Boekentrol's challenges for 2020

Hello all!
Here I am, back with a new attack on my Everest high MTBR.
I've had a good year reading-wise, also a good year in lowering my number of books in hand. So... basically I just want to continue that. The form in which I want to put it, is a bit of struggle. I'd like to try something new for me: break the reading down to 'year received' and then split up in fiction/non fiction.

I think I'll give that a try.

I'll also add a section for 1001-books, because that keeps the count for them easier than when they're all over the place. A section for books not yet on MTBR (they'll mostly be audio or e-books) will be new this year. I hope to keep up with buying as little books (in any case the physical ones) as possible. Good for my finances and good when we want to keep books at limited places in the house :-)

Have a great year in reading!

Tickers:

Amount of books read in 2020:



Amount of books off MTBR:



Amount of books from the 1001-list (continuing ticker)






Countries visited in books

MTBR 2012

Fiction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Non Fiction
1. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell Started, not finished, September 2020
2. The Cossack's Bride by Justin Scott READ, April 2020
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. O Jeruzalem by Larry Collins
4. Coming Up for Air by George Orwell
5. Greenlanders by Jane SmileyDNF June 2020
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Between Two Worlds: Escape From Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam by Zainab Salbi READ January 2020
7. Barracuda 945 by Patrick Robinson READ February 2020
8. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
9. The Crazed by Ha Jin READ September 2020
10. The Woman in the Fifth by Douglas Kennedy READ May 3020
11. The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier READ January 2020
12. Restless by William Boyd
13. My Side of the Story: Trouble at the Mill by Philip Wooderson
14. Madame Terror by Jan Guillou
15. Iraanse odyssee by Gohar Kordi READ April 2020
16. Hadrian VIIby Frederick William Rolfe
17. Obsessie by A.S. Byatt READ August 2020
18. The Quincunx by Charles Palliser
19. De idioot by F.M. Dostojewski READ July 2020
20. Het rode korenveld by Mo Yan
21. Paranoia by Joseph Finder READ February 2020
22. Caravans by James A. Michener
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
24. The Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham READ January 2020

A book that I found (and read) from 2012, that was not on this list, strangely enough. I probably added a JE later on...
But here's another one down from 2012:
The Vanished Man by Jeffrey Deaver READ July 2020

MTBR 2013

Fiction -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Non Fiction
25. The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
26. Gerald's Game by Stephen King DNF, January 2020
27. Aan de grond by Kirill Gradov http://www.librarything.com/work/6168495/summary/96824279
28. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen READ January 2020
29. Los Alamos by Joseph Kanon
30. Raven Black by Ann Cleeves READ February 2020
31. Man's Fate by André Malraux
32. Atomised by Michel Houellebecq
33. Play dirty by Sandra Brown READ January 2020
34. Bloed in zee by Hilbert Kuik READ August 2020
35. Die Agterhuis by Anne Frank
36. Allerzielen by Cees Nooteboom
37. The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch
38. The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway READ March 2020
39. Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos
40. On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin
41. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
42. A Bridge Between Us by Julie Shigekuni
43. Felicia's Journey by William Trevor
44. Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
45. Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
46. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens READ November 2020
47. The Heretic: A Novel of the Inquisition by Miguel Delibes
48. Stenen van de rivier by Ursula Hegi
49. The Unburied by Charles Palliser
50. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot READ June 2020
51. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne DNF May 2020
52. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
53. The Accidental by Ali Smith
54. De klokkenluider van de Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
55. The victim by Saul Bellow
56. The Master of Petersburg by J.M. Coetzee
57. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad READ May 2020
58. The Bancroft Strategy by Robert Ludlum
59. The Catcher in the Rye by Jerome D. Salinger
60. Ik (Ali) Als Turkse arbeider in Duitse bedrijven by Günther Wallraff
61. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
62. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
63. De goede nazi van Nanking by John Rabe
64. De weg naar Isfahan by Gilbert Sinoué
65. The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie
66. De as van mijn moeder by Frank McCourt
67. Volgens Maria Magdalena by Marianne Fredriksson
68. The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh
69. Brida by Paulo Coelho
70. Grushko by Philip Kerr
71. Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh READ, April 2020
72. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
73. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
74. Call It Sleep by Henry Roth
75. Adam Bede by George Eliot READ October 2020
76. Kidnapped: Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751 by Robert Louis Stevenson
77. The Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz
78. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
79. Burmese Days by George Orwell READ, May 2020
80. Amongst Women by John McGahern
81. The Fan Man by William Kotzwinkle
82. The Poor Mouth by Flann O'Brien
83. Lanark: A Life in 4 Books by Alasdair Gray
84. Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace by Ayelet Waldman
85. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence READ August 2020
86. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway READ April 2020
87. Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
88. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
89. Small Island by Andrea Levy
90. Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George READ October 2020
91. Billy Bathgate by E L Doctorow
92. Burger's dochter by Nadine Gordimer
93. De grote vrouw by Meir Shalev
94. Flowers for Mrs Harris by Paul Gallico
95. 2001 byArthur Charles Clarke
96. This Body Of Death by Elizabeth George READ September 2020
97. Bleak house by Charles Dickens
98. A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
99. Carry Me Down by M. J. Hyland
100. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
101. Ragtime by E.L.Doctorow
102. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway READ April 2020
103. Heksenmasker by Minette Walters
104. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
105. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
106. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
107. The Castle by Franz Kafka
108. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
109. The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
110. Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner
111. The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
112. Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
113. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
114. Kept: A Comedy of Sex and Manners by Y. Euny Hong READ May 2020
See post in 2012-list 115. The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver DONE, but counted there
116. On Beauty by Zadie Smith

MTBR 2014

Fiction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Non Fiction
117. The Gathering by Anne Enright
118. The History of Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
119. Jack Maggs by Peter Carey
120. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
121. Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
122. Bird Song by Sebastian Faulks
123. Yasmine, of Het tijdperk van de sprinkhanen by Malika Mokeddem READ, May 2020
124. De entertainer by Lars Saabye Christensen READ, May 2020
125. De binnenzijde van Japan by Kimiko Kawabata
126. The Seamstress by Maria Duenas
127. Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope
128. Another World by Pat Barker
129. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
130. The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
131. Kat en muis by Günter Grass
132. Music and Silence by Rose Tremain
133. Randland by Annemarie Kok
134. Robinson by Doeschka Meijsing
135. Je bent gewond by Erdal Öz
136. De das van Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout
137. Het spinsel van de eenzaamheid by Paul Auster
138. The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad
139. The Ventriloquist's Tale by Pauline Melville
140. The Wreckage by Michael Robotham
141. De verrekijker by Kees van Kooten READ April 2020
142. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
143. Ammunition Ken Bruen
144. Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard READ December 2020
145. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
146. Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer
147. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
148. The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout
149. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
150. Platform by Michel Houellebecq
151. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
152. The Sea by John Banville READ December 2020
153. Money: A Suicide Note by Martin Amis
154. Summer by Edith Wharton READ, April 2020
155. Gabriel's Gift by Hanif Kureishi
156. Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham
157. Folktales of the Maori by Alfred Grace
158. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
159. Under the Frangipani by Mia Couto READ April 2020
160. Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong
161. The Gormenghast Novels: Titus Groan / Gormenghast / Titus Alone by Mervyn Laurence Peake
162. De wereld volgens Garp by John Irving
163. Zonneschijn by Dasa Drndic
164. The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster
165. De vijfde winter van de magnetiseur by Per Olov Enquist
166. Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
167. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
168. De bezoeker by György Konrád
169. Kameraad scheermes by Rogi Wieg
170. Dominion by C J Sansom
171. Verrijzenis by Tucker Malarkey
172. Die ogen en de dood by Rexhep Qosja
173. Het meer by Yasunari Kawabata
174. Parnassia by Josha Zwaan READ April 2020
175. Sacred Times by Ursula Hegi
176. Het eiland onder de zee by Isabel Allende
177. A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin
178. Wilde Gember by Anchee Min
179. Een vrouwelijke Odysseus, N'zid by Malika Mokeddem
180. Pantaleón by Mario Vargas Llosa
181. Honderd Jaar Eenzaamheid by Gabriel García Márquez
182. De Slinger van Foucault by Umberto Eco
183. Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
184. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
185. Убежище. Дневник в письмах by Анна Франк
186. Electric City by Patricia Grace
187. The Quest by Wilbur Smith
188. The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
189. King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
190. Old Goriot by Honore de Balzac
191. Murder on the Leviathan by Boris Akunin
192. Slavery Inc.: The Untold Story of International Sex Trafficking by Lydia Cacho
193. Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Loss and Love by Xinran
194. VOSS by Patrick White

Books I did not finish this year I will list seperately. I had hoped not to have to make a thread for a loooong time, but unfortunately the first book I seriously got into, was too much to handle.
So... Below will be a list with DNFs for 2020.

Books I did not finish in 2020:
- Gerald's Game by Stephen King #26 of the list of old books that I really want to read.
- Russisch blauw by Rascha Peper one off MTBR (2017)
- The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne
- The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley (one off MTBR, 2011)
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell one off MTBR, from 2012
- Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
- Middlemarch by George Eliot

Read two books already.
Unfortunately both are not on my 'most need to read list'.

Dit is Gomorrah by Tom Chatfield was an audiobook I started in 2019. I expected something else from this book (I guess I was influenced by the Gomorrah-series on Netflix about the Italian maffia).
De onderhandelaar by Frederick Forsyth, a book I received unregistrered from anoth bookcrosser, back in 2012, so in a way it's an oldie. It was an okay read.

Currently reading #6 from my list of oldest books: Between two worlds by Zainab Salbi. The title is too long to completely time it several times, will do that again when I've finished it.

Good luck with your plans! It looks like several of us are working on the 1001 list. I'm glad, as I need some motivation to work on my own list.

>11 mathgirl40: My list is is more like 10,001 books. Ha!

>11 mathgirl40: Thank you! Motivation for the 1001-list is sometimes hard to find, especially when you're having bad luck with books from that list multiple times (one after another). I'm sending you some (as I have plenty at this moment :-))

Thus far I tackled 2 books from 2012 and one from 2013. A good start of this new year. (However... I managed that many books because I was at home, feeling quite miserable from a severe cold.)

I've started reading #24 on the list: The Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham and I like it a lot. Have no idea why the combination of the title and the cover art made me shy away from this book for so long.

I'm currently listening to The Master by Colm Toibin. A book I found on Storytel, but that will disappear soon. I want to finish it beforehand, so that's why I've given it priority over the Abraham's book.

>14 BoekenTrol71: I read The Romance Reader so long ago (in 1998)! I liked that book a lot. I have the sequel...but I have never read it. It's probably about time to get to it now! Don't you think?

If you like this book, I highly recommend Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman which parallels the story of Rachel in The Romance Reader but is the true story of a woman who left the Chasidic sect in which she was raised. It's a fascinating book.

Hope you feel better soon!

>15 SqueakyChu: Thanks for the recommendation!
I'm feeling a bit better now (have started work again), but still not 100%. It was certainly a nasty one :-(

Today I finished another one from MTBR, although it wasn't an old one. This book Een verdiende dood by Peter Swanson I received at a meeting in 2017.
A quick read, reasonably predictable plot, annoying manner of telling the story but... A surpriding end.

The book I just finished listening to is Spring Torrents by Ivan Turgenev. I liked it, it reminded me of previous Russian (classic) books I've read.

Not one from MTBR, but one off that other huge pile of 1001-books.🙂

I've read another one from MTBR, not one of the oldest, but still from 2016. It is The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. A book that seemed awfully long at the start, but that I gradually liked better and better when I made progress.

Just finished a book that I own since 2015 and had not read yet. Volmaakte verdwijning by Derwent Christmas. An illusionist's assistent disappears during the last tric of one evening's show. The investigation into that reveals a reality in which nothing is what it appears to be. A nice read, unusual plot.
If you ever get your hands on a translation, it's recommended!

It sounds like you're making really good progress so far this year! Glad you liked The House of Mirth. I keep meaning to read something by Wharton but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

I'm currently reading an oldie: Barracuda 945, in which I make slow progress. Not because I dislike the book, but because it's a physical one. And the only time I can read in that is when I'm home and not doing anything else. I like it lots, so I think I'll grab it again when I'm done updating threads and tickers :-)

ETA: unfortunately this book 'only' has 498 pages, so it won't count for my door stopper challenge.

I smuggled and juggled a little with my books: I just finished my night time reading book in the morning while enjoying a nice cuppa coffee🙂
It was another one from MTBR, even though it was 'only' one from 2017. A nice read but nothing really spectecular. Which book? Tegenaanval by Jack Ryan.
Now I need to find me another book that can serve as bedtime reading...

>22 BoekenTrol71: Oh, that's so close. I won't tell if you want to cheat a little. ;-)

>24 mathgirl40: 😁

Read another book: The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I liked the book. Why that was a pleasant surprise, I can't really tell. Maybe it's because books on the list from that period tend to be redious? It really doesn't matter that much: main thing is I liked it.

Yesterday evening I finished Barracuda 945 by Patrick Robinson. An okay book in itself, but I found it disappointing. Looking at the subject, I expected a novel in Tom Clancy or Ludlum style, but it wasn't. The plot was nice, but it never got me to the edge of my chair, never really made me anxious for either the good (?) side or the bad. So it just floated and never got a a big bang, that I did expect the plot was working towards.

Just finished listening to De snijkamer by Jilliane Hoffman and I was disappointed by this book.
But... It was one off MTBR, even though it was only one from 2019

Just finished listening to De snijkamer by Jiliane Hofmann and I was disappointed by this book.
But... It was one off TBR, even though it was only one from 2019

A double post.... Hmm, I must have been cross eyed :-)

>26 BoekenTrol71: I'd read that a very long time ago, but I recall that I did like it a lot. Maybe it's time for a reread.

Thus far I've managed to read 10 books off MTBR. My book total for this year is much higher, I'm quite unpleased with myself, not to have picked up more books of my list of oldest ones. The biggest reason for that is, that most books that are high on MTBR are in English and the last weeks I have had difficulties reading in English. My head was full because of lots of work that needed to be done, health issues for me and people in my surroundings, so I am happy that I've been able to read at all.

>31 BoekenTrol71: Speaking as a person who only reads books in English I can't imagine trying to read a book in a second language. I might be able to read a children's book in French but not any adult literature.

>32 gypsysmom: I am able to read in even more foreign languages than English, but Dutch & English are now the ones that come most naturally.

Reading in English has picked up again, fortunately and I've managed to read one from MTBR, even though it's not a very old book.

Today I finished 1222 by Anne Holt. It's a thriller of a kind that reminded me a lot of the Agatha Christies I've read before. It was okay, but not so very inpressive that I'd like to read another book by this writer (or maybe better: one with this particular main character).

One off MTBR, but from the 2015-range.

I started reading an old one The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley. I didn't get far yet, but at least it is on the table, staring at me and wanting to be read. I guess it will take some time before I can cross that one off from the list above.

>33 BoekenTrol71: I'm impressed that you can read books in so many languages. I've been trying to get back to reading some books in French, which I'd learned in my youth, but it is always slow going for me.

A seperate list for the (number of) books I read from MTBR, but that are not in the year lists in the years within this thread:

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton READ April 2020
To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway READ March 2020
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh READ April 2020 Book stems from 2017
Mijn huis in Wales by Jan Morris Book is from 2017
Godverdomse dagen op een godverdomse bol by Dimitri Verhulst Book is from 2018
De man die haast had by Jan Vantoortelboom Book is from 2017
Missie Hongkong by Stephen Coonts Book is from 2016.
The Dord, the Diglot and an Avocado or two by Any Garg Read in June 2020 Book is from 2015
Op zoek naar Hemingway by Leif Davidsen Book is from 2016
Accident A day's News by Christa Wolf Book is from 2015
Codex by Lev Grossman July 2020 Book is from 2015
De pianiste by Elfriede Jelinek July 2020 Book is from 2016.
De stille stem by Ann CleevesJuly 2020 Book is from 2019.
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy August 2020 Book is from 2017.

AND
The amount of books now off MTBR, includiing all these books.
To be adjusted in the ticker when books are read.
Count on August 5th, 2020: 45

De kolonel krijgt nooit post by Gabriel García Marquez August 2020 Book is from 2018.

Ticker last updated: 24-09-2020

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy September 2020 Book is from 2017.
Ticker last updated:28-09-2020

Not yet entered into the ticker's numbers:
Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George

Another two oldies started, with which I can't seem to make real progress. One is The Cossack's Bride by Justin Scott and Obsessie by A. S. Byatt. I keep going, because the books in themselves are not bad, it's just that my mind can't seem to stay focussed very long. I blame it on the extraordinary circumstances we're in now.

Stay safe, stay healthy all!

I have finally made time to update this list/ the tickers.

It looks like I haven't done badly thus far. Being home, staying home doesn't mean much free or spare time for me. We don't have any illness in our close circle (yet) and are very grateful for that. My work goes on from home as if I were at the office, meetings (a lot less than earlier), maintaining my computer programs, nothing's really changed. My care tasks also continue, in a different form, but they're still there.

As a way of relaxation I cross stitch quite a bit and have the habit of listening to audiobooks while I do that. Audiobooks also make my household chores al lot lighter, so I tend to switch to the audioversion if there is one (of old books that I have on MTBR). That way I can multitask :-)

Rearranged my bookshelves in the living room and I got a lot of energy from looking at all the books I still want to read and that I really look forward to. Will see if it reflects in many more books off TBR :-)

>39 BoekenTrol71: I knit and I usually do that while we watch TV or a video at night but if it is a complicated bit I like to sit down with the knitting and an audiobook and put in some time. It does make me feel quite productive.

I have read #2 off the list!! A very old one, that probably escaped reading because of its title The Cossack's Bride and its not so appealing cover. Suffice to say here "Never...." and add that it was a nice read :-)

And 2 more off the list, from 20124 this time :-)
De Verrekijker by Kees van Kooten and Parnassia by Josha Zwaan The first was an okay book, a bit to messy for my taste (both lay-out anbd content of the book). The other one was VERY impressive. I think that one will stay with me for a while.

Crossed off another one of my oldies, this time one from 2012. It is Iraanse odyssee by Gohar Kordi, IMHO a disappointing book. Luckily it was only a short read, so I go on to the next book 😃 This time it's one from 2014.
Making progress again!

Glad to hear you are doing well at home. I too enjoy listening to audiobooks while I do chores or knitting/stitching, but with my two daughters returned home, it gets harder to do that. Sometimes I manage to squeeze in some knitting during very long Zoom meetings. :)

>44 mathgirl40: Ah, that's daring! I can't pull that off, because the camera in Teams will absolutely catch me. And I don't think my boss will be happy with that kind of extracurricular activities 🤣

I read another book off MTBR, this time one from 2014. Slowly but steadily I'm making progress. If you ever come across an English translation, do give it a try! It's sad, funny, absurd at times and gives a good idea of life in Northern Norway. The book is De entertainer by Lars Saabye Christensen.

The book I finished this morning I received in 2013. So another oldie from the list 😃 I thoroughly enjoyed Kept A Comedy of Sex and Manners by Y. Euny Hong.

Yesterday I finished a book from my personal collection, that has been around since '92 (!). It's Anna Karenina by Lev Tolstoy. It's also a big book (706 pages), so it counts toward the big books challenge for this year. Happy to be done with it, I've had enough drama for the coming period. I am curious to see how the modern retelling Anna K. by Jenny Lee turns out. That on I plan to read in the next period :-)

>48 BoekenTrol71: Isn't it satisfying to finally read a big book that has been sitting around for ages?

>49 gypsysmom: Yes it absolutely is!

Another oldie done. An absolutely very nice book to read: The Woman in the Fifth by Douglas Adams, received it as a birthday present in 2012....

And I read (listened to) Een klein leven van Hanya Yanagihara, very sad book that drained me of my energy, but that was so well written and read, that I kept reading.

>45 BoekenTrol71: I try to be careful to make sure my camera shows me only from the shoulders up, and I knit only during those meetings that don't require too much participation on my part. Actually, I find that it helps me stay focused during particularly dull meetings; otherwise, my mind starts to wander or I get tempted to do other work on my computer. :)

>52 BoekenTrol71: I'm glad you liked this book. I've had a digital version of this book sitting on my e-reader for a few years now, and I need the motivation to get to it. I'd bought it because I liked her first book, The People in the Trees so much.

This morning I finished Yasmine of het tijdperk van de sprinkhanen by Malika Mokkedem. A book full of sadness and loneliness, both of the main characters in the book, as well as the land they travel through. It's a sad book, beautifully written, syill leaving some hope for a better future.

Wow, I'm getting closer to my target of 40 books off MTBR by the end of the year. Today (May 24th), the total is 31. Only 9 to go :-)

During this past week I've read another 2 off MTBR.
The first one is Mijn huis in Wales van Jan Morris, a nice book.

The second one is Godverdomse dagen op een godverdomse bol by Dimitri Verhulst.

Both books were not so big, the last one I liked the least.

>55 BoekenTrol71: and >56 BoekenTrol71: Congratulations on your progress I wish I could say the same. I've only read 15 so far and my library is going to open to hand out holds in a week and I have a ton of books available.

>55 BoekenTrol71: Nice to hear that you're making such good progress! I need some inspiration. :)

I've read another book today. Not one off the MTBR-list, but it was one off the 1001 mountain. So not bad either. My total count of books read is now 93, so I'm quite happy with that. Now only to tackle those 2 very oldies that have been lying around waiting for me to read another page in them... Greenlanders by Jane Smiley and Obsessie by A. S. Byatt. Need to find courage/mood/spirit... Hope to be done with them this month!

I tried and tried these past weeks to find the rythm, the pace of Greenlanders. The book was interesting, but not interesting enough to keep on trying, being glad on a description of a reindeer hunt being described amidst the losely (at best) connected happenings to the characters in the book, living in far apart settlements.
I give up, with a sad heart, but the book deserves to be read by others. I'll set it free soon.

I just finished reading a little gem: De man die haast had by Jan Vantoortelboom Lovely story, bit sad(ish), but beautifully written. If you read Dutch or if there's a translation available, I wholeheartedly recommend it!

I added another one to the pile of books read off MTBR. It isn't Greenlanders that I started quite some time ago. Noooo, that I didn't finish, unfortunately. I had a good time reading The Dord, the Diglot and an Avocado or two by Any Garg A nice litte book that made me laugh and had very interesting tales about words and their origines in it.

>61 BoekenTrol71: I'm always sad when I see recommendations for books that aren't available in English (or French, which I can muddle through). I do wish I knew more languages!

I have finished two more books. Both not on my oldies list, but the year is still long :-)

I've read Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo a wonderful book. Sad, even heartbreaking at times, but I'm very happy that I came across it.

The other one I finished early this morning is Suzanna's wereld by Jojo Moyes. Not a very impressive book, especially not after Stay With Me, but for a book during the sleepless hours of a night it's a nice read.

>64 BoekenTrol71: Thanks for the recommendation of Stay With Me. I've added it to my wishlist.

I'm getting confused by my own way of listing the books read that are off MTBR, but don't belong to a year. I have to count every time I want to update my progress. Not really an ideal way. So... I'll think on it a while and probably rearrange things a bit. ...

I finished a book today I really liked, despite the horrible subject of having to deal with the consequences of a horrible act by your children. It was Het diner by Herman Koch. Not one off MTBR, but still a book read :-)

Finished a book again today, another thriller that I read reasonably quickly because of sleepless nights (heat wave that"s going on for a week or so now).
Loved Sluit alle deuren by Riley Sager, a book that had me guessing (wrong) at nearly every page turn. The ending was somewhat disappointing, but all in all I liked it lots.

>67 BoekenTrol71: I really liked The Dinner also, despite the unpleasant characters and disturbing themes!

I've been reading a bit, but nog very much from MTBR, since I abandoned no less than 3 books from the 1001-list.
The one I did finish off MTBR is The Crazed by Ha Jin, a book that I liked a lot. It was giving me shivers, made me very uncomfortable, but in the end still left me with some hope that all might end well, at least for the main character of this book.

>70 BoekenTrol71: Thanks for the recommendation. I just checked my library and it looks like they have a number of Ha Jin's books available as e-books, including this one, so I added it to my wishlist.

>71 mathgirl40: You're welcome!