Abergsman's 2015 TBR Challenge

2014 became side-tracked with a few other personal challenges and Coursera courses, but I did finish at least 12 books from my TBR pile, which was my original goal. Hoping for a bit more in 2015!

My primary list are physical books hanging around my house that I really need to get around to reading. My alternate list is pulled from my TBR list over at Goodreads!

Primary List:

1. Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean Auel FINISHED 6 January 2015
2. Valley of Horses - Jean Auel FINISHED 13 January 2015
3. A Patchwork Planet - Anne Tyler FINISHED 28 July 2015
4. Brookland - Emily Barton DID NOT FINISH
5. Drood - Dan Simmons
6. The Black Girl Next Door - Jennifer Brazile FINISHED 9 March 2015
7. Dancing With Butterflies - Reyna Grande
8. The Wonder House - Justine Hardy FINISHED 11 October 2015
9. White Jazz - James Elroy DID NOT FINISH
10. The Brief History of the Dead - Kevin Brockmeier FINISHED 6 August 2015
11. Towelhead - Alicia Erian FINISHED 14 May 2015
12. The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion FINISHED 18 January 2015

Alternate List:

1. The Harbormaster's Daughter - Heidi Jon Schmidt
2. Grammar Girl's 101 Misused Words You'll Never Confuse Again - Mignon Fogarty
3. Enrique's Journey: The Story of a Boy's Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite With His Mother - Sonia Nazario FINISHED 31 DECEMBER 2015
4. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates - Wes Moore FINISHED 23 March 2015
5. The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science - Natalie Angier
6. Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality - Donald Miller
7. Bossypants - Tina Fey FINISHED 28 February 2015
8. Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots - Deborah Feldman FINISHED 31 January 2015
9. The Year of Living Biblically - AJ Jacobs FINISHED 6 June 2015
10. The Casual Vacancy - JK Rowling
11. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford FINISHED 20 July 2015
12. The Homemade Pantry - 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making - Alana Chernila

The Auel series has a charm all its own; I thought even the much-critized fifth one was worthwhile, and the last is on my TBR stack. I'm reading Anne Tyler right now! Dan Simmons I've sampled many times, though not that particular one (might spoil Dickens.) JK Rowling's style is consistently great in The Casual Vacancy, and keep in mind the novel's original title "Responsibility" as you read it. You've a good mix of fiction/non-fiction, that'll help with any mood changes over the course of twelve months!

I have already read most of the Clan of the Cave Bear, I started it on New Year's Day (that's also when I made my list, I just didn't have time to update here until my daughter went back to school!). The first thing I have noticed about the book is the repetition...you can tell that Jean Auel was new to writing fiction. The conversations are somewhat stilted and don't flow very well.

I do like the premise, and really enjoy her detailed descriptions of the flora and fauna, which I know is a turn-off to some readers. But my inner anthropologist likes this fictional glimpse into Paleolithic times!

I love Anne Tyler, and there are quite a few of her books I haven't read yet. I like to come back to her books every other year or so.

I am also actively working on my Personal Lifetime Reading Challenge at the moment, which consumes much of my spare reading time. Especially since the current book that I am reading is the Old Testament (reading for literature purposes - not religious ones)! I'm hoping to move on from that in 2015 and re-read the Iliad and Odyssey this year as well.

The first book is definitely Auel's best, no question. If you find it repetitive ... wait til you read the fifth, is all I can say, lol. I'd agree she's a researcher first, an author second.

I'm taking my first trip with Homer this year, probably in the fall. I feel like I already know the story from other books and movies, etc. but I've never read the original.

The Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean Auel

Meh. That is my overall feeling, although I did become more engaged in the storyline towards the end. A few of her ideas were prescient (Neanderthals successfully reproducing with Early Modern Humans, as has since been proven by DNA sequencing). Others are sadly outdated, especially her physical descriptions of Neanderthals. Neanderthal DNA has shown that some H. Neanderthalensis had red hair and fair complexions. I tried to keep in mind that this book was written in the 1970s.

What I did find odd was the inclusion of certain medical facts that are clearly modern day, portrayed as the thoughts from someone that lived 30,000 years ago. For example: "The plentiful supply of drinking water kept dehydration from making its dangerous contribution to hypothermia, the lowering of body temperature that brought death from exposure, but she was getting weak." The stream-of-consciousness writing was, at times, excruciating.

Despite all of this, I will read second book in the series. So there has to be something going for it. I just can't pinpoint exactly what that "something" is.

I read Clan of the Cave Bear in the eighties and vaguely recall reading various news headlines over the years about Neanderthals that have made me think "oops, another discovery that dates CotCB", lol.

Ayla is a sympathetic character. She's a highly capable underdog, so there's a lot in her to root for. You'll get a second character's perspective in The Valley of Horses and a broader view of the world which opens things up quite a bit. I think it's at least on par with the first.

To me, Ayla seems like a Paleolithic Wonder Woman! I did warm up to her quickly, and an interest to see the next phase of her life's journey was probably one of my biggest motivations for immediately picking up and starting Valley of Horses (I'm only 50 pages in, so far).

This is really making me want to read the sixth book now, lol. Maybe I can content myself with a placeholder on my 2016 list.

I read the first book in the late 80s and always wondered about the rest of the series. I am trying to locate the books at used book stores whenever I go to one. (Although I kind of have to stay out of book stores for a while since I bought 30 books the last time I went to one.)

First book is the best, 2nd is about as good, then down down down. But I still liked all of the first five anyway, just something about the atmosphere of them clicks with me.

I do well at just window shopping in the new books stores. Less well in the used stores, and really, really poorly at the library sales.

I just finished the second one, and actually liked it better than the first. The Jondalar sections were a bit odd, but I loved Ayla's solo journey, and the descriptions of the landscape, flora and fauna. The last 50 pages, however, were crap.

Valley of Horses - Jean Auel

There are parts to this book that are atrocious, and parts that are wonderful. Similar to Clan of the Cave Bear, I particularly enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the landscape, flora and fauna of Upper Paleolithic Europe. Ayla is an intriguing character; her struggles and obstacles were riveting. Jondalar's struggles....not so much. Certain aspects of the story are so unbelievable it is almost laughable. Ayla accumulated quite a miraculous number of inventions and cultural innovations, well ahead of what is historically accurate, such as horse domestication. I had to roll my eyes when Jondalar and Ayla invented atlatls ("spear throwers") a good 10,000 years earlier than what has been found in the archaeological record.

Oh, and they're just getting started where inventing's concerned, lol. If you don't mind doing some more eye rolling, there's plenty more of those detailed descriptions in the sequels (although I fear your eyes might roll right out of your head before the end.)

The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion

I have seen complaints that this story was written as a comedy rather than a drama, but I liked that about it. Sometimes, a reader needs a light-hearted take on a serious subject. It is uplifting to see a positive representation of a person who shares many characteristics with people who have Asperger's, or who are on the autism spectrum. Thankfully, despite this being humor-driven, the reader is never laughing at Don. Instead, we see the world through his eyes, and it is hard not to become drawn in to his particular brand of logic.

I keep seeing reviews of this book on LT and they are all positive. Sounds like something I would enjoy and a great way to learn more about Asperger's.

Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots - by Deborah Feldman

It is extremely difficult to break out of an insular community, to have to leave everything behind and start anew. On that level, I commend the author for her courage to write about her experience. It's a small peek into the Williamsburg Satmar community, but I have also learned not to take everything in memoirs at face value. In the end, what I took from this book is a young woman who was deeply unhappy in an insular community that can be very rigid; a community that values the preservation of the collective over individual freedoms.

The ending did fall flat. Most of the book was dedicated to her middle/late childhood (sixth grade onwards). The end of the book, when she leaves the community, is covered in so few pages, one is left wondering why. How was she so easily able to take her child with her? Especially when she claims earlier in the book that no one has ever been allowed to leave the Satmar community with their children. The way this section is written is so matter-of-fact, sterile, even cold...it makes me think the author undertook the writing of this book too soon after she left.

Ultimately, it was an interesting read, but one I also took with a grain of salt.

I'm really glad to see Kevin Brockmeier on your list. I enjoyed Brief History of the Dead so much and it's one of the books I like to loan to friends (and one of the few that I'm always sure to get back again)

>17 poingu: I picked this up a few years ago at a book warehouse sale, the story sounds intriguing. However, I only very rarely read apocalyptic deadly virus storylines, so it has languished for quite a while on my bookshelf!

Bossypants - Tina Fey

I don't read memoirs very often, and I read celebrity memoirs even less.

I didn't enjoy the first half of the book as much as the second half, and I feel that Tina Fey's jokes do better on live TV than in writing. But...she is just so darn likable, I can't give her anything less than 4 stars. I enjoyed the social critique more than the humor. She raises some excellent points about how women treat each other, institutionalized sexism, working vs sahm mothers, etc....but does so without drilling home the point ad nauseum. I also appreciate that this is not a "tell-all" book..she skims the surface of her life, and that is perfectly fine by me.

Hmmm...I can't decide which one to read next. Suggestions?

I picked up The Black Girl Next Door, because it's relevant to the work that I'm doing right now on race relations, but then hesitated, as I'll also be reading The Other Wes Moore later this month for book club. At some point, I need to take a break from social commentary and memoirs.

I'm also considering Dancing With Butterflies. Not sure why I'm hesitating on this one. It might be that I am looking for something a little shorter.

Ahhh, decisions, decisions!

The Casual Vacancy is a surprisingly quick read, considering its length. And you might enjoy it more if you remember its working title was "Responsibility". Otherwise I can't suggest anything, I'm not familiar with the rest of your titles. It's nice when you have so many you anticipate to choose from. Last year I found this challenge got harder towards the end when there were only a couple of titles left, and eventually just one. You gotta be in the mood for it, or else, lol.

I really enjoyed Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet so that would be my recommendation. Not too familiar with the other titles on your list except for Blue like Jazz which I did not like. However, a friend of mine loved it so take that for what it's worth.

The Black Girl Next Door - Jennifer Baszile

I ended up reading The Black Girl Next Door. It is a memoir that looks deep into one black family making it in an all white, affluent neighborhood during a time not long after the Civil Rights movement. With an undercurrent of societal barriers, albeit more covert than during the days of segregation, her experience growing up in the 70s and 80s of a wealthy California enclave definitely gave me some food for thought, especially in comparison to my 80s childhood experiences.

I could also completely relate to her torturous yearning during her senior year to leave her family and hometown and move as far away as possible. Her father's verbal abuse mirrors some of my high school experiences, and I definitely understand that need for separation.

>23 abergsman:

Certainly a timely read, considering Saturday was the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_to_Montgomery_marches#The_first_Selma-to-Montgomery_March) and the recent findings of the DOJ in Ferguson.

Yes! That is one of the reasons why I read the book right now. I am involved in a Mayoral roundtable in my town (a suburb of a larger metropolis in the South) to discuss police/community relations. It is my hope, and aim, to work towards the development of a Human Rights Committee in our town. The roundtable was started following the protests in Ferguson, and in relation to the death of Eric Garner.

Did you happen to see President Obama's speech in Selma this past weekend? It was outstanding.

>25 abergsman:

Fantastic! Good luck to you.

Only saw some snippets of Obama's speech, but yes, I heard at least one commentator say that it was perhaps the finest of his presidency (which is saying something). Gonna have to go find it online now. :)

I've also just realized I hit the 6/12 mark...I'm halfway towards completing at least one list of books! I am off to a much better start this year.

The next three books I plan on reading aren't on my challenge list, so I will probably stall at this point for the next two weeks or so.

That's wonderful progress! Congratulations.

Sounds to me like you're ahead of the curve for sure. Impressive that you can go off-list and still manage that, I have to pretty much stay focussed here.

Congrats!

The Other Wes Moore - by Wes Moore

This is a story of two Wes Moores. Both grew up in poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Both got in trouble with the law as kids. Both appeared in two separate articles in the Baltimore Sun on the same day. The author Wes Moore was featured when he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. The second Wes Moore was in the newspaper due to just being arrested after an extensive manhunt, for armed robbery and the murder of a police officer.

This book is the result of the author's attempt to explore how two children with the same name and raised in similar circumstances, could end up on two completely different trajectories in life. This quote sums it up well: "The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his."

There were numerous ways the telling of this story could have gone wrong. For the most part, it didn't. I was most impressed by the ability of the author to remain objective in his research. He strikes a delicate balance in making the story human without distorting the facts or demonizing any of the people involved in the story he tells.

Most of the book is dedicated to describing what happened in the lives of both Wes Moore's, rather than the how. I would have liked to see more analysis done, particularly in regards to the educational system and problems specific to Baltimore (a city I know very well, having lived there for a few years).

In the end, I liked the journey the book took me through, and the thoughtful conversations and reflections it prompted at my most recent local book club get-together.

I think I can imagine what you mean by ways it could have gone wrong. "I've had such a great life, and look at this poor slob." Glad he got it right, it's an interesting idea.

This is an interesting book.

There has been a bit of a lull in reading off of my TBR lists. I have become quite captivated with the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear, which I started reading while on vacation. They are such wonderfully delicious little books, and the perfect type of read for the airplane.

I wish I would have put And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini on my list this year. I have wanted to read it since it was published, and it turned out to be my book club's April selection. I hope to get back to my TBR list by May!

I gave Brookland 50 pages and one week, and then put it aside. The premise is extremely interesting; but the book failed to capture me. Cross that one off the list, I'll put it in my neighborhood's Free Little Library in the hopes that someone else may find it more enjoyable.

I picked up Towelhead instead, which I bought at the same time as Brookland in a large warehouse sale. So far so good, despite not being the type of book I typically read. It is a very gritty, provocative satire of 1990s style suburban life, strict religious values (minus the religion), and racism. All wrapped up in a coming-of-age story that puts you in mind of Lolita.

It's a shame when you find a book that has a fantastic premise but it just can't do anything with it. It's like seeing a chef holding all the ingredients for your favourite cake and then he tries to make bread out of it.

Towelhead - Alicia Erian

This story broke my heart. A young girl whose parents recently went through an ugly divorce, moves to Texas to live with her Lebanese-American dad. It is a story that is raw, intense, and extremely emotional. It makes you think deeply about children, especially tween and young teen girls, and their need for appropriate affection and understanding.

The Year of Living Biblically - by A.J. Jacobs

There is something that is quintessentially Jewish about living biblically for a year, questioning every step of the process.

Most authors who attempt a diary-style memoir fail miserably. This book feels like a diary, but a good one. I was surprised by the reverent tone that flowed throughout the book. From one agnostic to another, I agree with his end conclusion that whether or not you believe in God, there is such a thing as sacredness. And it is not necessarily a bad thing.

I like it when people can approach the topic of religion with tongue-in-cheek but without completely deriding it. It does a lot of good things for a lot of good people and even for that reason alone I can respect it.

I have that book around here somewhere. I have been meaning to read it for years.

Yep, it was also hanging around my house for years before I finally read it!

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford

I really wanted to like this book. I spent a year working in the International District of Seattle when I was in AmeriCorps. My office was right around the corner from the Panama Hotel; I even frequented the tea house at the Panama. The neighborhood has always held a special place in my heart.

The novel brought back some nostalgic moments from those days, but not much more. A wonderful premise, but the writing was a chore to get through.

Sorry to hear that it's not a great read, I've heard it mentioned many times in many places.

Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier.

Not my kind of book, not sure why I bought it in the first place. Probably to try something different. I powered through, and I don't regret reading it, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone either. It's about a city where people end up after they die. They stay there for as long as someone living remembers them. The main plot is what happens when a virus wipes out all but one person on Earth, and what happens to her and those she remembers who are stuck in the City of the Dead.

A Patchwork Planet - Anne Tyler

Anne Tyler is like an old friend. I love coming back to her books every few years or so, and this one was no exception.

My first Anne Tyler was read this year, and I can see why she has so many fans.

The Wonder House by Justine Hardy

This will be the last book I finish for the 2015 challenge, and I actually read it back in October. I really enjoyed the geographical backdrop, but the characters and plot left something to be desired.

The rest of the year was consumed with book club reads, and various other reading projects (mainly, reading the Bible as Literature, as part of my personal Lifetime Reading Challenge).

There were two additional books, White Jazz and Brookland that I started, but put aside after the first 50 pages. Not my cup of tea. I guess there's a reason why they languished on my bookshelf for so long!

I already have my list lined up for 2016, with a partial focus on classics. I'm looking forward to it!

"Lifetime Reading Challenge" ... I never thought of documenting that formally, although I suppose I vaguely have one. Is that your own title for it? Trying to put "books I'll read before I die" on this side of the line, "books I can live with never reading" on that side.

>47 Cecrow:

I stole the title from Clifton Fadiman, The Lifetime Reading Plan, but I'm not solely using his reading list. For me, it's a purposeful, long-term effort to read certain works chronologically.

This is what the beginning of my list looks like: 1. Epic of Gilgamesh; 2. Old Testament/Tanakh; 3. The Iliad (this will be a re-read); 4. The Odyssey; 5. Homeric Hymns; 6. Theogony; 7. Aesop's Fables; 8. Confucius: Analects; 9. Sappho: Poems....etc.

I read Gilgamesh last year, and I am currently slowly making my way through the Hebrew Bible (agnostic here, formerly Lutheran, raising a Jewish daughter with Jewish hubby). :-)

We seem to be on similar paths, although my sampling is going to be more sparse. Gilgamesh was definitely worth a read, and I got more out of it than I expected. Wrestling with mortality has been great fodder for literature for at least 4,000 years. Maybe I'll suggest to my son he can write a high school essay on contrasting Gilgamesh with Dorian Grey.

I read from the Protestant Old Testament as a kid (and I killed at Bible trivia in those days, let me tell you). I remember now there was a lot of action in Genesis, Exodus, Kings and Chronicles. That was the "good stuff" from my perspective. Now I can only recall a few highlights from the rest. All the prophet books are just a slog.

I read the Iliad this year, doing more Homer in 2016, then looking at following up with Plutarch, Tacitus, Young Pliny, etc - switching over to history from literature.

Well, I might fit in one more from this list before the end of the year, if my library hold of Enrique's Journey is available in time.

Meanwhile, I have had great success with a few classics in recent weeks. I polished off Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and will dive in to Dickens' A Christmas Carol once I finish the Maisie Dobbs book I am currently reading. So I would still say that I am finishing 2015 on a strong note!

Sounds like it! Tom Sawyer was better than I remembered when I re-read it last year, so I ought to revisit Huck too sometime. I just read Dickens' Christmas Carol in a couple of days, it's a short one with a blistering pace (by his standards).

Just in the nick of time, I finished Enrique's Journey:The Story of a Boy's Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with his Mother. I just finished reading it this morning. Grand total off of my TBR list for 2015: 14 books. I'm happy with anything more than 12!

Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario

Enrique's Journey tells the story of a young teen undocumented migrant who makes the dangerous journey from Honduras to the United States. He is one of hundreds of thousands of Central American children who had been left behind by his mom. Lourdes, a single mother who had difficulty providing for her children in her native country, left twelve years previously due to a poor economy, lack of jobs, and high rates of poverty.

Children like Enrique, and other migrants from Central America, travel on top of freight trains across Mexico to the Rio Grande, a dangerous journey in which most do not make it to their end goal. Many migrants are injured, attacked, and/or killed along the way.

Many single mothers from Central America and Mexico choose to leave for the United States in the hope that they will earn enough money in the United States to send to their families back home for food, schooling, and shelter. They choose separation from their sons and daughters in the hope that the money they send back will keep their family from starvation, and allow them to go to school longer. Often, their children follow years later, desperately seeking reunification with their mothers. This book is a fairly objective snapshot of one boy's journey, traveling on top of trains from Guatemala to the Rio Grande, and provides one important perspective in the complicated case of undocumented immigration.

Nice job on last year's challenge, Alisia. Over half your books read is not bad at all (I read over half of mine too, but didn't have as many books to read).

>46 abergsman: - >49 Cecrow:

Sorry I missed this part of the conversation earlier. Of all the labor-intensive classics I've completed in my life (Hamlet, The Sound and the Fury, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, etc.), the Bible is the one I'm most proud of. Took me five years, but I actually read ever word. A lot of it was, as Cecrow says, a slog, but the highlights (mine: Genesis, Judges, Proverbs, Matthew, Romans) make it all worthwhile.

>52 abergsman:

That sounds like an excellent book. Don't know if you follow American politics or not, but there seems to be a lot of difficulty among people on the political right over here right now in looking beyond racial and national stereotypes of people that are immigrating to this country and seeing them as individuals with the same kinds of dreams and aspirations as the rest of us. I suspect a lot of them would benefit from reading a book like that.

Nice review. My daughter recently moved to Honduras, and I will be visiting, soon.

>49 Cecrow: Somehow I missed this post, as well! I agree with you that Gilgamesh is a worthy read, and I had the pleasure of reading from a beautiful Folio Society edition. Now, I am already a bit of an anthropology and archaeology nut, so an ancient Akkadian text is right up my alley. I hope someday we find more sources, and can fill in the missing parts in at least one of its many variations.

>53 artturnerjr: I actually am American, living in America right now (I have lived abroad as well). I am definitely one to follow American politics, and have been quite active in that area since working for Obama's campaign in 2012 (obvious Democrat here, lol). I just don't typically mention it on LT. My background is working with refugees, and I have also been doing a fair bit of activism and community awareness efforts in regards to many of the misconceptions about both refugees and immigrants here. My heart breaks to see the rise of Islamophobia and fear against immigrants and refugees happening again, on levels that seem to be greater than the post-9/11 days. Since I'm not one to watch silently, I may also be going to Lebos, Greece in 2016 to work in the Kara Tepe Syrian refugee camps for a month with one of the local Greek organizations that have stepped in to help the thousands of people arriving on the island each week. I was hoping to go this month, but came up with difficulties in organizing childcare (well, that, and mother's guilt for leaving my 8-year old for a month).

One of the things that has surprised me that amongst refugee resettlement workers, there is sometimes very little compassion towards undocumented immigrants. It is a very complex problem, with both positive and negative consequences. My personal opinion is that the only effective strategy to change the situation is not a wall, but to bolster the economies of the immigrant-sending countries. All most undocumented immigrants want is a decent job, with a living wage. One anecdote from the book talks about how in Honduras, jobs dry up for women around the age of 28. Once you hit 30, some of the only low-skilled jobs attainable are things like making and selling tortillas or cleaning homes.

As I was reading Enrique's Journey, the thought that kept entering my head was, "The people who really need to hear this story would likely never even be willing to pick up the book."

>55 abergsman:

Wow, that's great. I sort of vacillate between voting for Green Party and Democratic candidates; the Greens tend to be closer to where my own politics are, but I'm enough of a pragmatist to realize that my energy is sometimes better utilized supporting the Dems. Agreed that the undisguised and unapologetic Islamophobia in particular and xenophobia and (let's call it what it is, shall we?) racism in our country has reached a level that I don't remember occurring before in my adult life. I have friends that feel I'm being alarmist, but when the white supremacists start voicing their support for the Republican presidential front-runner, I start to get more than a little concerned.

>56 artturnerjr: I like the Greens. I do wish the US would move away from the predominantly 2-party system, and do feel it is slowly heading in that direction. Agonizingly slowly.

Have you read anything by Ta-Nehisi Coates? I bet you would really like his new book, Between the World and Me.

>57 abergsman:

I think the fact that the presidential campaign of avowed socialist Bernie Sanders is doing as well as it is demonstrates that the American people are more amenable to hearing from more progressive voices that it has been in a very long time.

Have you read anything by Ta-Nehisi Coates? I bet you would really like his new book, Between the World and Me.

I have not. I see, however, that my local public library has a copy of that title. Onto the wish list it goes! :)

To wrap up 2015, here is my best and worst of what I read off my TBR list.

Favorite:
The Rosie Project and Enrique's Journey

Least favorite:

White Jazz and Brookland - the two that I started but did not finish due to lack of interest.