completed shelf of a compulsive reader - 2011

I'm new to LibraryThing and not really sure how this whole system works, however it seemed like a good way to catalog my annual reading and connect with fellow readers. Please feel free to comment on my messages and pass along any recommendations :)

Welcome! Just keep listing books here and we'll be happy to jump in. Let us know if you have questions about LT. We're happy to help.

By the way, we have a wiki page with links to our important threads in the group. Take a look: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Groups:75booksin2011

January 2011 -

1. 100 Cupboards - N. D. Wilson : Read this for the second time as I borrowed book 3 of the series from a friend. It was as good as I remember. A quick read with an interesting concept. Mediocre character development but I would definitely recommend it to the younger audience.

Aww, thank you for the welcome!! I'm surprised anyone read my message and I'll definitely be asking for help as I have no idea what I'm doing. It'll take me a while to get caught up from January to now but I look forward to receiving some great recommendations!

Welcome to the challenge. Hope you have a great year of reading. Beware tho, this group tends to have one issue that everyone seems to have....an increasing amount of TBR books that you will have no time to catch up on! :)
Great name...haha I have an image of a really speedy snail zooming around!

One tip - it looks like you're trying for a touchstone in message 3 for the book title and author. Switch to square brackets instead of parentheses and you've got it. When you do that, look to the right side of the message window. If the wrong title or name comes up, click other and choose the right one.

Note: you can edit a message by clicking on the pencil icon in the message.

thanks, you're awesome! I told you had I had no idea what I'm doing... I'll get the hang of this eventually ;)

January 2011-

2. Dandelion Fire - N. D. Wilson : Book 2 of the series and in my opinion, not as good as the first. The story picked up right where 100 Cupboards left off and although it was written for a slightly older audience than the first, I found it choppy and confusing at times. The idea of Henry traveling through the cupboards to hidden worlds appealed to me but I find myself quickly losing interest. His constant bickering with cousin Henrietta gets boring and too many auxiliary characters to keep track of. A good idea but poorly executed and I'm surprised most reviews rate this book a 4/5.

January 2011-

3. Chestnut King - N. D. Wilson : Book 3 of the series and I'm not really sure what to say. Parts of it were hands-down better than the last book (finding out about Henry's family and battling the Fingerlings) but I can't say I really enjoyed much of it. Fantasy isn't typically my genre of choice and it really doesn't compare with Harry Potter or The Hobbit.

TurboSnails what other fantasy series could you recommend that is YA friendly? My 11 year old finally wants to read without force so I want to discretely encourage him. He liked Percy Jackson and The Olympians. I'm not sure what to offer next.

Hi heatherhoarder,

As I said in my review of Chestnut King, fantasy isn't really my favorite genre and I haven't read many series for younger readers but my top recommendation would have to be Harry Potter. That being said, I don't feel books 6 and 7 of the series would be appropriate for an 11 year old but you would have to make that call. After that, I thought the Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke was quite good so you may want to check those out. I have read book 1 of the Gregor the Overlander series Suzanne Collins and quite enjoyed it but didn't continue with the rest and the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull is very popular with that age group although I'll admit I've checked it out of the library several times only to return it unread.

Let me know how it goes and I hope he can find something that he enjoys!!

Welcome to the group and to LT. This is a very friendly place, so do keep asking if you have any questions. If there are particular genres you are interested in, do have a look at the 'What we are reading' threads relevant to those genres (you can find them listed in the wiki page mentioned in message 2) and you'll get to meet some of the other group members who share your interests.

Welcome to the group. I am a fantasy and science fiction reader--if fantasy isn't your genre, what are your favorite areas to read in?

Heather, in addition to the ones recommended by Turbo, The Ranger Apprentice series would be a good one, also the Keys of the Kingdom series by Garth Nix and the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage.

Thanks for the suggestions and help with this! I'm still in the process of figuring this all out and I could spend hours on this site if I had the time :)

ronincats - as for my favorite reading genres, my usual reads are general fiction but I am open to pretty much anything. I'm not a huge fan of westerns, romance novels or sci-fi but again, I'm open to suggestions. I actually make a habit of once a month, asking a random library patron what book they currently have on the go and more often than not will check out their recommendation just for fun. Speaking of which, what's YOUR favorite book??

Hi Heather,

I'm just finishing reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to my oldest child and that got me wondering if your son has found his next 'good read'? I'm interested to know what he chose :)

I just finished reading Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill and was thoroughly disappointed. No offense to my book-loving friends who enjoyed it but to me it was incredibly slow and quite boring. I kept waiting for it to get better but it never did. I have read many books, both fiction and non-, based on the theme of troubled childhoods but would place Lullabies at the bottom of my list. I'm surprised it was nominated for awards as I feel it pales in comparison to Ham on Rye - Charles Bukowski or Broken - Daniel Clay. Overall rating: 1/5.
Moving on to Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie :)

I'm looking for a better way to catalog my annual completed shelf but can't seem to find an easy way to do it. I want to be able to see my list of books/authors/pp, separated into months, all on one page in a tidy list. It doesn't even have to include my book rating or comments. Is there an easy way to do this (that I can keep editing as I finish books)? And where do I keep it? Any help would be appreciated!

>11 TurboSnails: and 13: Thanks for the recommendations. I'll keep and eye out for them.

Turbo, I gave him a copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He is reading it but he's not enjoying it like he did the Percy Jackson and The Olympians. So, yesterday we went to see if book 5 was at the library. It wasn't of course. I decided to go ahead and buy it for him. I felt good about the decision when he became excited to find out he could read some before bed.

Now I have to work on my 8 year old. He mostly likes The Adventures of Captain Underpants. But he's only 8, so I'll give him a break. Reading something is better than reading nothing at all!

I'd probably do that using tags or collections; when you view a book in most of the list formats, you can see a "tags" field. If you add tags like "May 2011", you can draw all of your books with that tag together in a single list. I'm using a "read 2011" tag, myself.

19: heather - too bad he wasn't excited about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It gets much more interesting as the book progresses so worth it if you continue to the end. I'll agree that book 5 is better and although there is a brief recap of previous events, the story makes more sense if you've read the previous 4 books. As you said, reading something is better than reading nothing at all.

I also have an son who is almost 8 and he is really enjoying the Geronimo Stilton series. They are fun to read and my son found they visually appealed to him when he picked one of the library shelf and flipped through it. The text varies in color/font and size and he has enjoys the mystery theme. (This is odd as he is usually obsessed with all things non-fiction)... Anyhow, you may want to look into it if you think it's something your child may enjoy :)

Good to hear from you and I'm curious as to what YOU are currently reading??

>14 TurboSnails: Sorry, I just got back to your thread--I've been sidelined with a nasty virus for the last week. I have too many favorite books, I fear. One of my favorite authors is Lois McMaster Bujold, who writes science fiction and fantasy. I am definitely a genre reader, I fear.

>18 TurboSnails: As much as I love Library Thing and all its denizens, it is not very helpful as an organizer. I keep two extra Excel files, one for my wish list and this year I'm keeping track of books I have read in another. It's very easy to reorder the list, add new categories, whatever. If you do not have Microsoft, Google Docs also has an easy to use spreadsheet program. The benefit of this program is that it is accessible from any computer with Internet access! Hope one of these can fill your needs.

>20 Cynara:: Thanks! I'll look into "tags" and see if it makes a list the way I want it to.

>23 mamzel:: I'm ridiculously clueless when it comes to computer programs which is why I was hoping there was some easy way to keep track of my books on this site. Regarding the Excel files/ spreadsheet programs you suggested, am I able to do that with a Mac? (forgive me if this is a silly question... as I'm sure you can tell, I have NO idea what I'm doing.)

Thanks to both of you for your patience and helping me out with this :)

Hi, TS - you can definitely do that with a mac. If you don't have a spreadsheet program already on your computer, you can use Google Docs, as mamzel suggests, or download Open Office, which is free and compatible with Excel, etc.

>19 heatherhoarder:: heather - If he likes The Adventures of Captain Underpants, your 8yo may also enjoy the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Just thought I'd let you know :)

>25 Cynara:: Cynara - Thanks so much! I don't know if I currently have a spreadsheet program but I think I have already downloaded Open Office. I'll take a look and hopefully be able to set it up the way I want it. This all seems very complex so I'm thinking I should just stick with my "What I've Read" diary I've been using for the past couple of years...

...On second thought, perhaps my next read should be 'Spreadsheets for Dummies'? haha

my next read should be 'Spreadsheets for Dummies' - not a bad idea. If you have never worked with spreadsheets before you will learn many tricks and tips without being bogged down in the details. For giggles, I looked on Amazon and found there was a Excel for Dummies but not a general spreadsheet edition. The Open Office for Dummies was a staggering $87.00! What I did find was something called Beginning OpenOffice 3 which was much more reasonable and purports to include information on spreadsheets. If you are interested, here is the page. Good luck!

Also, a ton of this info is on the internet. For example, here's one of their many help/education pages on using "Calc", their spreadsheet program:

http://openofficeschool.org/calc/index.html

Me, I find the best way to learn something like this is to do a little intro, and then jump in and start using it. What I can't figure out by trial and error, I'll research.

Sorry to be so late in dropping by, but I just wanted to welcome you to both LT and the 75ers.

Thanks for the welcome! When I registered on this site, I really didn't think anyone would notice and it's been so great getting 'welcome to the club' messages, recommendations and help when I've needed it! You guys are fabulous ;)

I can honestly say that the people in this group are the best on the face of the planet :)

I'm pretty new to the club, too. It's a neighbourly group!