gypsysmom's reduction plan for 2016

Last year I only counted books that had been registered by other BookCrossers for the challenge but this year I am going to expand on that because I only have 6 ABC books (at the moment). So I am also going to include the 11 books that I registered myself in 2008 and have not read yet. I did that this year for 2007 books and managed to finish all of them but I didn't include it in my LT challenge. That will give me 17 books in all which is the same number of books I read for the 2015 challenge so I think that is achievable.

I had to give up on ABC books as well because I have very few of them. The ones I have I never seem to want to read. :)

>1 gypsysmom: Good luck with your 2016 challenge!

Hah, another ABC book came in today so I now have seven to read. I took 3 books out of the Mystery/Thriller VBB but I thought they might not arrive until the new year. At this rate I might have 10 ABC books to read.

Finally finished one for this challenge. Acorna's Quest has been on my list since July 2008.

Today I finished one of the Already BookCrossed books only to realize that I had read this book some years ago. However, I think I got more out of Elegy for Iris this time around so it was worth it.

>6 gypsysmom: - LOL! Reading a book only to discover you've already read it, is something I have done a time or two. Along with buying a book that looks good, and finding that you already have it on your shelf because you had already bought it once before, because it looked good. A specialty of mine.......;-p

>6 gypsysmom: I enjoy rereads too, especially ones I'd read as a teenager. It's a different experience now (though not always a good one).

>7 jessibud2: I've done that, too. Sigh ....

I managed to read a thick one while we were travelling in March. Nebula Award-Winning Novellas was certainly worth reading even if it took me 8 years to get to it. So I have now read 2 out of the 10 books that have been on my TBR pile since 2008. I also sort of read Australian Place Names which was the book I said I would read for the March challenge. However, it's not the sort of book one reads from cover to cover so it hasn't been included in my 7 ABC books and I won't put it on the ticker.

>9 gypsysmom: I think if you got through the book in some way or another, you should feel free to count it. :)

I read my book for this month's challenge, Red Wolf, Red Wolf. Although I always say I don't like short stories that much when they are written by a master like Kinsella they are magical.

I read another book from the 2008 TBR list. Beaker's Dozen by Nancy Kress is also a short story collection but it is sf and I love reading sf short fiction. Comes from all those years of reading Analog and Omni and Isaac Asimov magazines I think. Kress is a great writer of short sf. No less a writer than Connie Willis blurbed the book in ecstatic terms.

Finished the book for May's challenge i.e. to read a book with three or more journallers. The Book of Rapture revolves around a family caught up in a religious war. Short chapters are ended by quotes from religious texts and other writers that emphasize something in the chapter. Thought-provoking but didn't grab my attention like some books about this topic have.

I read an Already BookCrossed book, The True History of the Kelly Gang, which I received last year from Bloedengel as I was the winner of the 2014 Australian Literature Sweepstakes. It took a little while to get here due to some postal complications. Very well written as I would expect from this author.

>14 gypsysmom: I loved The True History of the Kelly Gang, though it was somewhat challenging to read, with its lack of commas.

Just finished another Already BookCrossed book, Blue Vengeance by Alison Preston. This book is set in Winnipeg in an area I know quite well called Norwood Flats. It also takes place in 1964 so there is a fair amount of "Oh yeah, I remember that." For instance at that time The Bay downtown (which was the only one in Winnipeg then) was at one end of the Portage Avenue shopping area with Eaton's at the other end. The Bay had a mezzanine level waiting area which gets mentioned in this book. And many other little details like that. So that is fun plus the story was pretty interesting too having to do with an adolescent boy's dream of revenge for his sister's death.

I finished Thunderstruck one of the books that has been on my list since 2008. It's a pretty interesting nonfiction account combining Marconi's quest for long-distance wireless telegraphy with a murder and subsequent capture of the perpetrator which was assisted by that wireless technology.

Read One Good Turn in record time because I wanted to know what would happen next. This was one of the books I registered in 2008 so bad me for leaving it so long. (It's also the book that fits the July challenge of the book that appears on the most BC wishlists. I won't be sending it out to anyone though since it is a hardcover book.)

>17 gypsysmom: I liked Thunderstruck very much myself. It wasn't as gripping as Larson's The Devil in the White City, but my husband (an electrical engineer) and I both enjoyed the history of wireless technology.

>17 gypsysmom:, >19 mathgirl40: - I also really enjoyed Thunderstruck. I actually have liked all the Larson books I have read. From what I have read on LT and bookcrossing, Larson is an author that people seem to love or hate. I am definitely a big fan, myself.

>19 mathgirl40: , >20 jessibud2: This was the second book by Erik Larson that I have read and I have liked them both. I think I can be counted as a fan as well.

I read Intruder in the Dust, my first attempt at reading William Faulkner. It went quite well so I think I will try to read some of his books that are on the 1001 list. But not right away; it is exhausting to read his writing and this was only about 150 pages.

>22 gypsysmom: Yes, "exhausting" is a good word to use to describe the process of reading Faulkner, but it's worth the effort. :)

I finally read another book that was registered in 2008. Whipping Boy by the "Australian Queen of Crime" Gabrielle Lord is fairly old but unlike some crime books it didn't seem dated to me. Perhaps its because the subject, child pornography, is still a problem.

Another BookCrossed book read. Code of Arms is set in 1940 and 1941 and has to do with the war. Plot was a little far-fetched but it was dramatic.

I finished another book from 2008: The Various Haunts of Men. Susan Hill was the author but I don't think I have read anything else by her. This is the first in a series so I think I have added another mystery series to my ever burgeoning list of books that I want to read.

Another ABC TBR has been read (only one more to go). Since The Laughing Policeman is a mystery which is a favourite genre it is also my read for this month's theme. This book is a classic although the authors were unknown to me previous to this. Maj Sjowall and her partner Per Wahloo are widely considered to be the inventors of the Nordic noir sub-genre of mystery writing. This book won the Edgar in 1971 and the copy I have says it is the only translated work to win. That seems still to be true from what I can glean of the winners lists.

>27 gypsysmom: I really liked this series. After working through it the past few years, I finally finished the 10th and final book earlier this year. I was a little bit sad, thinking there would be no more, but there are so many good Nordic mystery series (many inspired by this one) that are still waiting to be read!

Just finished another book from 2008. After Mary tells the story of an English Catholic woman in the seventeenth century who joined a new religious order that was dedicated to giving girls an education, especially girls from lower classes. Quite good and showcased a woman, Mary Ward, who was an early feminist.

I finished my challenge by reading the remaining book from 2008 Postcards by Annie Proulx (which was excellent) and the remaining ABC TBR book The Black Ice by Michael Connelly which I also enjoyed. I seem to be having problems with the ticker factory counter for that so I just removed it. I'll be signing up for the 2017 challenge. Thanks mathgirl40 for setting it up.