Norabelle414's Act Six: Fall Weather at Long Last

It's finally finally fall! I took this picture almost a month ago but it's still beautiful:


The campus of the National Zoo's 3000-acre research facility in Front Royal, Virginia. Most of the trees hadn't changed yet at this point, but there are a couple!

Goals for 2014:

• Read 22,000 pages
  
• Completely ignore the number of books I'm reading
  
• Catch up on my LTER reading / reviewing
  
• Acquire fewer than 75 books
  
• Plan & attend the Spring DC meet-up and National Book Festival LT meet-up (here's the planning thread!!)
  
  

Previous Threads:
2014, act five
2014, act four
2014, act three
2014, act two
2014, act one
2014, prologue

2013, part XI
2012, module eta

Books read in 2014:

Paper books:
- Lonely Planet Iceland, 8th edition
- The Tropic of Serpents: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan
- The Walking Dead, Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life by Robert Kirkman
- Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
- The Walking Dead, Volume 7: The Calm Before by Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 8: Made to Suffer by Robert Kirkman
- The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker
- City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte
- Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
- Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett
- Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor **ebook**
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
- The Walking Dead, Volume 9: Here We Remain by Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 10: What We Become by Robert Kirkman
- Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome
- The Walking Dead, Volume 11: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman
- Ghost Train to New Orleans by Mur Lafferty
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
- The Walking Dead, Volume 12: Life Among Them by Robert Kirkman
- The Geek's Guide to Dating by Eric Smith
- The Walking Dead, Volume 13: Too Far Gone by Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 14: No Way Out by Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 15: We Find Ourselves by Robert Kirkman
- Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
- Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor
- Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
- Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
- The Memory Garden by Mary Rickert
- Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
- California by Edan Lepucki
- The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
- Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp
- Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
- Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
- The Walking Dead, Volume 16: A Larger World by Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 17: Something to Fear by Robert Kirkman
- The Walking Dead, Volume 18: What Comes After by Robert Kirkman
- The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde
- The Walking Dead, Volume 19: The March to War by Robert Kirkman
- Maplecroft by Cherie Priest
- Dr. Mutter's Marvels by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz
- Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger
-

Audiobooks:
- The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book IV: The Interrupted Tale by Maryrose Wood
- Boston Jacky: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Taking Care of Business by L. A. Meyer
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
- Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James
- Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
- The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann
- The Whatnot by Stefan Bachmann
- Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
- Once by Morris Gleitzman
- Letter from Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
- The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
- The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
- Red Moon by Benjamin Percy
- The Bees by Laline Paull
- The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas

Books acquired in 2014:

January:
1) Icelandic Handknits by Helene Magnusson (new, $35)
2) The Geek's Guide to Dating by Eric Smith (ARC, free)
3) These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder (used, TBA)
4) The Clue of the Dancing Puppet by Carolyn Keene (used, TBA)
5) Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein (used, TBA)
6) Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (used, TBA)
7) Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (used, TBA)
8) The Moonstone Mystery by Carolyn Keene (used, TBA)
9) Let the Great World Spin by Collum McCann (used, TBA)
10) Geek Love by Katherine Dunn (gift)
11) Od Magic by Patricia A. McKillip (gift)

February:
12) Archduke Franz Ferdinand Lives!: A World Without World War I by Richard Ned Lebow (ARC, free)
13) The Pilgrims by Will Elliott (ARC, free)

March:
14) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (gift)
15) The Lady and the Panda (used, $0.25)

April:
16) Xxx by Xxx Xxx (gift)
17) Xxx by Xxx Xxx (gift)
18) Xxx by Xxx Xxx (gift)
19) Victorian Fairy Tale Book edited by Michael Patrick Hearn (used, $1)
20) Fairy Tales from the British Isles by Amabel Williams-Ellis (used, $1)
21) Centennial by James A. Michener (used, $1)
22) Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (used, $1)
23) All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (used, $1)
24) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling (used, $1)
25) Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen (used, $1)
26) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (used, $1)
27) Stardust by Neil Gaiman (used, $1)
28) Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (used, $1)

May:

29) The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (used, )
30) Company by Max Barry (used, )
31) The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman (used, )
32) Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (used, )
33) Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens by J. M. Barrie (used, )
34) The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King (used, )
35) Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (used, )
36) Bunnicula Strikes Again by James Howe (used, )
37) M Is for Magic by Neil Gaiman (used, )
38) Interworld by Neil Gaiman (used, )
39) Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp (used, )
40) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander (used, )
41) The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume I by Diana Wynne Jones (used, )
42) Raising a Reader! by Meryl Jaffe, PhD (free comic book day)
43) Hatter M, Volume One: Far From Wonder by Frank Beddor (free comic book day)
44) (free comic book day)
45) (free comic book day)
46) Jingo by Terry Pratchett (used, )
47) Valiant by Holly Black (used, )

June:

48) Invisible Beasts by Sharona Muir (LTER)
49) The Odditorium by Melissa Pritchard (free)
50) Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson (free)
51) Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (free)
52) Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett (used, $0.25)

July:

53) California by Edan Lepucki (new, )
54) Dodger by Terry Pratchett (remainder, )
55) A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel (remainder, )
56) Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer (new, )
57) Going Bovine by Libba Bray (new, )
58) Little, Big by John Crowley (used, $6)

August:
59) Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz (LTER)
60) The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory (gift)

September:
61) Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle by Douglas J. Emlen (LTER)
62) Knitting Yarns: Writers on Writing edited by Ann Hood (gift)
63) Rebel Souls: Walt Whitman and America's First Bohemians by Justin Martin (gift)

October:
64) The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde (new)
65) The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (free)
66) Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales by Kelly Link and Gavin Grant (ARC, free)

November:
67) Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger (new, )
68) Ночной дозор by Сергей Лукьяненко (free)
69) Сумеречный Дозор by Сергей Лукьяненко (free)
70) A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (LTER)

December:
71) A History of Rock Creek Park by Scott Einberger (new, )
72) Knit Your Own Zoo by Sally Muir (gift)
73) A Literary Christmas: An Anthology (gift)
74) His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik (gift)
75) Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (gift)
76) The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake (gift)
77) Vaclav & Lena by Haley Tanner (gift)
78) Mark Twain in Washington DC (gift)

Currently reading:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde

Currently listening to:
Red Moon by Benjamin Percy (96%)

Coming soon:
?

Currently watching:
Land Girls, Season 1
Gracepoint
Parenthood
The Paradise, Season 2

Cool! I'm first!

The Walking Dead, Volume 16: A Larger World by Robert Kirkman - Life is decent in the Alexandria colony, but they soon start running low on supplies. They start scouting further out than they have in the past and discover....a larger world.

A quiet plot, but obviously leading up to a larger arc and a new era.








The Walking Dead, Volume 17: Something to Fear by Robert Kirkman - The Alexandria colony realizes that the threat of Negan is much greater than they had originally thought, and they might not have a choice but to give in to his demands and live a life of fear.

A lot of devastating loss in this volume. Geez. I don't know if Negan is the scariest villain encountered yet, but he's definitely the most violent.








The Walking Dead, Volume 18: What Comes After by Robert Kirkman - One of the members of the group gets an up-close and personal look at how Negan's society runs. Meanwhile Rick decides to try a different tactic and returns to the Hilltop to ask for help.

Not a lot of death, though we learn a TON. More set-up for further tragedy, I'm sure.






One more review coming shortly (these reviews are not in order)

Ah, I was waiting for the photo. It is beautiful!

Delurking before the thread is filled with TV shows I haven't seen, or even heard of... (On the plus side, I can peek at the spoilers.)

(Caveat: I am not doing this book the justice it deserves)



The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen, read by ♥Katherine Kellgren♥ - Kelsea Glynn has been in hiding almost her whole life. She has been training and waiting for this day, when the Queen's Guard will collect her and take her to the palace and her rightful place as Queen of the country of Tear. She discovers once there that the condition of her kingdom is not great. Before her parents died they made an agreement with the power-hungry queen of the adjacent kingdom - the Tear will be left in peace in exchange for a monthly delivery of slaves. Kelsea realizes that her mother was not the idealized perfect ruler Kelsea imagined her to be, but it's not too late for Kelsea herself to set her country on the right course.

There's a little more to the setting of this story than pseudo-medieval predictability, but I don't want to spoil too much. I wish I hadn't waited so long to write a review, because I did have a lot to say about it at some point. I do know that I really liked the story and I eagerly await the next book in the series. This book is very heavy on the world-building, and in some places it wanders too far into over-explaining territory. But there is a lot to explain, and I was engaged enough to keep reading and I'm confident the next volumes will be more balanced. I do wish I had read the book in paper instead of listen to it because I think I would have absorbed more, but of course Katherine Kellgren was lovely as usual.

>5 drneutron: Hi Jim!!

>7 qebo: Hi Katherine! The spoilers probably all sound ridiculous out of context. And in my defense most of the shows are based on books of some kind.

>8 norabelle414: FYA put that one on The List already. Huzzah, no hits!

Hi, Nora! *Hugs*

Happy New Thread, Nora!

8> So glad to hear that you liked this book so much!!! I snagged an ARC at work as soon as it appeared, and I'm just waiting for a few days off with nothing to do it pick it up and plow through it. Yay for good books!

>12 scaifea: Hi Amber! Thanks!

>13 LauraBrook: I hope you like it too, Laura! It's an interesting take on a classic type of story.

Saw on Stephen's thread I'm supposed to post Hook gifs over here. So to give you something to remember me while I'm away on vacation:

Happy new thread, Nora!

>8 norabelle414: - Ohhhh, I have my eye on that one! I love world-builds and I am willing to let the first book in a series focus on the setting.

>16 lkernagh: Thanks Lori! I think just knowing that it gets better should be enough to get you through the "over-explain-y" parts of The Queen of the Tearling. :-)

I finished three books on Saturday! But first, TV updates (even though Micky is the only one who cares about most of them and she's on vacation...)

Land Girls (my current Netflix binge-watch): I didn't care much for the first season but I'm glad I stuck it out because I just finished the second season and it was much better. I can actually almost tell all the characters apart now.

The Paradise: I just realized that the second season of this show has been airing on PBS for the past several weeks, so I had to hurry and catch up. While it was off the air I had forgotten how much I loved it! Even though department stores feel so banal to us now, this show really makes you feel how magical they were for the people of the time. (I have not yet watched last night's episode)

Death Comes to Pemberley: While catching up with The Paradise I also noticed that this was airing on PBS so I watched the first episode. I felt the same way about it that I did about the book - somewhat interested but not totally engaged. (I have not yet watched last night's episode)

Play It Again, Dick: I finished the season. I didn't really think it was that entertaining. Again, it might be one of those things where it hasn't been long enough since I've watched the series for me to miss the characters/actors.

Frankenstein MD: I finished the season. (I think. There might be another video or two coming out?) Something about the whole series just didn't work. The beginning was too slow and then everything felt rushed toward the end. Dr. Waldman's character never really made any sense. At the beginning he was a strict teacher-type, and then in the end he steals a corpse for them, no questions asked?! Plus, the ending? Victoria and Eli just did not have chemistry together. It's sad because Eli almost had enough chemistry for both of them, if that were a thing that was possible. Eli was like fireworks and Victoria was like a bucket of used dishwater. I am of course looking forward to whatever Pemberley Digital will be doing next, but I doubt it will be another collaboration with PBS.

Benched: A new comedy starring Jane from Happy Endings and Ted from Better Off Ted as semi-dysfunctional lawyers. I like it.

Marry Me: I think the thing that makes this show so good is that it starts out with a couple who have already known each other and been together for like 6 years. It skips over the whole meet-cute, will-they-won't-they bits of normal romantic comedies (which are entertaining but way overplayed). Instead of constantly worrying about whether the main characters are going to get together or not I can just relax and enjoy their antics.

Arrow: Felicity is gone for most of the episode, again, which makes it boring. But Thea is back! I still want her haircut. I'm trying to decide if it would be weird if I printed out pictures of her from the internet and took them to the hair salon. This week's episode is going to be ALL FELICITY ALL THE TIME and I'm super excited for that.

The McCarthys was bad and I'm not watching another episode. I've also cut Mulaney from my rotation, which I actually forgot was a show that existed because they skipped ONE week. Never a good sign. Also, Manhattan Love Story (which I did not like) got cancelled as did A to Z (which I kind of did like).

Grimm: The second half of a two-parter, so nothing terribly interesting. Though that bit with Adelind at the end, does anyone else think that there's some kind of Rumpelstiltskin Wesen in the cell next to her? Whenever I hear anything about first-born children and saying someone's name I assume it's Rumpelstiltskin. Also, Juliette is a jerk for telling Monroe and Rosalie not to work on making Nick a Grimm again. If she doesn't want to be with a Grimm then she needs to just leave already.

Constantine: Still finding its feet, I think. I like the new obligatory female sidekick. I have a bad feeling about how long the show is going to last, though. So far it's just not dramatic enough. Though we are living in the golden age of science fiction & fantasy television, I think, so who knows.

Doctor Who: WE KNOW WHO MISSY IS NOW! I kind of called it, I think. I know "female version of The Master" was on my list of possibilities at some point. And how effing sad was Danny dying??? I was totally with Clara when she was so mad that he died in such a banal way. She just has to get him back though, right??? I can't believe the season is almost over.....

The Walking Dead / Talking Dead: BETH!!! I'm really not as scared of the people in the hospital as I was of other villains. They seem like just morons and I have no doubt that Beth will be able to escape from them, with or without Carol and Daryl's help. So my new theory on who is waiting in the woods with Daryl from the end of last episode is Noah. Daryl and Carol followed the car but they got attacked by walkers and Carol was picked up by the hospital people. Daryl was lurking outside of the hospital when he runs into Noah, and Noah tells him all about what's going on inside the hospital. So the two of them go back to the church to get backup. However, it looks like we have to wait TWO weeks to see what happens with that because from the promos it seems like next week is all about Abraham's group. The showrunners totally lied when they said that the group wasn't going to be split up again! *grumble grumble*
Did anyone else think that John Barrowman was kind of rude on Talking Dead? He kept having side conversations with Ana and he interrupted people a lot. That's a bummer because I like him.

Once Upon a Time: No big shocking revelations this week, I don't think. I also have two bones to pick with this episode. FIRST OF ALL, if Belle's family is rich then doesn't that defeat the whole plot of Beauty and the Beast? SECONDLY, in Fantasia the sorcerer's hat GIVES magical powers to Micky Mouse. So why in Once Upon a Time does the hat REMOVE magical powers from people? I thought this episode was kind of a dud (and a little confusing? weirder than usual flashbacks.) except for the part where someone tells Emma and Hook to stop making eyes at each other and Emma says they're not making eyes at each other and then Hook makes eyes at her. Hilarious.

Okay, I am in no way as good as Micky in this regard, but I'll give it my shot.

Land Girls One that has looooooong been on my TBW list, even before there was streaming anything. Glad to have the heads up that the second season gets a little better, so I'll stick it out. And why is it so hard to tell characters apart on shows sometimes?!? Annoying.

The Paradise Yours is the first I've heard (and remembered) with a positive opinion of the show, so I'll start with season one some time in the near future. Before this, I don't think anyone I know watched it!

Death Comes to Pemberley You at least finished the book, I couldn't make myself do it. With a good writer, great source material, and an interesting premise, it sure read as BORING. I did watch the first episode, and agree with you that "somewhat interested but not totally engaged" is spot on. I have yet to watch the second one too, but I remember drifting away to read a magazine a couple of times during the first ep, and had to stop myself and remember to pay attention.

Have not seen Play It Again, Dick, Frankenstein MD, Arrow (though I do mean to get to this soon), The McCarthys and Mulaney (just thought they looked terrible even though McCarthys has a few of my favorite actors in it), Grimm (somewhere in the first season I lost track and haven't felt the need to find out where I was and catch up). I've only seen the first two seasons of The Walking Dead, so that's yet another one to get back to. The premise of the Talking Dead is good, though, and what a bummer to hear that about Barrowman. I like him a lot. But, no one's perfect.

Benched I like it too. They're both a little Jane-ish and Ted-ish and that's a good thing.

Marry Me Seriously, love this show. Am behind two episodes, but I know they'll be great because how can they not be?!?

Manhattan Love Story Have yet to watch one show, but from all the reviews I've been reading I'm not surprised it's cut. Now I can half-heartedly watch the first couple of shows and then feel superior by freeing up all of that DVR space and delete the rest. (I think I may have a sad little life.)

A to Z I kind of liked this too, so I'm a little bummed it's gone.

Constantine I was all excited to have Marion from "Robin Hood" be on an American TV show (with a pretty darn good American accent, mind you), and then she was just in the first episode. Dangit! The second episode didn't do much for me either, it feel like they're trying too hard to get you hooked, like every episode should feel like a cliff-hanger at the end of your favorite, twisty season. But no. It's not.

Doctor Who OMG, I have only watch TWO episodes of this season. What is my problem?!?!? This has been one of my favorite shows since the reboot and I keep "saving" them to watch when I'm ready for it. (You may have noticed that this is sort of one of my problems.) Just watch it already, Laura! I'm dying to click on that spoiler, so it looks like I may have to binge this afternoon if I can stay awake.

Once Upon A Time I really like this show but feel less invested than you and Micky, so I mostly just watch to see how they change fairy tale stories and, well, because Hook. :) Haven't watched the newest one yet, but I know they're saving a lot of the big twists for later this season, so I'll save my OMG energy for then.

Hope this was a decent substitution for our favorite Canadienne.

>18 norabelle414: Death Comes to Pemberley
I read the book (meh), noticed last night that it was on TV, but I hadn't seen the previous episode, so oh well.

>19 LauraBrook: A+ work!

Land Girls is expiring on Netflix on Nov 8 so you'd better get on it! There are only 15 episodes total so it's not impossible. (Also they all look the same because: white people. Which is not to say that a show about rural England in the '40s composed almost entirely of white people isn't accurate. Also, a minimal amount of makeup/clothing/hair variations due to austerity.)

I'll watch any period piece on PBS! Bonus points when based on a novel.

I only finished Death Comes to Pemberley because it was an audiobook. I don't think I would have read it as a book at all.

I mostly only keep up with the other shows so I can talk about them with my friends! And also it often gets harder to find places to legally watch shows the longer I put them off, since I don't have a DVR.

>20 qebo: It's free on the internet, if you're into that sort of thing. I'm liking the miniseries slightly more than the book, I think.

The Walking Dead I was thinking about you towards the end of the episode because your prediction was pretty much spot on, actually! And I totally agree with you on all points this time around.

I'm glad you say that about John Barrowmen, actually. I'm not familiar with him, but I rememberd you said you were looking forward to seeing him on the show, so I suppose I was paying particular attention to him. I pretty much felt the same way, although he did seem to tone it down a bit after awhile.

Also, you know when they show the slow motion deaths they always have the screen with the hilarious little text at the end? How they did not say "Suck it, Gorman" is beyond me! :P

I promised you book updates on Monday and I still promise they are coming!

I'm also trying to keep better track of my knitting so here is a picture of what I'm working on right now - my very first pair of gloves:

Colour me impressed! That is one awesome glove project you are working on, Nora! I can knit scarves and that is about it... and don't expect me to make neat rows using different coloured yarn, that is beyond me. ;-)

>24 lkernagh: Thanks Lori! It took me a lot of scarves to get here :-)

Yeah, that's pretty fancy! :)

Excellent glove! I love the colors!

Thanks Stephen and Amber! Here's another photo of the first finished glove and the start of the second:



And a couple pictures of the beginning of a cat sweater (not for Rory, unfortunately):



A close-up of the pattern:

A cat sweater is a great idea but not something I would have been able to put on any one of our cats..... except to watch feats of cat gymnastics while they wiggled their way out of it!

I'm baaaaaaack!!! :D

So OUAT. I just watched last week's episode yesterday so my thoughts are pretty fresh. While not my favourite episode ever, I'm thrilled they finally gave Belle something to do. It's probably been over a year since she's been anything other than an occasional appearance. I literally groaned when they brought her in as a babysitter for Neal. Emilie de Ravin deserves better. As for your niggles with the Beauty and the Beast plot, it was never about Belle being poor in this universe. It was about Belle being the price for Rumple ending the Ogre War.

I also enjoyed Regina's dig about Hook and Emma making eyes at each other, followed by Hook making eyes at her. Also, Captaing Guyliner is my new favourite nickname for him.

I did like that we finally have an idea of what the larger conflict will be with Ingrid and that it takes much more from the original Hans Christian Andersen tale about the Snow Queen. I'm just wondering if the mirror will actually shatter and cast its curse and how exactly the town will break it. But seeing as there's supposed to be a two hour episode on November 16, I have a feeling we'll find out soon.

As for knitting, nicely done! I'm contemplating learning how to knit and think I might start with this arm knitting project. If I can ever remember to buy yarn when I'm near the Michael's, of course.

Also, you thought last week's Doctor Who was sad. My eyes were leaking through most of this week's episode. Danny can't be gone gone, can he? Really? Because I love him. A lot. I want a Danny Pink. Also, given the teaser, what do you think they'll do for the Christmas special?

I'm finally starting in on OUAT, so I will soon be able to click on those spoilers! Still behind on Doctor Who, though.

...Aaaaand I'm caught up on OUAT. Basically, what Mickey said. I posted my thoughts/questions about the season so far over on my thread, then came and read the spoilery spoilers here, so now I am ready -- bring on the next episode!

Ok, I'm only 2 weeks late realizing you started a new thread... This is the curse of not starring threads, that I don't automatically follow new iterations of said thread.

And also because I'm a terrible nonreading or LTing lump right now.

BUT, Doctor Who. I'm so effing pissed. Just pissed at everything. Don't like. Moffat go away, you are no longer a person I like. There was too much rehash of old themes and plotlines and the ones that were original and good were EFFING killed. Danny and scarf girl!?!?! Not ok. Who gives a flip about The Master and Cybermen anymore? They are soooooo boring. But Danny Pink was awesome. And scarf/bow tie girl was wonderful. I'll be over here sulking and grumbling.

If anyone wants to participate in the 75ers Christmas Book Swap, signup is closing soon! Here's the link: https://www.librarything.com/topic/182814
I just discovered it last year and it's great fun.

>35 norabelle414: Does it work differently than LT's sponsored Santa Thing?

>36 RosyLibrarian: The end result is the same, you send $25 worth of books to someone and you receive $25 worth of books. The disadvantage over the official SantaThing is that your Santa gets your actual address, and the matching is not weighted toward people you might share interests with. The advantage is that since it is limited to 75ers you're guaranteed to get a Santa and a Santee that are relatively invested in the site, and you're more likely to get someone you already know. I also think that 75ers are better gift-book-pickers than the general public :-)

>35 norabelle414: Thanks for mentioning that! I'm not sure I'll participate this year because I have such a huge backlog of books to read, but I definitely think the 75ers version is better than the general LT SantaThing.

>38 _Zoe_: Dooooo ittttt. Your backlog isn't any larger than anyone else's :-P

>38 _Zoe_: Doooo ittttt. I have over 1,000 physical books to be read in my house and I'm doing it. Dude - it's free books!!! From great people!!! :)

>39 norabelle414: Oh, I'm pretty sure it is. Owned but unread currently at 902?

I'm also less excited by the heavy focus on wishlists, because I prefer actually figuring out what my Santee will like, rather than just choosing from a very short list. Last year I got lucky when my Santee had an enormous secondary wishlist, but that can't happen every year.

>40 LauraBrook: Haha, okay, I rescind my claim about my TBR being larger than average :P

>41 _Zoe_: Most people in the 75ers book swap don't mind if you get them things that aren't on their wishlist. My Santee last year was someone I didn't know very well so I was very thankful he had a wishlist.

>41 _Zoe_: Owned but unread currently at 902?
Remarkably organized, if not remarkably large. 7 years into LibraryThing, I haven't yet dealt with read / to read / reference categories. I don't know what my count of readable but unread is, but it's surely in the multiple hundreds.
I'm also less excited by the heavy focus on wishlists
I created a swap wishlist last year not to dictate but to suggest, in case Santa is uncertain. I’ll do the same this year. The 75er swap and SantaThing are motivation to enter the stack of books I’ve acquired this year so Santa doesn’t duplicate. Last year my Santee had a wishlist, and I chose from it because I didn't feel sufficiently familiar with the preferred genre to get creative, but I chose books that I had read and greatly enjoyed.

My "To Read" collection is over 3100. Those are actual print and e-books I own. So, um, yeah...

*sidles away shamefacedly*

>37 norabelle414: Thank you for the info. I'm still deciding whether I am going to do a book swap at all this year. I really need to groom my LT wishlist. Truth be told I use my GR one pretty exclusively. I don't want to use it, but LT's Add Books feature is so tedious. My LT wishlist is only 233. My GR one is at 562.

>46 RosyLibrarian: I use "manual add" here on LT exclusively because I hate having to add books from external sources with other people's crappy data. It makes adding books to my wishlist extra easy, because I just open the "manual add" page, type in the title and the author, click the "wishlist" collection, unclick the "my library" collection, and then hit save.

I really, really liked this week's OUAT Everyone had enough space for an actual story arc. Huzzah! I really do like OutlawQueen and they were so adorable this week. And I'm glad that they finally gave some space to Emma and her magic rather than using it as a cure all like they usually do. Also, as disappointed as I am in Killian (just tell Emma the damn truth! She's going to be super upset if you die too - never mind how upset I'll be), his voicemail to Emma was super swoony. Plus his reaction when he found her. Am I overly emotionally invested in my ship? You bet! If only we didn't have to wait so long to see the repercussions of the Snow Queen's curse. I really want to see who the writers choose to turn on each other.

>48 MickyFine: I didn't get to watch ANY tv last night so I'm super behind :-( and tonight I'm busy so I won't get to catch up until Tuesday at the earliest.

>49 norabelle414: Le sigh. Guess I'll have to wait to have someone to fangirl with... ;)

No spoilers, I'll just say The Walking Dead focused on Carol and Daryl and it was pretty awesome. :)

>50 MickyFine: I'm here! I'm here to fangirl!

OUAT spoilers: Again, I will say it: oh, Rumpelstiltskin, why do you have to be all evil and stuff? I was actually scolding him during the scene at the manor. Speaking of, my theory that the manor belongs to the sorcerer is seeming more and more likely. I'm also beginning to think that the sorcerer is the author of the book.

Outlaw Queen was adorable this week. Also steamy!

And I think a lot of people were wondering what would come along to throw a wrench in the Captain Swan ship -- well, now we know. Rumpelstiltskin in possession of Hook's heart? That should be interesting.

Here's the thing about the Shattered Sight spell: when Ingrid did it to Anna, the spell apparently broke right after Anna did what Ingrid wanted (imprisoning Elsa). I'm wondering what it will take to break the spell on Storybrooke? I guess we'll find out eventually...

I'm irritated at the lack of Belle in this season so far. I know she got that one decent episode, but otherwise she's been relegated to babysitter. She didn't even get any screen time when they were in the freaking library (most bizarrely organized library ever, am I right? Or does your library shelve The Cat in the Hat next to car repair manuals?). And I want her and Rumpelstiltskin to actually deal with his sudden return to his old dark ways. Grr. My ship is extremely frustrating these days.

I'm here too!

Yeah, what the heck about about Rumpelstiltskin? I don't love him evil. I love him...conflicted and in the grey area of good versus evil. He was straight up going to get rid of Emma this episode. I kind of thought the Elsa and Emma moment was strange. What exactly did Elsa do to negate Emma's powers? Did Emma suddenly love herself?

And oh Hook. Just tell Emma the truth already! I fear this will not end well...

Good point about the oddly organized library, ha ha ha! It's because Belle doesn't have her MLIS. ;)

I kind of think the sorcerer is the author of the book too.

Now we wait...two whole weeks...

>52 foggidawn: >53 RosyLibrarian: Yay! Fangirling!

I totally agree about Gold. I like him in the grey area but he's gone flat out evil lately. I have a feeling the shattered sight curse is going to hit him and Belle pretty hard. I also totally agree that the absence of Belle is getting pretty bad. It's gotten to the point where she purely exists as a carrot/stick for Gold. Le sigh. She deserves better.

Cat in the Hat would never ever be on the shelf where they had it. But I enjoyed the joke anyway.

I also am on the sorcerer is the author bandwagon.

Now, I'm going back to tumblr to stare at adorable gifs of my ship. :)

You guys are soooooo meannnnnn

Well, hurry up on the catching up.

>55 norabelle414: Don't you just hate it when you can't read your own thread? :-)

OUAT: NORA'S FAVORITE CHARACTER DIES!

Ignore the man behind the spoiler tag.

>58 Ape: *snork!*

*tiptoes away so as not to disturb the spoilers

Sorry I'm not updating much! I care way more about your threads than I do my own.

I'm 4 books behind on reviews. 6 if you count the fact that my "reviews" for Siege and Storm and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them were completely unacceptable.

I'm actually reading at a steady pace, at least 10 pages a day, but it's not adding up to much. I'm hoping to finish Maplecroft soon because it's due back at the library on Dec 1, I only have about 175 pages left, and there's nothing on TV for the rest of this week. We'll see. I also have to clean my apartment because it's a pigsty and I'm going out of town for a work conference from the 4th to the 7th which means someone has to come to my apartment and take care of Rory.

I always hated cleaning before I left town because I felt like I didn't get anything out of it. I mean, rationally I was coming home to a house that was still clean but then I just spewed suitcase all over the place and had to start all over. But it is the polite thing when someone is taking care of your pets, especially if you expect them to stay and visit with the critters for a bit so that they don't get so bored that they shred every soft furnishing you own.

Or so I hear. ;)

TBH, guests coming over is the only time I clean my apartment at all. It's not gross or anything but unless someone is coming over there is always a huge pile of laundry in the bedroom, a huge pile of shoes by the door, and a huge pile of cardboard boxes in the living room.

Same here, except for the boxes. What in the world do you buy that comes in all those boxes? ;) I almost always know where everything is and I don't leave gross stuff out, but I too am prone to the piling issue. Suitcases are my kryptonite. I never get around to unpacking them in a timely manner.

ETA: And don't get me started on the state of my desk/book shelves. Piles galore.

>65 leahbird: I don't even know! Books, yarn, dresses, and shoes mostly. The boxes stack up over a loooong time because taking out the recycling is a huge pain in the ass. I have to take the service elevator down to the first floor and then go out the back of the building and then walk about 150 feet down the loading-dock driveway to get to the recycling dumpster. And there are a lot of things that get recycling priority over cardboard boxes, like milk jugs and bottles/jars/cans that might start to smell

I clean my floors every other day or 2 (sweep and vacuum) but I am a total clutter bug. If it's a flat surface, it's fair game for keys, wallets, books, boxes, receipts, cd/game/movie cases, etc etc. I'm meticulous about not leaving things like dishes or other smelly items about, but my 'dry goods' tend to pile up quickly.

Then, once or twice a year, I just do a big clean sweep and throw everything away. Why I don't do that in the first place...ummmm, not sure.

I have a dresser...but in keeping with my habit, I pile my clean pants on TOP of it. Why not just put them in the drawers? Yeah, not sure of that either... It's so difficult to open the drawer every time! :P

I am looking forward to seeing what you think of Maplecroft, Nora. As for cleaning, dusting is the chore I hate. I don't mind cleaning floors or picking up clutter but dusting annoys the begeezez out of me.

*looks up at ceiling fan over my head and tries to not see the dust bunnies up there*

Dusting and ironing are the chores I detest the mostest.

You are certainly right in >1 norabelle414: above Nora - it is beautiful.

Have a lovely holiday weekend, my dear.

>70 PaulCranswick: Thank you Paul! I hope you have a great weekend too.

Happy Belated Turkey Day, Nora!

Dishes are the one household chore I cannot stand. It's because they NEVER END and the only dishwasher in the house is myself. Ugh.

My Mom is currently going through a pile of paperwork to help me out, which is nice on one hand, and totally annoying on the other. I've asked her to help me with some other stuff today, and because I "insist on dicking around online", i.e. order things for her presents for her friends for Christmas (and check LT in between), I'm not helping. This is totally a mom-daughter thing. But really, I'd like her to help me make a batch of soap very shortly, so I hope that she's all gifted out now. We'll see.

Hope you're having a nice and cozy Black Friday!

>72 LauraBrook: Thanks Laura! Happy holidays to you, too.

Dish washing is my least favorite part of cooking. After that comes third-degree burns.

The Walking Dead: More like "The Crying Dead", amiright??

______________________________________

The past week has ended up being SO STRESSFUL that I haven't gotten anything done at all in my minimal free time besides stress management (i.e. computer games). I got almost no reading done, and I didn't clean my apartment. I did get the bare minimum of laundry done - enough clean clothes for my conference this week and clean sheets & towels for a cat-sitter just in case I am able to find one. So now what I need to do is
1) clean my apartment just enough that maintenance can come and fix the things that are broken, including a backed-up garbage disposal and a broken kitchen shelf
2) clean my apartment enough so that someone besides me can live in it
3) pack

I did not finish Maplecroft this weekend, and it is due back today. I think I'm going to keep it for a couple more days (but return it before I leave for my conference). Unfortunately my library system only has the one copy so there's no chance that the two holds on it are going to disappear, and I'll also probably have to wait like 6 weeks to get it back once I return it.

I also spent a very large portion of yesterday trying to get my audiobook of A Brief History of Seven Killings into some kind of format I could listen to on-the-go. I get so involved with my OverDrive audiobooks that sometimes I forget that audiobooks also come on CD. I requested the audiobook of A Brief History of Seven Killings from LTER last month without consideration of what format it would arrive in. I was very surprised when I got a full-sized box containing TWENTY-TWO CDs. So not only did I have to rip each of the CDs to my computer one-by-one, I then had to do all the iTunes magic to make them work like audiobooks in my old-ass iPod. Fun.

__________________________________

Currently reading:
Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz
Maplecroft by Cherie Priest
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

Currently listening to:
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak

Coming Soon:
Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger
???

The Walking Dead Spoiler: :(

Sorry things have been so stressful for you! Games can definitely work as stress-relief, unless you get worked up over perfecting them and then they get re-angry-ifying again. Also, 22 discs!? It's cool that they gave you physical copies, but that must have been such a hassle to make them iPod-friendly. I rip all my music to my computer and I know just that can be annoying sometimes, so I can see how 22 of them would be...y'know..."fun."

>77 Ape: And then what really sucks is that after ripping all 22 discs and changing them to "audiobook" format and numbering the tracks, the best-case scenario is that I'm left with 22 separate tracks that don't play one after the other on my old-ass iPod. and they don't make classic iPods anymore. Sigh.

>76 norabelle414:, >78 norabelle414: Well, maybe you won't want all the tracks: https://www.librarything.com/topic/183601 .

>79 qebo: Yeah I saw all that. I think what she wrote in the original post is fine as a review, but I chose not to comment on it because none of my thoughts on the matter are kind or helpful. I'm not sure how someone could see a book titled "seven killings" and the description as listed on LTER is the following:

From the acclaimed author of The Book of Night Women comes a masterfully written novel that explores the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the late 1970s.
On December 3, 1976, just before the Jamaican general election and two days before Bob Marley was to play the Smile Jamaica Concert, gunmen stormed his house, machine guns blazing. The attack nearly killed the Reggae superstar, his wife, and his manager, and injured several others. Marley would go on to perform at the free concert on December 5, but he left the country the next day, not to return for two years.
Deftly spanning decades and continents and peopled with a wide range of characters - assassins, journalists, drug dealers, and even ghosts - A Brief History of Seven Killings is the fictional exploration of that dangerous and unstable time and its bloody aftermath, from the streets and slums of Kingston in the '70s, to the crack wars in '80s New York, to a radically altered Jamaica in the '90s. Brilliantly inventive and stunningly ambitious, this novel is a revealing modern epic that will secure Marlon James’ place among the great literary talents of his generation.

and think "ooh, this looks fluffy!". I knew exactly what I was getting into, and I'm enjoying it so far.

Ooh, wait, is there no easy way to switch tracks on your iPod? If so, that's old-asser than I thought!

>81 Ape: For songs, it plays the songs in the playlist one after the other. For audiobooks, it plays whatever track I clicked on, and then when it's done playing that track it goes back to the menu, where I can click another track to play. If I remember what number track just ended, I only have to click once. But often I don't so I use trial and error. Especially if there are 22.

I'm left with 22 separate tracks that don't play one after the other on my old-ass iPod.

Actually, fingers crossed, you should be able to create an audiobook compilation of the 22 separate tracks in proper order sequence in your iTunes, like I do, and then transfer that audiobook over to your iPod. So long as you have the tracks numbered correctly, all you have to do is highlight all 22 tracks, right click and then click "Get Info". It will ask you if you want to edit the info for multiple items. Click "Okay". Under "Options" select "Audiobook" as Media Kind, and then select "Yes" for the next three selections (Part of a compilation, Remember position, and Skip when shuffling). When you click "Okay". When I take CD's and rip them the tracks start out as Music files and I don't switch them to "Audiobook" until the steps mentioned above. If that is what you did, then I am at a loss to help. ;-)

>83 lkernagh: That is what I did, and everything looks and works perfectly in iTunes. It's just when transferred to my iPod that things get crappy. Thanks though!

Well, darn!

I sometimes just create a playlist for an audiobook and listen to it that way.

>86 foggidawn: Good idea! I'll try that one when I get home.

>86 foggidawn: Yep, that's what I do, too.

Nora?

I'm here. I just don't have anything to say :-)

Sooo behind on threads...

Glad to see I'm not the only one who avoids cleaning until there's no way back. My home is a dust bunny safe haven. I hate the vacuum cleaner with a passion. It's so noisy - I get a headache every time I use it.
I much prefer the "wet" chores (washing loading and unloading the dishwasher, washing clothes, mopping floors, cleaning windows) they're mostly quiet and you see the result immidiately.

>90 norabelle414: Ok. Well, I miss you! :)

Here, have some happy FitzSimmons.

>93 MickyFine: Aw that makes me sad :-(

I keep trying to type things here but nothing wants to come out.

Here are some TV updates (because though I have been reading and have several books to review, TV seems to be the only thing I can type about):

Once Upon a Time: Not as thrilling as last mid-season finale. It was a nice set-up for the spring, but my excitement was tempered by relief that the Frozen storyline is finally over. I do hope that Robin Hood comes back. He has to come back, right???

The Librarians: I watched the season premiere and liked it, but I don't get TNT so apparently I'm not allowed to watch any subsequent episodes. Super lame. Crossing it off my list, for now.

Grimm: A super duper Christmas episode (as usual), followed by a pretty good mid-season finale. And then the ending!!!!!!!!!! I was totally sure that Juliette was pregnant, and did not expect her to become a Hexenbiest AT ALL! So good. I wonder if Renard's mom knew that Juliette would turn into a Hexenbiest??

Constantine: These episodes have been aired out-of-order, which is pretty much the kiss of death for a TV show. "Blessed are the Damned" was a pretty great episode and it should have aired earlier in the season (as it was intended to). It seems like the network is working harder on gradually easing smoking into episodes than actually developing a coherent series.

Arrow: Season finale - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Also, on a side note I am very sad that the show doesn't seem interested in getting Thea and Roy back together. I ship them.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Kind of meh up until the last few minutes. Apparently it was a huge reveal if you're knowledgeable about the Marvel Universe, but I am not. But it was still exciting! #TripLives

Z Nation: Season finale - I liked this show as a whole way better than I thought I would. It's definitely not The Walking Dead, but it's something different.

Gracepoint: Season finale - meh. I didn't see the ending coming until about 20 minutes into the finale, but I didn't really care. The 9th and 10th episodes felt like everything was being revealed due to dumb luck, not actual detective work.

I watched the first four episodes of Game of Thrones, on DVD from the library. It was good, but not all that and a bag of chips. (The same way I feel about the books)

I also watched the Christmas episodes of Melissa & Joey, Baby Daddy, Pretty Little Liars, Chasing Life, and The Fosters.

Did I miss any?

Coming up:

This seems to be the Winter of the Miniseries. I'm very excited for Ascension, which starts tonight, and Marvel's Agent Carter and Galavant, which both start in January.

I'm planning to watch more Game of Thrones, Homeland, and The Americans soon, all on DVD from the library.

Hart of Dixie starts tonight!!! And then I have to wait almost a month for the next episode. So that's weird.

Season 2 of The Wrong Mans starts at some point next week on Hulu. (I've seen some reports that it starts on the 22nd and others that it starts on the 24th.) This'll likely be the last season since James Corden has his big talk show gig starting soon.

Downton Abbey season 4 starts in the U.S. on January 4

Parks and Recreation comes back for it's final season (*sob!*) on January 13

12 Monkeys premieres January 16

I've got to catch up on OUAT! I'm home sick with a nasty cold today, so maybe this afternoon...

Also, Martin Freeman was the host of Saturday Night Live last night, and it was awful. He acted the hell out of every single sketch he was in, but most of them were no good, except this one: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/hobbit-office/2834501

>96 foggidawn: OUAT is the perfect "sick at home" binge watch :-)

>94 norabelle414: I was watching the finale of Gracepoint and getting really irritated that they had tricked me into believe them when they said the killer wasn't the same person as in Broadchurch. And then the reveal of the real killer just pissed me off. They changed it so little and the change felt like nothing more than a way to make Joe look like less of a bad guy. Like, no no, he's not a murderer, just a pedophile who was grooming a young boy to be abused by him, but now he's just doing what he has to do to protect his son. Very disappointed.

>97 norabelle414: I'm am decidedly not a fan of Saturday Night Live so I didn't even bother, even though Martin was very tempting. That one you posted was pretty great though!

>99 leahbird: TBH the best part of The Office (Middle Earth) was Bobby Moynihan getting Ricky Gervais' mannerisms EXACTLY. And Taran Killam as Gollum as Gareth. But that's totally not Martin Freeman's fault, as both Tim and Bilbo are droll characters by design.

Oh my goodness. I know why the one episode of Hart of Dixie was pushed into December, because it was amazing. AMAZING! It had all of my favorite things - Lemon scheming, Lavon and George bromancing, Wade and Zoe sexing, Annabeth mothering, townspeople being super enthusiastic but totally inept, random new person coming to town for romance, Brick and Shelby being gross, etc. The only things I didn't like were the lack of Burt Reynolds and Don Todd, and Annabeth's new haircolor. No, girl.

>94 norabelle414: Watched OUAT tonight. While the finale isn't as high stakes as last year, I think the arc set up has much better potential. I miss the full season arcs the show used to have and the new villains arc may just be a slow burn that I can enjoy. Also yay for Killian not being dead. I am very, very, very happy about the not-deadness of Killian. :D

>101 norabelle414: There is Wade on my computer screen and it is good. It almost makes the cold that attacked me with a vengeance today feel better. How long do you think they'll drag out the whole "Zoe keeping the pregnancy from Wade" thing? Because, you know, bumps are hard to hide. Also, I'm already swooning at the thought of potential Wade reactions. While there was no Burt Reynolds or Don Todd, I loved how much Earl was in it. His relationship with Wade is so enjoyable. Also, huzzah for Wade abs. That should get me through until Christmas. ;)

>102 MickyFine: I've read that Wade will know about the pregnancy by episode 3. Which is good because it would be silly to bother hiding a baby bump when it's part of the plot! Nothing in this season is going to be spread out, because they only have 10 episodes and this is likely the last season :-(

Re: OUAT - I actually like the half-season arcs better. Can you imagine a whole season of the Frozen business? Yikes......

*shields eyes*

Ugh, I haven't watched it yet.

The official Librarything "Top Five Books of 2014" list is up! http://www.librarything.com/list/10028/all/Top-Five-Books-of-2014

As you have all noticed, the second half of this year has been rough for me, reading-wise. Though I pick up a book and read every day, I'm not able to get very far due to lack of motivation and focus. I read fewer note-worthy books this year due to reading fewer books in general and a tendency toward series books, graphic novels, and fluff. However, here are my top 5 for the year (so far):

The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
California by Edan Lepucki
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Honorable mentions go to:
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (I'm not far enough along to declare it best)
Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor
The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde
Actually upon writing this I realize I have about 20 honorable mentions so I'm going to just stop here.....

The upside to having a poor reading year is that I didn't read anything truly awful!

Dishonorable mentions:
Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James
The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker
City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte
Ghost Train to New Orleans by Mur Lafferty

All of which received 3 stars.

>105 norabelle414: Oh man, so many books I want to get to. Marie Brennan, Erika Johansen, Laini Taylor... Hopefully the coming year is a better reading year for you motivation-wise, but there is nothing wrong with reading more series and fluff and graphic novels.

>106 norabelle414: Mmmm. I kind of wanted to try P.D. James' book, especially since she just died, but I am always leary of Austenesque books.

>107 RosyLibrarian: Most of my low rating of Death Comes to Pemberley is probably due to my dislike of mysteries. Don't let me deter you!

>108 norabelle414: Actually that deters me more because I am also not a mystery fan. (Unless J.K. Rowling writes it in disguise.)

Aw, but I wanted to see the 20 honorable mentions! :P

I've been having a super-slow reading year too (yay, all the stress!), so I'm pretty sure you've still read more than me!

I added mine and put the list on my thread. Fun!

I just discovered that somehow The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line either never made it into my catalog or somehow got deleted. I'm fairly certain it was the latter. What?!? :-( :-(

ETA: It also looks like I completely neglected to mention anywhere on my threads that I was planning to listen, was listening, or finished listening to it. What is going on? DID I listen to it or am I just imagining? Am I even real?

>110 _Zoe_:
Everything in my "read 2014" collection that is 4 stars or higher. None of them particularly stood out.

>105 norabelle414: Huh. I'm going to have to give this more thought than usual. I think I must not have had a very stellar reading year, either . . . at least, I read a lot of good books, but not many great or memorable ones.

All reading is good reading! *steps down from soapbox*

>114 MickyFine: Indeed it is! And I'm not ashamed of or displeased with anything I read this year. But the more books you read, the better chance you have of reading something phenomenal! Or terrible.

Thanks for pointing out the list, Nora! I contributed to last year's list and I'll definitely add to this one as well as soon as I'm sure I don't have a 5-star read in the next 11 days...

I have a fairly extensive book wishlist at the moment (really more like a "don't forget these books exist!" list), but I need to decide on a good way to manage it. I think my options are:

1) wishlist collection on LT - I don't like all the places where it will seem like I have the books, pink checkmarks or no. (Half the books are here already)
2) Piece of paper/notebook I keep in my purse - fun, but antiquated (the other half of the books are here)
3) Some kind of electronic list on my phone or Google Drive
4) Separate LibraryThing account - too complicated
5) Other website like Amazon - too complicated/restrictive
6) Put holds on all of them at the library and then freeze them - I've done this in the past but it is clearly a terrible option

Right now I'm leaning toward #2 or #3. My list is about 20 books long, but it's only going to get longer as people continue to post "best books of the year" lists, and I continue to not read.

Thoughts?

>117 norabelle414: I know this is bad, but I keep my main wishlist on GoodReads. (The wishlist I keep on LT is only for SantaThing.) I don't love GR, but their wishlist feature is so much easier, especially for series. Also, it is much easier to reference because they have a good app and I can pull it out if I'm at the public library or a bookstore. I really, really wish LT had a good, official app.

Before GR, I kept my wishlist exclusively on LT. I like having my wishlists linked to data, so I've never kept them on paper.

>117 norabelle414: - This probably won't help because it seems kind of complicated - though it works for me :)

My main list of books I want to read is kept on Amazon because it's very easy to access on my phone (unlike LT which really should get with the program as far as having a decent app is concerned IMO)

I also keep a wish list on my library's website and one on Overdrive of books that are available from there.

And I keep a short list (maybe 10-15 titles) on my phone for immediate and easy reference.

I think that covers it...

My library actually allows users to create lists on their accounts, so it's amazingly convenient (and possibly deadly.) I still have piles of post-it notes with lists of books in a box though, it's terribly disorganized... If you go that route, maybe buy one of those Composition notebooks? I have the mini-versions on my bedside table that I use to keep a tab on how many pages I read each day. Dollar Tree sells packs of 3 for a $1. :)

>117 norabelle414: I keep a wishlist in an Excel spreadsheet on my work computer (because that's usually where I am sitting when I go to request library books) and a list of books I want to purchase in a Word document on Dropbox, so I can pull it up on any computer or my iPad. I should probably Dropbox the book wishlist, too, but I haven't needed to so far.

>116 Ape: Hurry up! :-D

>118 rosylibrarian: I have such bad memories of my time on GoodReads that I like to stay as far away as possible :-/ Plus I don't relish the thought of having yet another website to check on and log into and keep up with.
I love the feel of writing things out on paper! I never get to write anything for work. And I love checking off boxes when I've acquired them.

>119 katiekrug: "Seems kind of complicated - though it works for me" is our motto here, isn't it? ;-)
I got burned on OverDrive wishlists when the library changed my card number for no good reason and I lost everything :-(

>120 Ape: My library has a list feature too, but I don't find it to be very user-friendly. I can't add things very well while on my phone, sometimes they don't have the books that I want, and sometimes they get rid of books or change them so that they don't link anymore.
I loooooove little notebooks and I have a zillion of them. Currently I'm carrying around this one, which has all of my Christmas info in it (who is getting what, what I still need to buy, what I still need to knit, etc.) It's about 8in tall and kinda heavy but worth it because it's so pretty.

>121 foggidawn: Unfortunately my work computer has blocked Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. But I can access both DB and GD easily on my phone, so I might go that route.

I keep both a notebook and an Excel spreadsheet of books I want to try, because I found myself duplicating titles in the notebook as the list got longer and longer (I know I'm over 1,000 titles and may be close to 2,000 at this point). I write them in the book first, then add them to the spreadsheet at home by batches (and because I can re-sort by title, I avoid duplication). I also use the spreadsheet to note when I read said books (which, as you can imagine, is much slower than I add them).

The "wishlist" collection on LT is primarily books that I've already read and want to own, and I use it to point people in the right direction for my Christmas list.

I keep my wishlist (by which I mean, monster list of everything that seems interesting) on Amazon. I actually find it super easy. LibraryThing has a convenient click-through button on all the work pages, and then the Amazon wishlist button is right there.

Also, that notebook is really pretty!

>125 _Zoe_: Yeah, me too for the same reason. The problem is organization when there are, um... 651 books in the wishlist.

>124 bell7: That will probably be my method as well, but with a web-based spreadsheet that I can access at work or at home. And hopefully fewer than 1000 books ;-)

>125 _Zoe_: You know how I feel about Amazon, though ;-)

>126 _Zoe_: Thanks! It's from IKEA, and I have matching wrapping paper too!


They really went all-out with the gift-wrapping/office supplies this year. It was really hard to not get everything!

>128 norabelle414: That is, you know, the main difficulty with Excel - or web-based - spreadsheets. I can quickly find out exactly how many books are on there...

I have kept my wishlist here on LT for a few years now. As it was creeping up on 1000 books (oops) I really couldn't handle it being mingled with my other data anymore. So, I just last week made the plunge to procure another lifetime account and am transferring books over to it. It's not perfect, but it will work and my main data will finally be clean again.

I'm also taking the opportunity to pare down the wishlist because obviously I went bonkers at some point and started wishlisting everything under the sun. I have a bad tendency to find one thing I like and then research the things connected to it to death and feel like I need to list them all or loose them forever. Which is why my wishlist has about 100 Folio Society books on it when I only personally own 2. Or why I was apparently determined to own every Penguin Great Food book at some point. I need professional help.

>130 leahbird: The ONLY thing keeping me from making a wishlist account is that I don't want to have to remember another username and password, and I usually use a password manager which gets kind of complicated when you have multiple log-ins for the same site.

ETA: Also, my wishlist isn't necessarily books I want, so much as books I'm at risk of forgetting about. It generally doesn't include authors I'm already aware of, and it never includes series books or "read but unowned" books. So I don't foresee it ever getting too large.

Zoe's official "Dishonourable Mentions of 2014" list is up! https://www.librarything.com/list/10034/all/Dishonourable-Mentions-of-2014

I've added my aforementioned four books, even though they weren't truly awful.

>127 qebo: Nah, I'm okay with the chronological sort, because generally the books I added most recently are the ones I'm currently most interested in anyway. And it has that convenient feature of moving a book to the top if you accidentally add it again.

Anyway, it's not like I need to look through the 1003 items that often, since I'm never actually short on books to read.

They do also let you make multiple lists, except I can never really be bothered. I seem to have a second list with 92 items in it, but I don't remember why. Probably something to do with privacy settings.

>128 norabelle414: But if you don't happen to like Amazon... Well, I'm tempted to show this thread to Tim, to inspire him with the fact that in a friendly discussion among LT users, not one person actually recommended using the LT wishlist collection. Except I know it's a lost cause, so I won't bother.

Also, yay IKEA!

>131 norabelle414: My wishlist account has the very original name of.... leahbirdwishes. ;)

I try to transfer my ongoing wishlist from LT to BookMooch which has the added advantage of telling me if a book I wishlist is ever available. :)

*Head smack* I feel like a complete idiot for not thinking of it, especially since we are talking about BOTH things at the same time here, but why don't you use LibraryThing's List feature to keep track of your wishlist? That way it'll be here on LT, but you don't have to add them to you library and have them show up on your profile.

Or does the List option only let you add book that you have in your library to your list? I've never tried it.

>136 Ape: You can add any books you want to an LT list. However, all lists are vote-able by the public, and once someone else has voted on a book it can't be removed (unless everyone unvotes). I can write a note at the top asking people not to vote on the list, but it's not guaranteed. Also, while I don't mind people seeing what books are on my wishlist, I'm not interested in having it be THAT public.

Psst. I just snagged Wild Rover No More in a $3 for 3 Months Audible deal. It's yours for the borrowing when I'm done if I can figure out how to get it to you!

I keep my list of things I want to read in a doc on Google Drive, which works well enough for me.

Happy Holidays!

Happy, happy Christmas, Nora!

Thank you Marie, Qebo, and Amber!

I have enjoyed reading your reviews over the year, Nora, and wish I had more time for more frequent visits but C'est la vie. Stopping by now to wish you a happy holiday season and all the best in 2015.

Merry Christmas Nora!

Thank you Lori and Chelle! Merry Christmas to you too, and to everyone else!

I scored some sweet books this year, which I'm posting here so I don't forget them:

A History of Rock Creek Park: Wilderness & Washington DC by Scott Einberger, which I bought for myself.
Knit Your Own Zoo: Easy-to-Follow Patterns for 24 Animals by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne, from my coworker (though she smokes a lot so the book needs to air out before I can read it :-/
A Literary Christmas: An Anthology by The British Library
and
Mark Twain in Washington DC: The Adventures of a Capital Correspondent by John Muller

Also, my 75ers Secret Santa books, from benitastrnad!

Vaclav & Lena by Haley Tanner, from my wishlist
The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay, and
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik, which I've read and loved but did not own my own copy.

Thanks Benita!

Awesome book haul!

Thank you Paul! That's a lovely picture.

Belated Merry Christmas to you and Rory, Nora! Sounds like you got some excellent books from various Santas this year. :) Here's to a wonderfully joyous 2015!!!

Nora, I received a really adorable tea strainer for Christmas which has prompted my need to buy some great loose leaf teas. I regularly drink Lady Grey and other black teas but I'm looking to do some sampling. I know you order from Twinings directly a lot but wanted to see if there were any other retailers I should look into or if you had any particular favorite teas I might need to try.

I found a very cool Tea Selector tool online but it doesn't seem to be working. ;(

>152 LauraBrook: Thanks Laura! Merry Christmas to you too!

>153 leahbird: Ha! I saw your Facebook post before I noticed that you posted here. Like I said there I usually go with Lady Grey, or a variety of teas that I get from my local independent tea shop. I especially like black tea with lemon or Earl Grey with lavender. For decaf tea (which I drink a fair amount of because I can't have caffeine after noon) I stick with Twinings' decaf Lady Grey or decaf chai because it's hard to find a good decaf black tea (and I hate chamomile).

For Christmas my dad got me some gingerbread black tea from Teavana, which I'm excited to try. I find a lot of Teavana's teas to be too much flavor, not enough tea. If that makes any sense. But they are fun. It came in one of those very nice aluminum containers with paper on the outside, and boy does that thing work well. My dad also got me some loose leaf tea bags, which I have never used before.

I usually make my loose-leaf tea in one of these (from Ikea) if I'm making a whole pot:


Or I have a few individual-sized tea infusers.

You could also try asking around in the tea group: https://www.librarything.com/groups/tea

Today I finished Waistcoats & Weaponry, which was exactly as excellent as I expected it to be. Next I'm reading Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer.

I probably won't finish another audiobook before the end of the year, as I still have 14 discs left to go in A Brief History of Seven Killings

>154 norabelle414: Thanks for all the great suggestions. Isn't it interesting how getting a $7 gift has now made me spend all day researching teas and spending money? I'll check out Teavana.

>155 norabelle414: I started Annihilation a week or so ago but my brain wasn't in the right place. It's one I really want to get back to because it's so intriguing.

>156 leahbird: My dad's gift is definitely making me want more of those aluminum tins. With the lid off, my gift smells like snorting an entire gingerbread house. With the lid on, it smells like paper.

I'm going to write really shitty reviews of some of the books I haven't reviewed, just to try to get out of the hole:



Red Moon by Benjamin Percy, read by the author - audiobook from the library. Very serviceable werewolf thriller. Infection is through a prion disease, which is both contagious and genetically inherited. All infected people are treated like dangerous second-class citizens, regardless of whether they are taking anti-werewolf medication or not. This leads to a rebellion of a few werewolves which affects everyone. The book probably would have been better as a trilogy. It is very long and there are two significant time jumps (6 months; 3 years). The author is an EXCELLENT narrator.

The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde> - Jennifer and a few of her coworkers head out on a not-quest in the deadly Cambrian Empire under specific orders from the Mighty Shandar. As usual, chaos ensues, there's a grand conspiracy, and everything comes together neatly in the end. Exactly as awesome and clever as I expected it to be.

The Walking Dead, Volume 19: March to War by Robert Kirkman - I don't remember exactly what happened in this one, but I'm sure it was dramatic and probably somebody died.

The Bees by Laline Paull - The very dramatic world of a beehive, as seen through the eyes of a bee. It reminded me a lot of Watership Down, but with bees. It was very good at first - a little bit like a dystopia. It did drag on after awhile, and I finished the book in audio instead of paper because of that. It's a fun and interesting read, but I don't know how much of it was really accurate by the end. Bees aren't much for introspection so I doubt a realistic bee novel would have been much fun.

Maplecroft by Cherie Priest - What if Lizzie Borden killed her parents with an axe because they had been infected by sea-monsters?? is a question that no one has ever asked, but Cherie Priest answers it anyway. Lizzie and her sister Emma work hard to keep the townspeople safe from sea-monsters while not knowing exactly what they're up against. Emma studies them and does extensive research, and Lizzie kills them with her axe. Soon the problem becomes too large for the two of them so they enlist the help of the town doctor, who is the only person in town who doesn't think Lizzie murdered her parents. The book is a pretty good read, though I didn't care for the epistolary style. If it develops into a series, I will probably continue.

I need a new thread-naming theme for next year. Any ideas?

Here are the previous ones:
2014: Act One
2013: Part I
2012: Module Alpha
2011: Chapter 1
2010: none
2009: none

Someone (Katherine, I think) gave me several good suggestions a few years ago so I'm going to look for those. As far as the numbers go I think my only remaining options are lower-case roman numerals, phonetic alphabet (alpha, bravo, charlie, etc), another language, or binary (which might be confusing).

I have never seen anyone use the phonetic alphabet in the past three years so that would be eye-catching. I agree, binary could be confusing.

I think you should post them in non-chronological order.

>165 Ape: - LOL, that would definitely make it easy to follow the sequence of the threads.

Binary. Definitely binary.

I'm fond of counting in base 7.

>164 lkernagh:, >167 scvlad: I think phonetic would be cool but only if I have 6 or more threads (because foxtrot is the first cool letter). Binary would probably be less confusing the fewer threads I have. So how many threads do I think I'll have next year??

>165 Ape: Ok, that's one vote for "pick a random number between 1 and 1000"

>168 drneutron: Interesting thought! I like multiples of 7 a lot, but I'm more prone to counting in base 4 due to eleven years of playing a musical instrument :-)

I'm having a last-minute guest over for New Year's Eve, so I'm going to be busy cleaning today and tomorrow. I will probably be a day or two late with my year-end statistics and starting a new thread in the new group. Sorry!

>169 norabelle414: If you had 6 this year, then probably 6 next year right? Let's see that's 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110. Right? It would be cool to get to seven: 111. And you'd have to have some kind of a binary theme: 'norabelle's book bytes', or some such thing. Good luck on the decision!

>171 scvlad: Nice!

Having lots of pilots in my family, I've always been partial to the phonetic alphabet.

Nora



Happy New Year from your friend in Kuala Lumpur

>174 PaulCranswick: Happy New Year Paul! Thank you so much.

Happy new year Nora!

>177 The_Hibernator: Thank you Rachel! Happy New Year to you too!

2014 End-of-the-Year Summary
*some stats stolen from Stephen*

Books read: 60 (no comment)
Books purchased (paper+electronic): 44 (down 18!)
Books acquired (purchased+free, not electronic): 78 (down 1)
Books read before acquired: 15 (same)
Books borrowed (friends+library): 41 (down 18)
Books read that were on the shelf for a year or more: 2
Books deaccessioned: 10

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Books read: 60 (paper+audio)

Paper books: 46
Audiobooks: 14

Pages read: 13,672 (no audio)

Average paper book length: 297 pages (down 10 pages)
Median paper book length: 317 pages (up 7 pages)

Average pages read per day: 37.4 (down 9 pages)
Average pages read per week: 262.2 (down 60 pages)
Average pages read per month: 1,139.3 (down 300 pages)

New reads: 54
Rereads: 6

~~Fiction/Nonfiction~~
Fiction books read: 56
Nonfiction books read: 4

~~Gender~~
Books by female authors: 32
Books by male authors: 30
(one book written by 2 women; one book written by 1 woman and 1 man)

Female authors - average rating: 4.03
Male authors - average rating: 3.78

Books from the female perspective: 30
Books from the male perspective: 38

Female perspective - average rating: 3.98
Male Perspective - average rating: 3.87

~~Owned vs. Library~~
Owned books read: 14
Library checkouts: 41

~~Best books~~

The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
California by Edan Lepucki
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

~~Worst books~~

Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James
The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker
City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte
Ghost Train to New Orleans by Mur Lafferty

>179 norabelle414: I'm reading The Tropic of Serpents now (and of course quite enjoying it), will probably finish this evening as the 1st book of the new year.

The year actually doesn't end up looking as bad as I thought it would. I read some nice fat books. I purchased way fewer books than past years. My pages per book went down slightly but only due to the FOURTEEN graphic novels I read, as my median pages per book went up slightly. I do think it would look very depressing if I broke it up as pre-slump and post-slump though. Almost all of the non-graphic-novel books I read were in the beginning of the year.

I read more books by female authors than male authors for the first time ever. Even despite those fourteen graphic novels by a male author.

4 of my 5 best books were by women, and all of them are from the female perspective.
My 4 worst books were by 5 women, and from 4 female and 1 male perspective.

Still seems like a pretty good year to me! Looking forward to what you're going to read next year! (hint, hint)

>182 scvlad: I know, I know. I'm getting there!

>183 norabelle414: I'm not worried. :-) Appreciate that you and several others are winding up the old year properly.

Okay! I have a new thread in the new group: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185826

However, I am hoping to post a few more statistics here.

Books read in 2014 by setting decade*:
1800s (2)
1810s (2)
1820s (0)
1830s (1)
1840s (1)
1850s (2)
1860s (0)
1870s (0)
1880s (2)
1890s (2)
1900s (1)
1910s (2)
1920s (1)
1930s (1)
1940s (3)
1950s (2)
1960s (2)
1970s (1)
1980s (1)
1990s (5)
...
2040s (2)
2100s (2)

"future" (4)

*2000s and 2010s omitted due to irrelevance. Future dates guestimated.