human world. Character development, some romance, an evil man who is up to no good, others who are trying to help, and there's even icecream.
★★★★



Not sure what I'll start on next. But here's a photo from an adventure 1.5 weeks ago. The snow has arrived in the mountains, and it looks like it's here to stay.

>194 evilmoose: I read that one last summer and really liked it - I'm glad to see that you did, too!

64. Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse (audiobook)
This is such an enormous book (mentally, not physically), that I don't feel like I can do any sort of job of reviewing it. Although I struggled with it at first, in the end I think it was good to listen to as an audiobook, as I was forced to pay attention to the text, to revel in its every nuance. And I plan to re-read it next year, along with some more of Woolf's work. What fun, to be discovering authors still, especially those I should have read long ago.
★★★★★

Now I'm reading Mansfield Park - also for the first time! I'm not sure how I missed it. And Capricornia, an Australian novel. As well as working my way through a collection of stories related to an epic bike race I plan to undertake next year (I was actually one of those working on editing the book, so it's lovely to get a paper copy)

65. Jane Austen - Mansfield Park (e-book)
An enjoyable enough read, but lacking a little compared to my favourite Austen books. Fanny Price is sweet, but sanctimonious, but I have to say I related more to Mary Crawford and her lack of morals. Romances are always less fun when you're just not fussed if the two people in question actually get together in the end.
★★★½

>196 evilmoose: its already on my list. I reckon I can fit that in by 2015 maybe...
Great family outdoor shots (again: still), I love your camera!

>198 LovingLit: Do it, do it! And thanks - a lot of the recent photos were just taken with my phone too, it's a combination of awesome scenery, waiting for the right light, and always post-processing to get the most out of a shot :)

66. X. Herbert - Capricornia (audiobook)
Blah. "Capricornia has been described as on of Australia's 'great novels'" - I'm not sure who by. It's definitely important and interesting subject matter, and a great setting for a novel, but the writing itself is just tedious, mind-numbingly tedious, with long sections of sermonising inserted into one character or another's mouth. I was going to give it at least an extra half star, but after sleeping on it, I decided the whole book reading experience was just too annoying. It compares particularly poorly after having read a succession of fantastic classic books, including The Thorn Birds, which is an actual Australian classic.

Part of the book description read: "...without doubt one of the best known and widely read Australian novels of the last 70 years", which had me wondering why I'd never heard of it, and why hardly anyone on librarything had read it. I was all excited - ooh, and overlooked Australian classic, hurrah. But it's been overlooked because it's long, and rambling and full of unsympathetic characters that I kept wishing would just die so I would stop having to read about them. Apparently it took some time for Herbert to get it published, and when he finally did, it required heavy editing before it was deemed acceptable - I would have hated to have seen it before an editor stepped in.

★★



And a photo chaser, to wash the taste of that tedious and over-long book out of my mouth. My little hiker, heading up a mountain.

67. Herman Hesse - Siddhartha (audiobook)
Yay! Gorgeous and soothing spiritual journey. The ideas flow in the same way as those in my brain - it always makes for a nice relaxing read.
★★★★½

68. Georgette Heyer - The Grand Sophy (audiobook)
Well, I'm not sure how to feel about this - my first ever Georgette Heyer, motivated by the fact that everyone seems to be reading her at the moment (not everyone obviously... a lot of people). I don't know that I've ever really read much in the way of romances before. I was a little alarmed by a heaving bosom at one point, but Sophy was good fun, and I enjoyed her hijinx and her disregard for regency decorum. Also, here's something terribly relaxing about reading a book where you know everything is going to turn out perfectly fine in the end, and you don't have to worry about the fate of your favourite characters. The next time I'm feeling completely overwhelmed by a succession of overwhelmingly depressing books, I know where to turn.
★★★½

69. Rainbow Rowell - Landline (audiobook)
I enjoyed Landline. It wasn't perfect. And I've heard other reviewers say the magical element was unecessary to the story. But I enjoyed that element - if only for the number of times I've imagined travel or communication with past selves or others. And since I finished it this morning, it keeps popping back into my head - as some relationship stories tend to do. This is the second book of Rowell's I've read, and I do really enjoy her writing. I feel like any one of the characters in her books could walk off the page and accidentally knock on my door.
★★★★

Is there anywhere on LT I could ask for help identifying a book based on a half-remembered plot?

Yup. It's called "Name That Book". Make sure you read the group info to help,them help,you!

http://www.librarything.com/groups/namethatbook

Woo, thanks Jim, I was sure there must be something, I'd just completely failed at tracking it down. Quite similarly to the book I've been trying to find for the last 20 years.

Well, I don't know how many people are checking in here these days, but because Paul C is doing it, and I'm feeling inspired, here's my list of my 15 favourite books, in preparation for 2015.

They're all books I've re-read multiple times, and love to read for various reasons. Some are just symptomatic of a love for that author. They span genres and ages. Some more recent reads may sneak in eventually, but this list is about long term love. And it was really hard to select! I think I'll forever doubt myself, but I shall post this as is for now.

Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry
Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall - Spike Milligan
My Name is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkein
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransom
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Matilda - Roald Dahl
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - JK Rowling
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Watership Down - Richard Adams
Pyramids - Terry Pratchett (ok, I definitely just picked one at random here - no one of Pratchett's works really stands out to me, but I've spent so much time reading and re-reading him, that I felt I couldn't leave him out

>207 evilmoose: aaah. Loving seeing My Name is Asher Lev in your list. My fave of all time :)

70. Bram Stoker - Dracula (audiobook)
I listened to this as a full-cast audiobook production by audible, which was well done on the whole, although I stumbled with the way Van Helsing was read. I'm not sure if it would be so jarring to read, or if it had been read aloud differently. That aside - I'm pretty sure I read a heavily abridged version of Dracula some time in the last year or two. The first four chapters were very familiar, but the rest of the book was apparently summarised down to almost nothing - but I never recorded it in LT, and I'm not sure how or why I ended up with an abridged version. The long version makes much more sense! Although I was finding things were dragging a bit from time to time. A definite classic of course though (and a few unintentionally funny moments 'Unclean! Unclean!). I'm glad I've finally read this, as it's provided some much needed context to reams of popular vampire culture.
★★★

Woo, definitely on track to make it to 75!

71. Alan Bradley - Speaking From Among the Bones: A Flavia de Luce Novel
Oh, I love Flavia! I hadn't heard of her at all until this book popped up a few times in various threads here. I couldn't get hold of the first in the series, so I've started here, and now I'll have to go and read the rest. Really, I love her on behalf of my precocious childhood self, who would have adored Flavia, and had much the same attitude towards adults and the rest of the world that she does. I was however, no chemistry genius. And it does feel a little, that after a run of young Flavia books we may end up with either 'Flavia as an adult embittered with the system takes justice into her own hands with a series of vigilante poison-based murders, and is never caught because she's so good', or 'Flavia loses her grip on sanity and starts poisoning everyone'. (I'd still read those books too)
★★★★

Meanwhile - so much snow! There was an epic snowstorm over the last few days, not notable so much for the snowfall (which was reasonable), but for the crazy blowing winds and zero visibility. Our deck is on the lee side, so entirely filled up with snow. And right now it's -29oC (-20oF) outside, with a nasty windchill. Good reading weather.

>207 evilmoose: Oooh, lovely list! I loved the ones on there that I *have* read so much that I think I really should get round to the rest of the list - we seem to love many of the same books!

72. Jane Austen - Persuasion
Not my new favourite Jane Austen, and it did seem a little that it was all over far too quickly. More refined than Northanger Abbey, and a better story than Mansfield Park (well, at least I found the heroine at least a little relate-able, I still want to slap Fanny Price). The love story was sweet, but I kept expecting a little more than it delivered.

I still can't believe there are so many Austen books I hadn't read yet! I keep expecting things to seem familiar, and then everything's all new, all over again.
★★★★

>212 evilmoose: And I can't believe that I've *only* read Persuasion! I need to get back to Austen soon...

Did you two see there is a Read-all-the-Jane- Austen's being planned in the catagory challenge for next year? Voting is going on in the 2015 group right now as to the order.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/182664

>213 scaifea: Only read Persuasion!?! *gasps and faints onto the chaise longue*

>214 streamsong: Ooh, I hadn't seen that, thanks streamsong. I've worked my way through 3 this year, I'd like to join in on that.

>215 evilmoose: *snork!*

>212 evilmoose: Part of the reason for the not so smooth ending is that Persuasion was published post-humously and didn't go through Jane Austen's usually strenuous editing process.

Managed to lose you after flagging you at the beginning of the year - but just had a whizz through catch up :) Love all your pictures and your reading.

>217 MickyFine: Ah, that makes sense.... *reads wikipedia* golly, I knew she'd died early, I hadn't realised it was such a horrible prolonged illness.

>218 BekkaJo: Thanks BekkaJo! Glad you found me again :)

73. Virginia Woolf - Orlando (audiobook)
Perfection. It simultaneously made complete sense, and no sense at all. A biography that starts in 1500, and continues to the present day (which is 1926). I want to go back and read it again. And read everything else Virginia Woolf ever wrote.
★★★★★

74. Oscar Wilde - A Woman of no Importance (audiobook)
Short but sweet, and enjoyable play by Oscar Wilde that was over in no time. I've only just started reading Wilde, but am enjoying the experience - he's one of those classic authors whose impact has rippled down through time and can be seen all over the place.
★★★★

And now I accidentally started reading Sookie Stackhouse, and I think I might be hooked. Ooops.

One more to go...

^ I was just thinking that.....

*DRAMATIC CHORDS* .... I did it! One of my biggest years of reading in the last decade... and it's still not over!

75. Charlaine Harris - Dead Until Dark
I.. um... well this was just vampire porn wasn't it? It's sort of Twilight with sex. The main character is 'special', and her vampire loves her oh so much, and takes care of her, and is very protective, but she tries to be defiantly independent, and there's the good old love triangle. It was fun, and kind of readable, but it just didn't feel like enough to me. I mean, there were murders happening, and I got all excited "Oh, murders, now they'll start trying to find out who did it." Nope, just leave it to the police. Don't bother using your magical telepathic powers or anything... at least not til someone else suggests it. Three stars because I did kind of enjoy it despite the silliness, but I don't think I'll read any more.
★★★

76. Annie Proulx - Brokeback Mountain
Another short but sweet, I'd been meaning to read this for a while. And because my last book ran out while I was busy pulling staples out of our stairs (ripping out carpet to put in new flooring), I needed to start something new. It finished before the staples were gone. Stupid staples. Lovely story. Although I'd seen the movie... and some of it was shot in the mountains around here. I knew roughly what to expect, but enjoyed the experience.
★★★★

Meanwhile, the wind outside is trying to blow my house down, and my eyes are full of dust from the renovations.

WooHoo!! Congrats!!

Happy 75! Great timing too :)

Congrats!

Congrats on reaching the magic number!

77. Iris Murdoch - The Bell (audiobook)
I enjoyed reading this, but now for the earth of me can't really explain why, or come up with an even vaguely coherent review. Sexuality, power, and a lingering sense of unease, and impending doom. Or at least impending embarrassment. I was desperately hoping things would turn out ok for everyone, even though they were certainly flawed characters. But there's that pesky impending doom to worry about... and the bell.
★★★★

And thanks congratulaterators! I half feel like I should be stopping reading all books at the last chapter now, and saving them up to finish next year!

78. Barry Unsworth - The Ruby in her Navel (audiobook)
Oof, not my cup of tea at all. I just found the whole thing so tedious, when in theory it should be an interesting book. There were Chekhov's guns at every turn, the mystery was completely obvious, there was no plot twist that seemed surprising... and sometimes that's completely fine, and I'll still enjoy the ride, but for me, this dragged, and I just wanted the obvious unveiling to be over with.
★★½

I just tried to work out my top 5 books from 2014 to add to the other Megan's thread.... here's what I came up with (although it was hard! and the quality of books that were left out is amazing!)

Orlando - Cryptonomicon - The Thorn Birds - Stoner - Odd and the Frost Giants



Meanwhile I'm enjoying some Flavia de Luce, which is coordinating quite well with my evening watching - Sherlock (with Benedict Cumberbatch of course... I understand now).

>231 evilmoose: You've only been converted to Benedict now? Oh what joys await. ;)

>232 MickyFine: Yes indeed - I'd seen him in Atonement before, but that hardly counts. But I'd heard some kerfuffle here about him, and about Sherlock (I strongly suspect your threads may have been the location of some of this!), and then again on my facebook, so I thought it might be worth... looking into. And my, what fun :)

79. Alan Bradley - The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag: A Flavia de Luce Novel (audiobook)
All of my previous Flavia de Luce comments still hold. She's like a wonderful chaser of ginger, to clear the palate after a tedious or unpleasant book.
★★★★

Meanwhile, this was the view as we huddled on a mountain-top, looking down at town and waiting for the winter solstice sunrise. Glorious, but chilly...

Oh, wow, that's beautiful!

Oh, lovely photo!

Happy Christmas!

>233 evilmoose: Oh there's usually a bit of Benedict lurking on my threads somewhere. If you want suggestions of other of his films (and other things) to enjoy, let me know.

>234 evilmoose: Gorgeous pic!

80. Alan Bradley - The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches (audiobook)
More wonderful Flavia. I'll admit to getting a bit squeamish when she was starting to talk about trying to bring corpses back to life though, and was rather thankful when that possibility was averted.
★★★★

81.Christopher Bennett (editor) - The Cordillera Vol 6 (2014) - Literature from the world's toughest bike race
I was actually helping edit this for release, it's a very home-grown kind of collection of stories of varying qualities. For me it's fascinating though, as I hope to race the route in 2015. I read through every story with a critical eye, hoping to glean some information that might help me out of the course - so it's a very different kind of read!

Have a wonderful festive season. Thanks for treating us with some excellent photographs in the last year. xx

82. Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility (audiobook)
Oops, I was meant to read this next year, but accidentally started it after Christmas. Gorgeous and tidy and very well-polished, it still doesn't touch Pride and Prejudice for me, because I couldn't bring myself to care for the cast of main characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the poking at English cultural traditions of the time, and the characters drawn. Some of the interactions were wonderful fun to read. And yet - I felt I was admiring the book at arms length, rather than being swept up in it. I found it hard to relate to the incredibly sensible Elinor, who will never win my heart from Eliza Bennet.
★★★★

2014 BOOK ROUNDUP

Total number of books: 82
Number of audiobooks: 71
Number of paper books: 7
Number of e-books: 4

Fantasy: 26
Sci-fi: 9
Dystopias: 5

Female / male author split: 28 / 52
(Plus two edited collections that were a mix... I didn't realise it would be so unevenly split, I guess a lot of the sci-fi/fantasy is written by male authors. Hmm.)

Newly discovered favourite authors: Neal Stephenson, China Mieville, Virginia Woolf

Authors I read 3 of more of:
Jane Austen (Persuasian, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility)
Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, Reamde, Cryptonomicon)
Margaret Atwood (The Blind Assassin, Alias Grace, Cat's Eye)
Alan Bradley (3 of the Flavia de Luce novels)
Neil Gaiman (Odd and the Frost Giants, The Graveyard Book, Fragile Things)
Lev Grossman (The Magician King trilogy)
Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn Trilogy)
Garth Nix (Abhorsen Trilogy)

Top 8 novels:
Virginia Woolf - Orlando
Because Virginia Woolf is amazing and the writing and story captivated me.

Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon (narrowly winning out over Reamde)
Rip roaring good read, full of adventure, with some fascinating cryptology elements.

Colleen McCollough - The Thorn Birds
Australia classic - resonated with the farm girl in me, who grew up in the bush.

John Williams - Stoner
Gorgeous and slightly heart-breaking portrait of a life.

Margaret Atwood - The Blind Assassin
Great read, and impossible to put down towards the end. A family mystery done well.

China Mieville - The City & the City
A very enjoyable brand of weird and slightly surreal noir (and I think the audiobook narrator is great).

Rainbow Rowell - Landline
The journey of a relationship between two people - not always easy. This book is one that keeps popping back into my head.

Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus
A beautiful piece of art.

Top 3 non-adult:
Alan Bradley - Speaking from among the bones (Flavia de Luce)
I love Flavia! And a good mystery.

Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book
Am enjoying my further forays into the world of Gaiman, and this is the wonderful tale of a young boy, cast adrift in the world.

M.R. Carey - The Girl with all the Gifts
Post-apocalyptic young adult fiction.

Worst 5 novels of the year
Austin Grossman - Soon I will be invincible
Another reminder that my husband laughing hysterically at a book won't mean I find it funny, or even particularly like it. I complained to him it was derivative. He said it was purposely derivative. I said it was still tediously boring. He raised an eyebrow at me. I went and ate a cupcake. So all's well that ends well I guess, but still, perhaps don't read this book unless you're into superheroes and the whole Marvel/DC Comics universes.

Xavier Herbert - Capricornia
Blah. "Capricornia has been described as on of Australia's 'great novels'" - I'm not sure who by. It's definitely important and interesting subject matter, and a great setting for a novel, but the writing itself is just mind-numbingly tedious, with long sections of sermonising inserted into one character or another's mouth. It compared particularly poorly after having read The Thorn Birds, which is an actual Australian classic.

Gary Shteyngart - Super Sad True Love Story
I was so sure I was going to enjoy this book. It was recommended to me by a friend, when I was venting after reading a succession of downbeat kind of depressing books. I went into it with the assumption it would be uplifting. And it wasn't. I couldn't bring myself to enjoy any of the unsympathetic shallow characters, the futuristic world it was set in just felt bleak and depressing and awful, and I kept waiting for things to suddenly improve. People kept being awful to each other, nothing improved, everything was terrible, the end was terrible, and I didn't even enjoy the journey.

Jim Butcher - Skin Game
Last year I ploughed through the entire Harry Dresden series to date. I was told things would get better after the first few books. Things certainly got shinier, and the tropes of the Harry world for firmly established, but 'better' is a bit of a stretch of the imagination - and so my reading of the series morphed into rage-reading. If you haven't met him, Harry Dresden is a wizard. He lives in Chicago. He's homophobic (haha, wackily hilarious), misogynistic and quite rude about short people. Terrible things happen, he gets really badly injured, then wins against all the odds, all while angsting about everything, lusting after every second female who walks onto the book, and moaning about how much he misses the blue VW beetle he used to drive. I suppose I must enjoy something about the books, but by golly I also find them quite irritating.

Bruce Chatwin - In Patagonia
Meh. Supposed to be a travel writing classic, but I did not find it enthralling. Choppy, disjointed, it had the overall affect of helping me sleep at least.

And if you haven't already, you can catch my continued reading adventures here :)