Lisa's Better Late Than Never 2018 Category Challenge

Well, here I am finally...!

Going to do what I did last year, but somewhat less ambitiously. And that's to make some more progress on my series reading. I'm not going to create as many categories for series as I did last year - if I didn't manage to make progress in a particular series last year or this year so far, then they'll wait until next year, or maybe make it onto my bonus series books category. And I have categories for 1001 books, Virago Modern Classics, CATs & KITs and books from Lisa (my bibliophile friend from across the pond who has added so many to my TBR list!). I'm resurrecting a couple of categories that I haven't used recently - short stories and graphic novels. And adding a new one - politics, because, well, I have to...

I only managed 31 last year (but 66 the year before), so I'll set a target of 50, in the hopes that my goal-oriented nature will help get me going!

Space here for a book and page ticker.

2018 Books Read



2018 Pages Read

Category 1
The Dark Tower by Stephen King
I re-read the first two last year and plan to re-read the third and finish the series.


1. The Waste Lands read in June
2. Wizard and Glass read in July
3. Wolves of the Calla read in August
4. Song of Susannah read in September
5. The Dark Tower read in September

CATEGORY COMPLETE
(I'm so sad it's over!)

Category 2
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
I've read the first three so far and have six more on my TBR.


1. Summer Knight read in May
2. Death Masks read in May

Category 3
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
I read the first two last year and I have four more on my TBR.

Category 4
Frost in May by Antonia White
I read Frost in May last year and have three more to read.

Category 5
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
I read The Golden Compass last year and need to complete the trilogy.

Category 6
Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris
Loved the HBO series, haven't read any of the books yet.


1. Dead Until Dark read in February
2. Living Dead in Dallas read in February
3. Club Dead read in February
4. Dead to the World read in March
5. Dead as a Doornail read in November
6. Definitely Dead read in December

Category 7
Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
Lots of pages!!!! There are 14 books plus a prequel and most of these are tomes! I re-read the first two last year; I had previously read up through book 6 - we'll see how far I get this year.


1. The Dragon Reborn read in August
2. The Shadow Rising read in September
3. The Fires of Heaven read in December

Category 8
Short Stories

Category 9
1001 books
I plan to tackle The Forsyte Saga and Kristin Lavransdatter; not sure what else yet.


1. The Man of Property read in March
2. Kristin Lavransdatter I: The Wreath read in July
3. Kristin Lavransdatter II: The Wife read in October
4. Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross read in October
5. Indian Summer of a Forsyte read in November
6. In Chancery read in November
7. Awakening read in November
8. To Let read in November
9. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency read in December
10. Autumn of the Patriarch read in December

Category 10
Virago Modern Classics

1. Told By an Idiot by Rose Macauley read in January

Category 11
Books from Lisa
In the 11 1/2 years I've known Lisa, she has given me 120 books! I have a lot yet to read...

1. Autumn of the Patriarch

Category 12
Political




1. Fire and Fury read in August

Category 13
Graphic Novels

Category 14
Bonus Series Books
In case I want to pick up a series I didn't get to last year or even a new one (egads!)

Category 15
CATS
I'll be hosting the MysteryCAT in December and I'm sure I'll dip into others now and again; I will probably try not to go outside of my planned reading very much. I may end up listing books here in addition to my other categories.

1. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency read in December for the MysteryCAT
2. Definitely Dead read in December, also for the MysteryCAT

Category 16
KITS
I'll be hosting the ScaredyKIT and SFFKit and I'm sure some of my planned reading will match up with the AlphaKIT from time to time. I may end up listing books here in addition to my other categories.

1. Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King read for ScaredyKIT in August
2. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris read for SFFFKIT in November

Category 17
The Alphabet Mysteries by Sue Grafton
I haven't read any yet and I have three on my TBR; sad that she passed away late last year.

Category 18
Miscellaneous
Gotta have one of these!

Bingo Dog Card


3. Originally in a different language - Kristin Lavransdatter I: The Wreath (Norwegian)
4. New to you author - The Man of Property (John Galsworthy)
5. Relative Name in the Title - Kristin Lavransdatter II: The Wife
7. Published in 2018 - Fire and Fury
9. >500 pages - Wolves of the Calla
10. Set during a holiday - Wizard and Glass (Reaptide)
12. 1001 list - The Forsyte Saga
13. Read a CAT: Room with a View (December RandomCAT)
14. Number in the title - Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross
15. Humorous book: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
20. Beautiful cover - The Dark Tower
23. Longtime TBR - Song of Susannah (pre-2008)
24. Story involves travel - Living Dead in Dallas
25. Rank in title - Autumn of the Patriarch

One bingo - woo-hoo! :)

Jan-April 2018 reading re-cap

A quick summary of what I've managed to read so far this year:
1. Told By An Idiot by Rose Macaulay A Virago Modern Classic that I was reading to try to finish off my bingo card last year; started in December but didn't complete until February.
2. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
3. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
4. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
Finished these three very quickly in February; loved the HBO series and the series was pretty true to the books; I had the characters stuck in my mind from the HBO series and enjoyed re-living the (slightly altered) episodes; not sure I would have enjoyed them as much without seeing the series first (surprise - I always like the book better, not quite so much in this case). Still I'll continue because I enjoy being immersed in this world.
5. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
Good yarn about the clash of vampires, werewolves and the magic community; with some were-panthers thrown in.
6. The Man of Property by John Galsworthy Brutal! I'll check into the group read thread and add my comments.

Welcome back and happy reading!

Nice to see you here, Lisa!

Welcome back! Good luck with achieving your target.

Glad to see you are back, looking forward to following along. :)

>22 MissWatson:, >23 christina_reads:, >24 mamzel:, >25 DeltaQueen50:
Thank you very much and looking forward to catching up with all of you as well!

Glad to see you back! Enjoy your reading.

Good idea to pick a few series to tackle! Good luck!! (And welcome back, btw!)

Great to see your thread is up, Lisa!

Welcome back!

>27 VivienneR:, >28 rabbitprincess:, >29 lkernagh:, >30 thornton37814: Thank you very much!

I am reading, but not quite at the pace I was a couple of years ago (not sure if it's even to last year's pace), and that's kind of depressing. And I'm definitely not writing much about my reading, or reading about other people's reading. I'm not finding joy in it at the moment, which is also depressing - yuk, being depressed about reading and writing about reading!

I'm sure I'll come out of this and be just fine at the other end, just wishing I'd get through the tunnel already.

>31 LisaMorr: I'm sorry to hear you're in a bit of a reading funk. Hope it wears off soon!

May - July reading re-cap

7. Summer Knight by Jim Butcher - another good addition to the Dresden Files series; this time Harry is trying to prevent the faeries from destroying the world.
8. Death Masks by Jim Butcher - Harry Dresden tries to recover the Shroud of Turin, duel a vampire champion and deal with his almost-vampire lost love.
9. The Waste Lands by Stephen King - Roland, Eddie and Susannah travel to Mid-World along the path of the beam and draw Jake to them from 1977 NYC; they lose Jake, regain him and then are saved from destruction by jumping on Blaine the Mono (Blaine the pain), a train that loves riddles. This one ends on a cliffhanger!
10. Wizard and Glass by Stephen King - We learn how Roland's ka-tet meets Blaine the train's riddle challenge and then how they continue their quest and on their way to a green glass tower (think The Wizard of Oz), Roland tells them a life-transforming story of his youth.
11. Kristin Lavransdatter 1: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset - Tells the story of Kristin Lavransdatter youth until she gets married; I read this more quickly than I expected. I loved the descriptions of the Norwegian countryside; some of Kristin's decisions and willfulness were frustrating!
12. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff - I started reading this right when it came out, but got a little distracted and also it's quite depressing, but not surprising, what's going on in the trump White House. Just finished it up last week, and so interesting to see so much that is continuing to be revealed about all the campaign's dealings and connections with Russia.

Actually finished this in early August!
13. Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King - Roland Deschain and his ka-tet (Eddie, Susannah, Jake and the bumbler Oy) continue their quest to the Dark Tower to save the world (and all parallel worlds). On the way, they meet people from the Calla who need their aid to protect them from the Wolves (they're not really wolves, but the reader doesn't find out what they really are until the last chapter), who come once every ~20 years and steal one of each pair of twins of a certain age. Lots of fun pop culture references. Ends on a cliffhanger!

>32 rabbitprincess: Thanks, me too!

End of September update

14. The Dragon Reborn, book 3 of The Wheel of Time series, was great. I'm really enjoying going back to this series and looking forward to continuing with my re-reads and finally getting into some new stuff too! However, while I remembered generally what was going to happen in this book, I forgot so much of the detail, it was almost like reading it for the first time.
15. The Shadow Rising, book 4 of The Wheel of Time series, was another great entry. We were introduced to the lands across the spine of the world as well as Tanchico, and also got to spend a lot of time back in the Two Rivers, where we originally met Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene and Nynaeve.
16. Song of Susannah, book 6 of The Dark Tower series: Roland, Eddie, Jake, Oy and Pere Callahan make a plan to follow and rescue Susannah and also safeguard the property in New York City that is the key to saving all the worlds. I thought it was really well done except for two things - it ends on a cliffhanger and the creatures in the Dixie Pig restaurant were just a little too far out there for me (they were so far out there that it kind of jolted me out of the world of the book, if you know what I mean). The cliffhanger thing isn't so terrible for me because I'm not waiting for the next book to be written and have already started it!
17. The Dark Tower, the end of the series. There's not much I can say about the final installment to a series that Stephen King started with The Gunslinger in 1982 without giving away too much about the plot. I cried my eyes out twice and had to hold back tears at least a couple of other times, and it is bittersweet. For Stephen King created worlds to remember with Gilead, Mejis, Mid-World, End-World and various versions of America and characters to cherish with Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, Oy, Pere Callahan and many more.

Right before I started The Dark Tower, I got about halfway through the second installment in the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy - it was a lot easier to carry on the way back from Angola than the tome that is The Dark Tower. That should be the next book I finish, but I don't know if I can go right back to it yet.

I feel I'm still in Stephen King's Dark Tower universe, and I kinda want to stay...

18. Kristin Lavransdatter II: The Wife
19. Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross
by Sigrid Undset

Sigrid Undset brought Norway in the middle ages to life with this trilogy focused on Kristin Lavransdatter's girlhood, marriage and old age. It was beautifully written and reminded me very much of a trip two years ago to the fjords of Norway. I learned a lot about this period in Norway from the standpoint of religion and politics - but also about day-to-day life and customs. Kristin is a very stubborn, passionate and religious woman who holds grudges, and these qualities make for a very interesting life.

I highly recommend it - in the Tiina Nunnally translation (an example of the difference between the Archer and Nunnally translations is given in the introduction of The Cross) - it went much quicker than I expected.

20. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
I started reading these long after I watched HBO's True Blood series (twice!). Some of the story lines are a bit different and the development of some characters is much different. On the whole I'm enjoying them.

Shapeshifters and werecreatures across Louisiana are getting shot and no one knows who is doing it; the police don't know that all of the victims can shift shape because they haven't come out of the closet like the vampires have. At the same time, the Shreveport werewolf pack needs a new leader as the previous leader died in a car accident. Adding to all of this, someone tried to burn Sookie's house down while she was asleep. And Sookie is in the middle of all this, as well as having two vampires, a werewolf, a shapeshifter and a werepanther seeking her affections. This was a fun entry in the Southern Vampire Mystery series.

21. Indian Summer of a Forsyte by John Galsworthy
The first interlude in The Forsyte Saga, this novella is told from Old Jolyon's point of view. He is living in the house that Soames built out in the country, enjoying the company of his granddaughter Holly while his son and daughter-in-law and other grandchildren are away for the summer. Old Jolyon is learning that he really loves nature and beauty in these waning years of his life. One day he comes across Irene on the property, clearly mourning Bosinney. He enjoys her company and endeavors to spend time with her, but it wears him down.

I've decided to list each part of The Forsyte Saga separately as I read them, although it's all part of an omnibus edition I own.

22. In Chancery The second novel has Soames longing for an heir and finally getting one.
23. Awakening This very short interlude showcases Irene's son Jon's awakening.
24. To Let The final novel in the saga has the next generation of Forsytes growing up and falling in love amidst many changes in English culture.

Finished The Forsyte Saga!

Very well done and overall I really liked it. I must admit that in parts of In Chancery and To Let I skipped ahead to see what was going to happen - but then I went back and read every bit that I skipped. I'm not sure what that says about me, but I just felt more comfortable knowing the ending and was able to then leisurely enjoy the descriptive writing. I don't do that with every book, but felt the need here.

Lots of unlovable characters. My vote for the worst still goes to Irene - I really couldn't forgive her in denying her son and Fleur the chance to be together; Young Jolyon gets second place for his role in this fiasco.

Eventually I will continue with The Forsyte Chronicles, but not just yet.

Congrats on completing The Forsyte Saga, as it was an immense read. I wasn't taken enough with the characters to continue on with the series, but I am glad that I read these first three books as the setting of the end of the Victorian era was interesting.

>39 DeltaQueen50: Thanks - my little paperback didn't seem that big, but with the small print and thin pages, it did take a while!

25. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

I finished Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency yesterday and it was pretty wild. Somehow Douglas Adams managed to create a time travel end-of-the-world mystery based on Samuel Taylor Colerige's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. And it had a lot of funny bits of course. Well done!

26. Room with a View by E. M. Forster

This 1001 book started out a bit too 'precious' for my taste, but it improved a bit and turned out all right. The first part of the book has Lucy touring Florence with her cousin (who acts as her chaperone) and has some interesting experiences with the other English tourists staying at the pension, as well as some English ex-pats. In the second part of the book, Lucy is back home in England where she runs into some of the folks she met in Florence and Rome. The book is both a romantic comedy and an expose of English society at the time.

27. The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan

The fifth book in The Wheel of Time series is another good entry. Rand's time with the Aiel, the White Tower broken, the Forsaken plotting, huge battles, including with the Forsaken. And some cliffhangers at the end. One more book left to re-read and then I get to finally delve into new territory and finish the series in 2019!

28. Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

When I first started reading Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries, I thought they weren't written that well (I still enjoyed them and the world Harris created) - not sure how to describe them, simple, maybe? But I think Harris has gotten better over time with them. This one was a bit longer than the first few, and was well written. The book revolves around Sookie looking into what happened to her cousin Hadley, who had fairly recently become a vampire - a consort to the vampire queen of Louisiana.

29. Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Only 229 pages, yet it took me about a week (on vacation!) to read! Sentences would go on for pages, each chapter one long paragraph. It tells the story of the despot of an unnamed Caribbean island; how he managed to hold on to power for so long, seemingly dying at least twice and ruling for 100? years. Brutal depictions of torture; rape was depicted in an almost nonchalant way. Not quite my cup of tea - but another 1001 book crossed off the list...