First books of the challenge?

January 1 is only a few days away, and I'm curious: what will be your first read of 2012? I know you're planning to start with something great, so tell us about it!

I'm still debating, actually, but I think I might kick off the 12 in 12 with Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James. I've already seen some very mixed reviews, so I'm not quite sure what to expect...but I remain optimistic!

So, what will your first book be? Or, if you've already started your challenge, what did you choose for your first book? Did it live up to your expectations?

Love at First Flight by Marie Force was my first book for the challenge. It was OK but I never connected with the characters.

I'm going to start my challenge with the January 1001 Book Group Read The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai and kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

I am trying very hard not to start a book that I will not finish before the end of the year - so I can have a clean start. What I will start with is anyone's guess at this point though - I have a few January titles, I have the new Koontz, the latest Ian Rankin is also waiting on the top of the pile.

Knowing myself - I will start something that I had not been thinking about at all... I will be back on the 1st to report :)

I generally start a few books on the the 1st, one of them will definitely be my Orange January pick, The hunter by Julia Leigh, which also fits a couple of my 12in12 categories. Not sure yet on the others.

I'm starting with The Book Of Daniel by E. L. Doctorow and following that with Atwood's Alias Grace, one of my selections for Orange January which works with my 12 in 12 theme for January.

>4 AnnieMod: I think I'm going to have to start a bit early. I wanted to start on the 1st but I've just finished a book and can't see myself finishing another one before then, especially considering the 31st is pretty well written off as far as reading goes. But two free days and no reading? I don't think so.

I have enough short stories to last me a lifetime so I am probably reading some of them. Or I will just start a big book and declare next year a 368 days one ;)

It is kinda rare for me not to have a few books going and now I am down to 0... so might as well try to get a clean cut.

I'm leading a group read of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch over in the Green Dragon, so that will be the first.

Next will be Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls for my f2f book group.

I'm working on 2 long books right now that will most likely be finished after Jan 1, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and the non-fiction Apollo's Angels by Jennifer Homans, which is a history of ballet.

I have an audiobook of One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus at the ready, which I'm reading for both the 12-12's January TIOLI challenge and also for the Reading Through Time group's January theme.

My first "physical" book will likely be Iron House by John Hart. It was supposed to be an 11-11 book but I was persuaded to hold off and I'm chomping at the bit to get started.

Christina, I'll be reading Death Comes to Pemberley in January as well, but you'll likely have it done before me. Looking forward to your thoughts on it!

I need to start with "Vargen: den jagade jägaren", a non-fiction book about wolves as research for a play I'm writing. But I'll probably mix that up with Anarchy in Åmot, a brick about punk rock arriving in a Norwegian fishing village in the late 70ies.

Much like the boxes of chocolates that I have been ahem "sampling" throughout the holidays, I think I have to sample a few books at one time .

Appointment in Samarra, A Free Man of Color, Iron House, and Letter from Home.

Also, if I don't finish The Redeemer by Saturday, it too, will find itself in the list of early January reads.

My reading has slowed to a snail's pace recently as things have got really hectic at work, so the first one for me is going to be something entertaining and frivolous that I can clear quickly to get me started. I'm thinking of Last Tango in Aberystwyth, an absurd, noir detective novel set in a town only moderately less eccentric in real life than depicted in the book!

I'll be starting with a mystery, but other than that, I don't know which one yet. I have a nice selection of Agatha Christie and Michael Innes novels from which to choose.

I just started The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood which has been sitting on my shelf for way too long. It will probably be the first I finish in 2012. It's starting out to be a real page turner!

I just picked up an ILL loan from the library that will fit in my "See the world without packing" category, the monthly subchallenge here, AND the Orange January/July challenge. I need to go over and check out the January TIOLI to see where I can fit it in. My multi-tasking book is: One By One in the Darkness by Deirdre Madden.

I will be reading False Gods by Louis Auchincloss for the first of my 12 by 12, and also Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

I have been thinking about joining the Orange challenge group, but I'm not sure I can keep all this together as I am a newbie. So far I have been reading more LT than books. Dangerous, no?

>10 VictoriaPL: - Hope you enjoy One Thousand White Women. It was tied for first in my best of 2011 picks.

I have an ER book Forgotten Country that I just started and will probably not finish by Saturday as things are still hectic at my house. I also have Robbing the Bees which I started and keep picking up and then putting down after a few pages and Pillars of the Earth that I read in small doses on the treadmill. Along with my January book for the "2012 has 12 months" (or something like that) challenge.

I was going to start with a Coetzee novel, but I think I will start with A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, so I can use my new Kindle. It's for my Newer Books challenge.

I jumped the gun and I'm reading The Map that Changed the World right now, but I will probably officially start with Kraken. Can't wait either. I read an excerpt and it was way exciting.

>17 dallenbaugh: So far I have been reading more LT than books. I think we are many who can relate to that - newbies or not!

>17 dallenbaugh:

The only problem in that is that reading LT causes you to keep adding new books to your wishlist. :)

I think I'm going to read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins this weekend. I got the whole series for Christmas this year. That will probably be my first book completed, but the first one I started is "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" by Richard Feynman, which I started while the baby was taking a nap at my in-laws' on Christmas day.

>18 dudes22: @dudes22, it's your review of One Thousand White Woman that makes me want to read it. Looking forward to it!

Just started Babylon Steel by Gaie Sebold so will be reading that beginning of the year but also hope to start Oryx and Crake and January dancer to keep up with Tioli and group reads although am bound to get distracted by shiny new books too :-)

Just started Ghost Milk by Iain Sinclair, great title isn't it :) My 1st 1212 Challenge book was the great Steampunk adventure story Boneshaker

I always date a book based on the day I finish it so my challenge is already underway with a large pile of half read books but most of those will probably stay that way! Books started that are likely to get finished (but not today) are Anna Karenina, Cocaine Blues, and Mercy Among Children. I plan on actually starting the year long group read Don Quixote on the first.

Well, given how I have structured my challenge - and with looming library due dates to keep in mind - I have already started Kate Morton's The Distant Hours but will most likely have The Conference of the Birds by Peter Sis and The Sense of the Ending by Julian Barnes finished and reviewed shortly after ringing in 2012. Now that I have picked up a copy of Don Quixote for the group read, I will probably be starting that one soon too.

I think 2012 will be the year I move out of my usual comfort zone of only reading one book at a time!

I'll be starting the 12-in-12 with my current ER-book, The Invisible Ones, which, coincidentally, also fits the January TIOLI challenge. Looking forward to following you all in the new year!

-Eva-
(formerly bookoholic13)

Probably Lords of the Land, for my books related to Israel category. I'm doing a tutorial on the settlements, and really behind on my reading *cringe*, so I need to finish it this week...

>24 VictoriaPL: - Thanks so much, it's sweet of you to say. I have his second book The Wild Girl: The Notebooks of Ned Giles and plan to read it sometime later this year.

I usually start my category challenges with an Agatha Christie, so I have Nemesis waiting on my Kindle. I am currently reading The Dead by Charlie Higson which will fit my Monster Mash category, and I also am looking forward to starting Iron House for the group read.

I'm starting the year with a couple of Jane Austen inspired books - Murder at Longbourn by Tracy Kiely and Lady Vernon and Her Daughter by Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway (on audio). I'm sure I'll finish the print book first since it's shorter.

A bit surprisingly considering all the group reads, subchallenges and my own challenges, I am starting with The True Deceiver. I was shelving something and it just called to me.

It fits in my 12 in 12 nicely (in two categories actually but will go in the translated books I think) - but I had ~10 candidates for first book and that was not one of them. ;)

Not sure which the first book I will finish will be as I still need to sort out the TBR stacks:) But the first one I have started is North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell for my Great Books category (classics and prizes).

I finally settled on Mallory's Oracle which is scaringly good and Letter From Home.

>25 psutto: Like you, psutto, I will be reading Oryx and Crake and January Dancer. Oops, it's January first. Time to start reading.

My first one of the year is going to be Straw Hats and Bicycles. I'm almost done with it! It's far shorter than I anticipated. My second will be The Mystery of the Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume, which I see is set in Melbourne, Australia. I suspect my third will be Julia Spencer-Fleming's In the Bleak Midwinter. All three of these are on my Kindle.

For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History by Sarah Rose

@ 35 -- calm, I really hope you enjoy North and South -- it's one of my favorite books!

I am indeed kicking off this challenge with Death Comes to Pemberley, although I probably won't start it until tomorrow since I have company this weekend.

Thanks Christina - I'm taking it slowly but it is going well so far.

@39 I almost bought that a couple of days ago so will be interested in seeing what you think

The dog and I were home alone today so while it blustered and blew outside I sipped hot chocolate (the real stuff) and read my way through Explosive Eighteen, Champagne For One and The Track of Sand! Now I am debating what to take to bed with me.... The dog says I haven't been much of a conversationalist today.

I went through 3 books before settling on what I was going to read as my first book of the year. Finally settle on The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson which I've started while in work tonight.

My winner wasn't even on my shelf! I went past the thrift store and was sucked into the bookshelves, where I found Forensic Nurse. I started it with lunch that day, but I finished it in the bathtub last night, so it's the first book I'm counting for my challenge.