Conachairs 50 for 2014

Last years challenge worked well so I'll stick with it with a few minor adjustments.

ROOT Ticker




Points Ticker




Total of pages read




1 point - new book/ re-read
2 points - pre 2014 TBR
3 points - pre 2013 old TBR
4 points - pre 2012 older TBR
5 points - pre 2011 ancient TBR
6 points - non-fiction book
7 points - foreign language (i.e. not German or English)

bonus points: (to be expanded if necessary)
finishing a series - 1 extra point (also given for keeping up with ongoing series when new books are published)
for every book over 400 pages 1 point per 100 pages
ER/ST book - 1 extra point

Points challenge only:

1 point for every two magazines read
1 point for every comic book story arc finished

January:
1.) For the King's Favor ; Elizabeth Chadwick finished 11.1. 14 2 points + 2 400+ page points
2.) Nightshade ; Paul Doherty finished 14.1.14 2 points 1 finishing series bonus point
3.) To Defy a King ; Elizabeth Chadwick finished 21.1.14 2 points + 2 400+ page points
4.) The Rook ; Daniel O'Malley finished 28.1.14 2 points + ST bonus point + 2 400 + page points

Febuary:
5.) Die Königin und die Hure ; Ellen Jones finished 23.2.14 1 point + 2 400+ page bonus points
6-8.) The Crossfire Series: Books 1-3 Sylvia Day finished 24.2.14 3 points

March:
9.) The Hunger Games; Suzanne Collins finished 3.3.14 2 points + 1 400+ page bonus point
10.) Kälteschlaf; Arnaldur Indriðason finished 6.3.14 2 points
11.) Catching Fire; Suzanne Collins finished 12.3.14 1 point
12.) Mary Boleyn; Alison Weir finished 12.3.14 6 points
13.) Mockingjay ; Suzanne Collins finished 20.3.14 1 point + finishing series bonus point

April:
14.) Lord of the isles ; Nigel Tranter finished 10.4.14 4 points
15.) Ghost Train to New Orleans ; Mur Lafferty 1 point + finishing series bonus point

May:
16.) A Dangerous Inheritance ; Alison Weir finished 8.5.14 1 point + 2 400+ page bonus points
17.) Trust ;Sherri Hayes finished 17.5.14 1 point + finishing series point + 1 400+ page bonus point
18.) Vikings life and legend finished 28.5.14 6 points
19.) Stonehenge; Bernard Cornwell finished 29.5.14 5 points + 2 400+ page bonus points
20.) Dissolution ; C.J. Sansom finished 29.5.14 1 point + 1 400+ page bonus point

June:
21.) The Boleyn King; Laura Andersen finished 6.6.14 1 point
22.) The Woodvilles ; Susan Higginbotham finished 11.6.14 6 points
23.) The Boleyn Deceit ; Laura Andersen finished 18.6.14 1 point+ 1 finishing series bonus point + 1 400+ page bonus point
24.) Lion Let Loose ; Nigel Tranter finished 23.6.14 3 points

July:
25.) The Vikings in Britain and Ireland finished 17.7.14 6 points
26.) Babys erstes Jahr; Vivian Weigert Dr. Franz Paky finished 21.7.14 6 points
27.) Azincourt; Bernard Cornwell finished 25.7.14 4 points + 2 400+ page bonus points
28.) The Autobiography of Henry VIII ; Margaret George 1 point + 6 400+ page bonus points

August:
29.) The Boleyn Reckoning ; Laura Andersen finished 3.8.14 1 point + 400+ page bonus point + finishing series point
30.) The Marsh King's Daughter; Elizabeth Chadwick finished 25.8.14 1 point + 400+ page bonus point

September:
31.) Oje, ich wachse; Hetty van de Rijt Frans X. Plooij finished 7.9.14 6 points
32.) Severed Souls; Terry Goodkind finished 15.9.14 1 point + 2 400+ page bonus points + finishing series point
33.) Runes; Martin Findell finished 13.9.14 6 points
34.) Shadows and Strongholds ; Elizabeth Chadwick finished 25.9.14 1 point + 2 400+ page bonus points
35.) Frozen Heat ; Richard Castle finished 27.9.14 1 point

October:
36.) Stillen ; Dora Schweitzer finished 7.10.14 6 points
37.) Innocent Traitor ; Alison Weir finished 19.10.14 1 point
38.) Cache 72 ; Richard C. Hale finished 24.10. 14 1 point
39.) A History of the World in 100 Objects ; Neil MacGregor finished 28.10.14 1 point + 2 400+ page bonus points

November:
40.) Deadly Heat Richard Castle finished 27.11.14 1 point

December
41.) Stillen Vivian Weigert finished 7.12.14 6 points
42.) Raging Heat Richard Castle finished 14.12.14 1 point + finishing series bonus point
43.) The British Museum A-Z Companion to the Collections Marjorie Caygill finished 15.12.14 6 points
44.) The Rebels of Ireland Edward Rutherford finished 19.12.14 3 points + 5 400+ page bonus points
45.) A Brewing Storm; Richard Castle finished 22.12.14 1 point
46.) A Raging Storm ; Richard Castle finished 24.12.14 1 point
47.) A bloody Storm ; Richard Castle finished 27.12.14 1 point

Comics & Magazines:
1.) Wire #73
2.) FedCon Insider #5/ Geek #9 1 point
3.) Chefkoch 12/13 + 1/14 1 point
4.) FedCon Insider #6
5.) Buffy Season 9: Welcome to the Team 1 point
6.) Buffy Season 9: The Watcher 1 point
7.) Chefkoch 2/14 + 3/14 1 point
8.) Chefkoch 4/14
9.) gocacher #2

Wow, I wonder what you'd give to my 2003 book I'm reading right now!

Welcome back, Conachair. Good to see you back.

#2 I am sure most of my pre 2011 books are way older than that, but since I have no idea about how old most of them are I go by their 2010 LT entry date. But you gave me the idea that it might be a good idea to "purge" some of the in between levels to prevent point inflation for the future so I just took stock of how many books in my to read list belong in each category and I will try strategic reading to clear one or two levels.

pre 2014 TBR 8
pre 2013 old TBR 13
pre 2012 older TBR 29
pre 2011 ancient TBR 78

Welcome back and good luck on both of your challenges!

Hello chair & good luck with your challenge.

First ROOT done. I found For the King's Favor not quite as engaging as The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion, but I was still a nice read and fitted well into the framework of the other two. Back to the Marshals with To Defy a King now.

Yeah, first ROOT, well done, Conachair!

Congrats on your first ROOT! I actually abandoned For the King's Favor halfway through it last year and never went back to it. (hangs head in shame) I really liked The Greatest Knight so I was surprised that FtKF didn't grab me. Glad you liked it, though!

Good job Conachair! Sometimes that first one is the hardest one to complete. I get overexcited when I begin this challenge every year. I love it!

Congrats on your first ROOT!

Second one done :-)

While I did enjoy reading the Hugh Corbett series I was getting a little bored with it of late. Somehow there seemed to be little character development and most characters involved in the cases seemed to have few defining characteristics beyond their names. I sometimes lost track of who was who.

That's not a good sign, Conachair. Maybe too much of Mr. Corbett?

Well, this last one was the only one left I hadn't read. I am not sure if I should re-read the last one in the series at this point.

Just choose something else, Conachair. Or did you al ready?

I tend to read books in parallel, one or two on paper and at least one digitally to read on my iPhone while waiting somewhere or on my iPad in bed. The last few Hugh Corbett novels were Kindle versions, but the one I have is a paperback so I would only start reading it once I finish some others I am reading now.

I think I'll skip that for now, plenty of other books waiting. I will give myself the finishing series point for reading the last book I hadn't read now.

I do the same thing. Right now I'm reading one book on paper and digital. It's a ROOT, but in bed and on the train it's more easy to handle my kobo. And another paper book. But the ROOT book takes priority right now.

I just finished To Defy a King. Overall i enjoyed it, though for the first part of it I suffered from the same problem For the King's Favor did, just being the story of William Marshal told from yet another perspective. Towards the end it developed more of a story of its own however, making it more interesting.

I absolutely love The Rook. It was really funny in many places. I am curios however how the sequel will turn out, since The Rook is so much about Myfanwy figuring out how to cover up her amnesia and the letters her former self wrote to her. The sequel will have to be a departure from that and I am not sure how that will work out.

The Rook looks like a really good book. I got so sidetracked reading the reviews on it on its page that I almost forgot I was cooking breakast. Congratulations on finishing another ROOT!

The Rook is definitely on my wishlist - it looks so interesting! I may have to go bump it up now :)
Congratulations on finishing another one!

We are in the middle of renovation works which makes it a little difficult to find some reading time, but I finally finished another ROOT.

Hurray! Good luck with the renos.

Thanks, we are passed the worst, but still have some work to do.

I picked up The Crossfire Series: Books 1-3 a while ago because I was in the mood for something light which didn't require a lot of thinking. And that's what I got. I had expected a bit more entertainment out of it however. Throughout the first two books I was constantly annoyed by Gideon being a total ass, and while the end of book two looked promising book 3 felt like a book length epilogue leaving you hanging at the end. I guess I won't be in a hurry to pick up book 4.

Well, at least you got some reading done and ROOTed out a gew books. Will you keep them?

I have them as ebooks so I can't actually give them away.

I finally got around to reading The Hunger Games. It was a pretty quick read and I did enjoy it a lot. Now I want to finish one other book I am currently reading before starting the rest of the series.

Hahaha. Fallen for the Hunger Games, Iris!

I got Kälteschlaf as a free ebook in December. It took me some time to get into the story and it felt a bit slow at times, but overall I enjoyed it. I liked that it was somewhat different from all the crime novels I have read so far.

I finished two books today Catching Fire and Mary Boleyn. Mary Boleyn was the Febuary group read of the Tudor group on Goodreads. The most fascinating thing about it for me was to realize how little actual facts we have about her. Unfortunately this lack of actual evidence made the book a little dry being mostly a string of speculations on a number of different topics.

Oh, and I already hit the mark for March, which looks promising.

Nice going indeed.

I finished the Hunger Games series yesterday. I have to say, Mockingjay didn't grab me like the others did and I had to struggle through some passages.

That's a pity, Iris. I hope your next book will be better.

I had to spend a couple of days in hospital just before Easter, which messed up both my reading and keeping my progress updated. I am now trying to get back on track.

I hope you're on the mend! Happy reading, and a good recovery!

All the best for a speedy recovery!

I hope you are feeling better now. :)

Hope everything is all right again. Were you able to reada bit during the hopital stay? I recently spent just one day and it was horrible, so good you are back. Hope you're feeling well!

Oh no! I hope you're feeling better.

It was a bit of a scare, but everything is alright now. Sadly I got very little reading done while in hospital because my mind just wasn't in it.

If all is alright now, you can set your mind on reading again. I'm glad you are okay.

And you're doing fine with your ROOT goal, with so many books read already. :)

I managed to squeeze in three more books before the end of the month, which means I am caught up again after falling one book short last month.

I also managed a major push on the points challenge with these books.

Good job, Iris (I think that's your real live name)

Playing catch up on the Goodreads Tudor Group reads.

The Woodvilles was the book for March and it took me this long to get through it. Overall it was quite interesting but this detailed look at the period I had not really been familiar with made it difficult to read.

The Boleyn King is the book for June. It was quite fascinating and a bit of a change for me, but I could have used a bit more what if ? history and a little less romantic triangle.

I bet it feels good to be back on track. Way to go! :)

Yes, it is nice to be caught up, the problem with it is it never lasts :-) I seem to be always dancing on the line, usually one book short. But I am confident that I'll make it in the end.

Right now the World Cup is interfering not with my regular reading, but keeps me from making progress on my non-fiction books. I have one that I should have finished this month, but I just don't get around to it at the moment.

With the Word Cup finally over I had a chance to pick up and finish The Vikings in Britain and Ireland. This finally brings me to the half way mark. I was excited when I found out about this book, but was a little disappointed while reading it. It is well written and decently thought through, but it contained little I didn't know already. I guess it is a good book for someone not familiar with the subject but for someone looking for deeper insight into the matter there sadly is little to discover.

And now you're over half-way there! :)

I am making progress but I keep trailing behind by one book at the end of the month. But with one huge chunk of a book this month that should be excusable.

Congrats on your rooting!

Just keep on reading! You will get there.

Gor two more in this week. Again Runes offered little I didn't know already, but in this case it was still nice to have it all the bits and pieces I knew collected in one place.

I was a little bored with Severed Souls in the beginning, but it got really interesting in the end and really leaved you hanging wondering how the story will go on.

I am still behind, but I did get some reading done this month and made some progress on non-fiction reads which always take longer.

Yes! Good job.

Well, since my little one was born in November he has kept me busy and often at my wits end. Naturally I have had little time for reading since and have fallen behind on my goal. I don't think I will make it.

I had two major triumphs this month though. I bought The British Museum A_Z companion to the collections on a visit to the museum years ago and only managed to read bits at the time. It has taken me over a year, but I finally managed to read through the whole book.

I started The rebels of Ireland in January and finally managed to get through this 800+ page ROOT.

Adding a family member is a wonderful reason for falling behind with your reading. Congratulations and many happy years to come!

Congrats on finishing those two big books! Also congratulations on your new little one!

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and Congratulations on the birth of your little boy!