Paul's 12 in 12 Attempt

REACHING FOR THE STARS!

Not one hundred per cent fixed but topics

1 One Word Only - Books with titles of one word only
2 12 Knights of the Roundtable - Historical fiction
3 Series Starts - The first book in a series of books
4 Scandi - My old standby
5 12 Hands on the Clock - Books bought and read in 2012
6 The Noughties - Works of fiction published in the first decade of this millenium
7 12 Men on the Moon - Science Fiction / Fantasy
8 African Writers - Books written by African born writers
9 The 12 labours of Heracles - Works of fiction from 1800-1899 from Britain
10 12 Stars of the zodiac - Biographies
11 12 stars in the Flag - Works in translation into English of course
12 Baker's Dozen - Off the shelves - straining at the seams

A. Books with One Word Titles

1 Room by Emma Donoghue
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

B 12 Knights of the Roundtable - Historical Fiction

1 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - ORANGE GOUP READ COMPLETED
2 The Battle of Pollocks Crossing by J.L. Carr COMPLETED

C Series Starts

1 The Guards by Ken Bruen COMPLETED

D Scandi

1 Shadow by Karin Alvtegen COMPLETED
2 Unknown by Mari Jungstedt COMPLETED

E 12 Hands on the Clock

1 Pure by Andrew Miller COMPLETED
2 No Glossing Over It by Gary Edwards COMPLETED
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

F The Noughties

1The Road Home by Rose Tremain ORANGE GROUP READ COMPLETED

G 12 Men on the Moon

1. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury COMPLETED

H African Writers (African Born writers)

1 Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela BORN CAIRO, EGYPT ORANGE GROUP READ COMPLETED
2 The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie BORN NIGERIA COMPLETED

I The 12 labours of Heracles

1 North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell COMPLETED

J The 12 stars of the Zodiac

1 The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff COMPLETED
2 One Pair of Hands by Monica Dickens COMPLETED
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

K 12 Stars in the Flag (Translations)

1. The Appointment by Herta Muller (German) COMPLETED

L Baker's Dozen (To clear the straining shelves)

1

Welcome to the challenge! Just wanted to say that I loved Here Be Dragons and North and South, so I hope you enjoy them too!

Hey, Paul, great to see you over here. Looks like you are in the process of planning a very interesting reading year.

Yup, lot's of interesting reads to look out for here. Enjoy your challenge!

Welcome to the 12-12!

Paul,

Want to really confuse the readers? I see you like historical fiction, as does my wife. I can only go based on what she says about what she read, but to go along with your "North and South" by Gaskell, you can also go for North and South by John Jakes. My understanding is that it takes place pre-Civil War

Actually, I think she said it's a trilogy, and no idea which comes first, but just an idea. Not sure how valid the idea is as I mostly read Thrillers, True Crime, and Chess Strategy! :-)

Hi Paul. Glad to see you joining up! You have some good categories, I'll be keeping an eye on you! (And not in a creepy stalker way ;)

Christina - thanks! Do like Ms Penman very much - The Sunne in Splendour is a huge favourite. Am doing the Gaskell as a group read at the beginning of the year.

Judy - I have you to thank (blame!) for suddenly materialising over here.

Dave - nice to see a Mancunian over here, thanks for dropping by! Will find your thread and return the favour. I am a Yorkie presently living (the last 18 years) in Malaysia so I will occasionally dazzle (dull) everyone with my tropical rather than topical interjections here.

Victoria - thanks! I have a few Victorian reads planned for the year he types with the groans ringing in his ears.

Patrick yeah I do like historical fiction but Scandi and any "good" read will normally keep me happy. Like my series thrillers also as you will come to realise,

Chelle - Wouldn't be any hardship being stalked by you! As I said on your thread we will struggle along together and I'll be interested to see how you cope with your busy year ahead.

Looks like another thread that'll inflate my wishlist! :) I'll be reading some Nordic writers too, but it'll be interesting to see what you think of the English translations so I know which are OK to recommend.

Lots of interesting categories and books over here, I'm adding you to my list of starred threads. Welcome to the 12 in 12!

Hi Paul - good to see you over here. I loved both Here be dragons and Lady of Hay. The Sunne in Splendour hovers on my tbr pile along with others by Penman.

Welcome to the challenge!

Looks like we have a few category crossovers, wil keep an eye on your thread with interest

Paul - I'll keep an eye on your thread. I'm impressed that you plan to read 12 in each category!

Looks like this will be a great challenge - good luck! I'm bracing myself for tons of great recommendations.

Eva - Nice to see you here! Scandicrime is very much my thing to be honest. Read all the Inspector Wallenders up to the latest one and have Adler-Olsson, Alvtegen, Ceder, Edwardson, Ekman, Erikkson, Fossum, Holt, Indridason, Jungstedt, Lackberg, Asa Larsson, Stieg Larsson, Marklund, Nesbo, Nesser, Siggurdardottir, Sjowall, Tursten among others taking up space on my shelves with many of them already read up. Noticed that you are reading Siggurdardottir at the moment. She is less popular than some of the other Scandanavian thriller writers as she covers a lot more domestic matters than some of the dryer ones - I actually quite enjoy her stories - what do you think? See we share over 500 books so we should have plenty to talk about in the next year!

Alana - I've seen your name on several threads and discussions betwixt some of my other kiwi friends on LT. Will certainly hunt down your thread and star yer back!

Kerry - speaking of Kiwi friends! Historical fiction is another one of my favourite genres especially if I'm honest british history being an exiled Yorkshireman - Penman's The Sunne in Splendour would be on most of my best of lists and not just because she is sympathetic to my Yorkist cause!

Lori - thanks!

psutto - I will find your thread so that we can compare notes!

Kerri - Glad to see you on this group too! It is always best to start with the best of intentions. Should be able to get to the 144 books required but a few of them are chunksters.

Sandy - I will do my utmost to oblige!

->29 PaulCranswick:
It looks like you're much more well read in Scandicrime than I am. Not for lack of trying - I do buy stacks of the stuff when I'm visiting Sweden, but there's always something shinier around it seems. It's always difficult to recommend books to my non-Swedish friends, though, since some translations are so awkward, so I always appreciate reviews of translated Scandicrime!

I've read Sigurðardóttir's Last Rituals in English and thought it was intriguing enough and now have My Soul to Take on deck. I quite enjoyed getting the domestic part (like you do in e.g. Camilla Läckberg's books) because they add a lot of dimension to the characters.

Looking forward to following along in 2012!!

Came by to have a peek and see what you're up to. You certainly seem like you've got the hang of things. I don't know that I'd want to plan my reading quite as thoroughly as you're doing because knowing myself, I'd probably end up wanting to read anything BUT what's on the list. Lots of people here (including myself) list some possibilities, but if you like planning your reading a year in advance, then who am I to stop you? ;-)

#31 - I guess you must think I'm crazy as well if you look at this:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/125456

Already have 9 of my 24 figured out, and 4 of my 12 categories 100% filled! LOL!

> 31 Oh please, don't say that! Paul, don't listen. I went to town when I started my thread (there's just something about making a really good list) and decided on every book for every category... part of me has an almost overwhelming urge to read them NOW (even though some have been sitting on my shelf for years unread), part of me is thinking "what on earth made you think you'd want to read six tomes on Australian colonial history in a month, you twit" and part of me is looking forward to 2012 IMMENSELY. That is the part I have decided to listen to :). Sticking with my choices is all part of the challenge. Will be following you!

Eva - shiny scandi? Yep it doesn't quite fit does it? haha...SWMBO (she who must be obeyed amd very much my better half) like Yrsa Siggurdardottir very much but some readersfind the domestic detail quite annoying (I don't mind it). The Scandi is indeed a shoe in for me ever since I discovered Mankell and Fossum several years ago.

Would love to visit Sweden - and happy to have you along for the ride in 2012 but beware I'll be watching you just as closely.

Dear Ilana - I am no more organised than you. My lofty aims and ambitions will surely crumble when I'm faced with all my new purchases! Still I'm having fun planning!

Patrick - wow I didn't realise there were so many books on chess that you could fit four categories with books on the topic.

Hi Annalisse nice to see you and thanks for the heartfelt advice. Must admit that you have very cogently described my own approach as well. My problem will definitely be temptation from other books I buy along the way and trying to keep up with TIOLI and Orange prize challenges at the same time. It is heck of a fun planning it out though but I'll probably finish up chopping and changing as Ilana accurately predicts. She has followed my scatterbrained reading for the last few months so she knows what she's talking about!

#34 - There are probably more books on chess than you want to imagine. Actually, I probably have twice as many as I have listed on here, it's just that they are all at home, and I tend to log on here when I'm not at home.

Just to give you some perspective, the following 2 links are to pages where you will see 2 lists of categories, each link on these 2 pages goes to a bunch of books, how many for each depends on the topic.

Happy browsing! :-)

OPENING THEORY:

http://shop.chesscafe.com/chess_opening_books.asp

MIDDLEGAME, ENDGAME, GAME COLLECTIONS (Historical tournaments, world championships, best games of a particular player, etc.), BIOGRAPHIES, ETC:

http://shop.chesscafe.com/chess_books.asp

I'll be interested in your opinions of the Scandinavian books. As I'm sure is true with many people, my exposure began with the Steig Larsson books. If they are any indications, there must be some real corkers out there.

Sorry for my very slow response as I have been a little bit overburdened in th elast few weeks and struggling to keep up with the 75ers and have neglected my 12 in 12 (but will concentrate next year for sure!)

I started with Wallender and Henning Mankell with my Scandi and have read many of their proponents although amazingly not Stieg Larsson yet. I normally cotton onto fashion as soon as it becomes outdated! Would recommend wholeheartedly Indridason, Fossum, Nesser, Adler-Olsson, Jungstedt, Alvtegen and Nesbo in particular of the one's I have read so far.

>"I normally cotton onto fashion as soon as it becomes outdated!"

I thought it was only me! I always come late to the party. It does, however, eliminate that awful waiting between books (or shows in a television series).

I have Jar City by Indridason on my shelf and look forward to reading it. It will fit nicely into my non-U.S. author category. BTW I went to see The U.S. movie version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo yesterday. Wow! (I have read the book and seen the Swedish movie.)

January I have 11 of my 12 already confirmed

ONE WORD - ROOM
HISTORICAL - WOLF HALL
STARTS - THE GUARDS
SCANDI - SHADOW - wrong touchstone mine's the Alvtegen
NOUGHTIES - THE ROAD HOME
MOONIES - THE EYE OF THE WORLD
AFRICA - LYRICS ALLEY
FLAGS - KAFKA ON THE SHORE
BIOGRAPHY - THE DUCHESS OF BLOOMSBURY STREET
HERCULES - NORTH AND SOUTH
BAKERS - HEARTS AND MINDS
CLOCKS - TBA (NOT BOUGHT YET!)

Starting North and South in the morning.

#40 I like your plan to read one of each category each month - good luck!

You've got some good reads planned for the month, Paul. I try to read at least one book from each category every month as well, keeps things varied.

> 40, 41

Seconded! I think I'm going to have to do some similar jumbling with mine at some point or I'll end up doing my own head in. There's something about making a list which sees me throw practicality (or is it common sense?) to the wind.

Finished North and South for my "hercules" challenge. Review on my 75er thread for those interested.

Hope you liked North and South - it's one I've had on my want-to-read list for a while. I'm tempted to give in and go for the BBC-version instead, but we'll see. :)

It was good Eva but not fantastic.

Completed The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street for my Biography challenge. 2 down 142 to go!

Two books down - Nice! Sorry to hear that the Duchess of Bloombury Street was a bust compared to her first book, 84 Charing Cross Road. I own both but have only read Charing Cross.

As for North and South, I am loving all the reviews for that one that are cropping up everywhere, especially over on the 75ers group. I might pick that one up some day. I did enjoy Gaskgill's Cranford when I read it a few years back.

I am trying not to clutter posts of those that are in both this group and the 75ers by repeating myself so I haven't commented over on your 75 group thread - but I do try to breeze through and catch up when I can and will continue to do so. ;-)

Lori impressed as it is not easy keeping up in several groups as I am finding out - especially as the 75ers is so hectic at the beginning of the year. I have way over a hundred threads starred (including 2 of yours) and it is difficult to lurk, delurk and contribute without repeating yourself too much. btw you are doing fine over on the other group!

The Guards polished off today for my Starts challenge. Loved it and my humble review is over on my 75ers thread.

The Guards is a great start to a fantastic series. The quality of which remains high throughout the 8 books I've read from it so far. Glad you enjoyed it too.

Hi Dave - yeah I was impressed with it as a series start.

Managed to complete Wolf Hall for my HISTORICAL challenge. Great period fun and my review is over on my 75ers thread for those interested.

4/144

Next up for me with my AFRICA challenge is Lyrics Alley.

Lyrics Alley looks very interesting, Paul. I'll be looking forward to reading what you think of it.

Hi Paul. Nice categories. I see we have some overlaps based on the books you've listed so far.

Just finished The Road Home and loved it for my noughties challenge. Fallen behind a bit but have 7/144 thus far. Review on my 75ers thread for anyone interested.

Have also tidied up my picks to give me more freedom but without changing any topics.

Well after two months I am flagging behind somewhat!

Should have 24 books done by now but I have only managed 14 with juggling a busy work schedule and family crises by the bucket load! In order to get back on track I need 22 books next month!
Lined up

ONE WORD (SO FAR 0 TARGET 3) Troubles by J.G. Farrell, Room by Emma Donoghue and Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald lined up.
HISTORICAL (SO FAR 2 TARGET 1) Voyageurs by Margaret Elphinstone lined up.
STARTS (SO FAR 1 TARGET 2) Zoo Station by David Downing, Black Dog by Stephen Booth lined up.
SCANDI (SO FAR 2 TARGET 1) Blackwater by Kerstin Ekman lined up.
NOUGHTIES (SO FAR 1 TARGET 2) TBA
MOONIES (SO FAR 1 TARGET 2) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip Dick, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin lined up.
AFRICA (SO FAR 2 TARGET 1) Praying Mantis by Andre Brink lined up.
FLAGS (SO FAR 1 TARGET 2) I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti, The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah lined up
BIOGRAPHY (SO FAR 2 TARGET 1) Years of Renewal by Henry Kissinger lined up.
HERCULES (SO FAR 1 TARGET 2) Jack Sheppard by William Ainsworth and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins lined up
BAKERS (SO FAR 0 TARGET 3) TBA
CLOCKS (SO FAR 1 TARGET 2) The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell, Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith lined up.

Have five of the above ongoing and I hope to fill up the BAKERS (off the shelf reading) and NOUGHTIES (first millenium stuff) with books for the Mystery challenge.
Altogether a tall order!

I've started slow this year too, although I have to blame vegging in front of the telly rather than anything else, unfortunately. :)

That's quite the line-up you have planned, Paul. I'll be standing by here and over at the 75ers to root you on!

Slow starts tend to happen.....we can't just stick our noses in books and ignore real life 24/7, as much as we would love to some days! ***sighs*** ;-)

Looking forward to seeing what you think of The Woman in White and of course will take a peek at your other reads as well.