Terri's (TerriBooks) 2012 reads

Never been part of a group like this, so here's hoping I get it right......

What I've read in 2012:

January
1. The Tiger's Wife (audiobook)
2. State of Wonder
3. Quest for the Living God
4. The Sojourn (to fit the "Journeying January" theme)
5. War Horse
6. Zero Day (audiobook)
7. 11/22/63
8. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (audiobook)
9. A Clash of Kings
10. The End of Everything (audiobook)

Reading now:
A Storm of Swords for Fantasy February
Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World
The Invisible Wall (audiobook)
A Wrinkle in Time for Fantasy February

On my "Read next" shelf
Why God Won't Go Away
The Outlander (not Gabaldon's "Outlander")
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea

Hi Terri! welcome :)

The Sojourn was my first 2012 read and I liked it very much!

here is a link to the 75 Books Challenge for 2012....lots of helpful stuff :)

http://www.librarything.com/groups/75booksin2012

we are a chatty bunch and we love to post our reads :)
happy reading!

Kara

Welcome! You're doing just fine.

Welcome to the group, Terri!

Welcome!

Long weekend, cold weather, and no big projects. Should be a good time to make progress on my 75! Thank you all for your welcomes.

Welcome to the group! My name is Terri, too. Hope you had a good weekend of reading. You've made a good start on the challenge. I see you're reading 11/22/63. That's one I hope to read soon. I look forward to any comments you may have about it.

Got a day off work and am almost half way through 11/22/63. It's a real page-turner! I didn't intend to spend most of the day on it.... My poor husband -- I started dinner late because I wasn't paying attention to the time and had to microwave the slices of meatloaf to serve it.

It is indeed! I just finished it up the other day - I need to add a review to my thread. It's good all the way through!

drneutron's review of 11/22/63 has almost convinced me to try some Stephen King.

With the completion of Zero Day that makes six books in January so far. I'm figuring an average of about six a month gets me to 75 for the year, so with more than a week left, I'll count January as a good start. I enjoyed Zero Day very much right up to the end, and then was disappointed with how the author handled the last few pages.

Just finished 11/22/63 and loved it. Snowy weekend made for a few extra hours of reading.

January update.

I read 10 books:

1. The Tiger's Wife (audiobook)★★★★
2. State of Wonder★★★★
3. Quest for the Living God ★★★★★
4. The Sojourn (to fit the "Journeying January" theme) ★★★
5. War Horse ★★★
6. Zero Day (audiobook) ★★★
7. 11/22/63★★★★★
8. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (audiobook)★★★★
9. A Clash of Kings★★★★
10. The End of Everything (audiobook)★★★

High point of January reading was 11/22/63.

January has long weekends with bad weather, so I spent more time reading than I normally would. I don't think I will keep up this pace all year.

Started for February:
Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World
A Storm of Swords
The Invisible Wall

Hey Terri! That's a good list of books for January. Good luck with your February reads.

February Reading Log

Completed in February
11. The Invisible Wall ★★★★✰ (audiobook)
12. A Wrinkle in Time ★★★★★ for the "Fantasy February" theme
13. Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea ★★★ (audiobook)
14. One for the Money ★★★★ (audiobook)
15. Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World ★★★
16. Beachcombers ★★★ (audiobook)
17. A Discovery of Witches ★★★✰ for Fantasy February
18. Blue ★★★★✰ for Fantasy February
19. Until Again ★★★ for Fantasy February
20. The Eyre Affair (audiobook) for Fantasy February ★★★
21. Two for the Dough ★★★★ (audiobook)

Reading now:
Glory in the Cross: Holy Week in the Third Edition of the Roman Missal
Please Look After Mom (for book club)
The Outlander (not Gabaldon's "Outlander")
The Descendants (audiobook)

On my "Read next" shelf
Why God Won't Go Away
Home Front
Secret Daughter
The Doomsday Book
Moby-Duck
A Storm of Swords
Another City, Not My Own

Hi, Terri. I see we have some books in common, so I'll be following your thread! It will be interesting to see what you think of Outlander (yeah, the other Outlander) and A Discovery of Witches. I keep seeing rave reviews for 11/22/63... looks like I'll have to do that soon.

Great! that gives me incentive to actually read them next. Like, really next. I'm bogging down in Liberty's Exiles and my have to put it to the side, read something that takes a little less work for a while.

Finally finished Liberty's Exiles. Took like forever to read! So I need to get on it to make my February quota and keep on track for the year. I think I'll try Blue or The Outlander next.

Finished A Discovery of Witches this afternoon. I haven't read any books with vampires and witches &tc. so I felt a little lost with the conventions of what a vampire should be like. I don't get why anyone would think them attractive, even though the main character, Diana, certainly does. I struggled through the first half but enjoyed it toward the end. Not sure if I'll read the rest of the trilogy. I won't buy it, but if I can check it out of the library, maybe. At least it's an easy read.

I read Blue, practically in one sitting. It was a simple story that I really enjoyed. It would be interesting to see what else can happen in Tamarisk.

I picked up Until Again just because I had read Blue, but I didn't find that it added much to my enjoyment of Blue.

You're on quite a roll!

Progress report --- Books I read in February:

11. The Invisible Wall ★★★★✰ (audiobook)
12. A Wrinkle in Time ★★★★★ for the "Fantasy February" theme
13. Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea ★★★ (audiobook)
14. One for the Money ★★★★ (audiobook)
15. Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World ★★★
16. Beachcombers ★★★ (audiobook)
17. A Discovery of Witches ★★★✰ for Fantasy February
18. Blue ★★★★✰ for Fantasy February
19. Until Again ★★★ for Fantasy February
20. The Eyre Affair (audiobook) for Fantasy February ★★★
21. Two for the Dough ★★★★ (audiobook)

Finished Two for the Dough. Stephanie is so funny -- just love her observations of herself and her situation. Nothing to get the brain moving, but she often makes me laugh out loud.

March reading log

22. The Descendants ★★★✰ (audiobook)
23. Glory in the Cross: Holy Week in the Third Edition of the Roman Missal ★★★★★
24. A Is for Alibi ★★★★ (audiobook -- for "Mystery March")
25. The Outlander ★★★★
26. Please Look After Mom ★★★
27. Out of the Deep I Cry ★★★★★ (audiobook -- for "Mystery March")
28. B is for Burglar ★★★✰ (audiobook -- for "Mystery March")
29. Moby-Duck ★★★
30. C is for Corpse ★★★★ (audiobook -- for "Mystery March"
31. Another City, Not My Own ★★★★
32. To Darknesst and to Death (audiobook) ★★★

Reading now:

On my "Read next" shelf:
The Last Lecture
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Why God Won't Go Away
Home Front
Secret Daughter
Doomsday Book
A Storm of Swords
The Sense of an Ending
D is for Deadbeat
E is for Evidence
All Mortal Flesh
I Shall Not Want
One Was a Soldier
Still Life
Look Again
The Murder of the Century
The Sisters of Sinai
The Buddha in the Attic
The Better Angels of Our Nature

I finished The Descendants today. Kind of ambivalent -- I never really could get myself to like the characters but I did end up caring about them.

Also finished Glory in the Cross: Holy Week in the Third Edition of the Roman Missal which I needed for work. Really complete description of the changes in the Triduum liturgies, plus the background of how we got to where we are. Extremely useful and thorough.

Just finished A Is for Alibi and enjoyed it. Easy listening for commuting in a stressful week. I'm on the list at the library for the next couple.

I read The Outlander by Gil Adamson. At first I didn't really like the book... Maybe I'm too much of a quantitative type, but I want to know who, what, why, where right from the beginning. I was irritated by not being given the character's name, just "the widow." You have to read most of the way through the book to understand where she started out. But I loved the descriptions of the mountains, the town, the preacher and his rickety building, the characters she met along the way. And I liked the ending. So in the end, I was won over, and gave it 4 stars.

Great review on The Outlander, Terri. I had some of the same issues with it that you did, but there were definitely things about it that I liked. I looked back and saw that I only gave it only 3 stars in 2009, but I seem to be remembering it more fondly than that. Funny how time does that!

I almost laugh at myself --- like the way I refuse to watch a TV series unless I start at the beginning. The Outlander gave me some of the same dis-ease. And I vacillated between 3 and 4 stars, probably would have gone with 3 1/2 except I felt the hopefulness of the end rescued it.

Finished Please Look After Mom which is for my book club this month. I didn't really enjoy it. I felt frustrated that these people, who are family, just didn't talk to each other. Even after Mom is lost, and they are looking for her, they still do very little sharing of their perceptions and memories of her. But then, maybe that's the point!

Today I finished Out of the Deep I Cry after staying up way too late last night caught up in it, considering I had an early workshop to run today. It was worth it, I caught up with a nap this afternoon. This was my favorite of the series so far. Looking forward to the next. But I hope it's not set in the winter!

Having to do a lot of driving this week so I've done B is for Burglar and am now in the middle of C is for Corpse as audiobooks. Easy enough to listen to while I try to figure out what lane of the GW Bridge I want to be in. I am enjoying Kinsey. It's funny to notice how things have changed, such as, for example, how people would just pull out a cigarette and smoke anywhere, without even asking.

Finished Moby-Duck this afternoon. Parts I liked, parts I didn't. Trying not to resent a guy who can just up and walk away from his job for three years because of a will-o-the-whisp that caught his fancy.

April Reading log

33. Why Jesus Died ★★★★ (re-read for Holy Week)
34. All Mortal Flesh ★★★★ (audiobook)
35. The Horse Boy: A Father's Quest to Heal His Son ★★★ (audiobook for April Autism Awareness)
36. Celebrity in Death ★★★★
37. Salt ★★★ (audiobook)
38. The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels ★★★★
39. "D" is for Deadbeat ★★★★ (audiobook)
40. Three to Get Deadly ★★★★ (audiobook)
41. High Five ★★★★ (audiobook)
42. The Last Summer of Her Life ★★★✰

Reading now
I Shall Not Want (audiobook)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Religion Explained
In the Name of the Church: Vocation and Authorization of Lay Ecclesial Ministry

Planning to Read
This list got so long, I took it out of the thread.
Instead, I'm using the "To Read" collection.
Here it is.

Finished Salt: A World History. I was hoping it would be more fun. I certainly know more about salt, but I don't really feel like I'm better off --- or will be having more fun --- because of it. On the other hand, there were a lot of interesting facts and stories. And who knew everyone in every century seemed to have thought salt was a good thing to tax?

Really enjoyed The Sisters of Sinai. It's pretty amazing to see the changes a century has made in the role of women in academic life....not to mention the ease of travel. After a short series of non-fiction, I'm off to an easy novel next.

Ah.... and with this I have reached the halfway mark to 75 books!

I listened to Three to Get Deadly and High Five over the last few days. Laugh-out-loud funny. High Five ends on a cliffhanger of sorts... and my library doesn't have #6 in the series in a digital form. I never actually go to the library but maybe I'll have to, just to see what name she drew out of that jar.

Yay! Congrats on being half-way there!

Are you going to do the Murder & Mayhem in May reads? I've got several I'm hoping to read.

Hmm... I never know what the "theme" of the month is ahead of time, but I certainly have a lot that would qualify for "Murder and Mayhem" on my TBR list.

May Reading log

43. I Shall Not Want ★★★★★ (audiobook)
44. One Was a Soldier ★★★ (audiobook)
45. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ★★★★
46. Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking ★★★★✰ (audiobook)
47. The Uncommon Reader ★★★★★ (audiobook)
48. Defending Jacob ★★★★★
49. Seven Up ★★★✰ (audiobook)

Reading now
Religion Explained (group read)
In the Name of the Church: Vocation and Authorization of Lay Ecclesial Ministry
Hard Eight audiobook
The Beach Trees

Planning to Read
Here it is.

Finished the latest Clare Fergusson-Russ van Alstyne book. Disappointed.

Read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Loved it....and yet was uncomfortable with it. Probably what the author wanted! It will take a little while to digest it.

Finished Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking. Probably a little weird that I got it from the library as an audiobook :-)

I thought it was really good. I was able to see a lot of myself in it, which helps in accepting who I am as an introvert.

Listened to The Uncommon Reader on my way back and forth to work the last couple days. It's so short it only took a few trips. I loved it. Delightful! I was laughing out loud.

Finished up Defending Jacob before May ended so it counts. One of the most gut-twisting books I've read in a long time. Definitely a 5-star read.

Seven Up -- more Stephanie Plum shenanigans. Nothing new or deep, but good light reading for the beginning of summer holiday weekend.

Hi Terri- I thought I would stop by and say hi! I really like your book choices and I'm glad you loved Defending Jacob. I did too. I'm currently LOVING 11/22/63.
And you are reading Storm of Swords too? I love that series. Are you watching the HBO series, as well?

Yes --- I'm enjoying how the HBO series is sticking close to the books. I've been slow to read Storm of Swords I think just b/c of the size of it. I'm putting it in my intentions for summer reading. I've got a couple cross-country plane rides to occupy. Defending Jacob kind of just stopped me in my tracks. What a choice for a parent to make! How could they make that choice? I thought it was handled superbly. And here I had expected 11/22/63 to be the high point of the year; I loved that one, too.

June Reading log

50. The Beach Trees ★★★✰
51. Hard Eight ★★★ (audiobook)
52. Look Again ★★★ (audiobook)
53. The Hungry Ocean ★★★★(audiobook)
54. In the Name of the Church: Vocation and Authorization of Lay Ecclesial Ministry ★★★
55. E Is for Evidence ★★★✰
56. Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef ★★★ (audiobook)
57. Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe ★★★★

July Reading Log

58. This Beautiful Life (audiobook) ★★
59. Leaving Before It's Over ★★★
60. Between, Georgia ★★★★
61. Columbine (audiobook) ★★★★★
62. The Paris Wife ★★★
63. Gone Girl (audiobook) ★★★★
64. Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future ★★★
65. 11th Hour (audiobook) ★★★
66. Learning to Swim: A Novel ★★★
67. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity ★★★★ (audiobook)

Reading now
The Sense of an Ending (audiobook)
Body Surfing

August Reading Log
68. Sullivan's Island (audiobook) ★★★
69. Body Surfing ★★★★✰
70. The Road ★★★★★
71. Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism (audiobook) ★★★
72. Heat Wave: A Novel ★
73. The Double Bind (audiobook) ★★★★✰
74. Ten Big Ones (audiobook) ★★★★
75. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail ★★★★★
76. Secret Daughter: A Novel ★★★★
77. Divergent(audiobook) ★★★★
78. Eleven on Top (audiobook) ★★★★
79. Full of Grace (audiobook) ★

Reading now

Why Nations Fail (audiobook)
The Dressmaker: a Novel

September Reading Log

80. The Dressmaker: a Novel
81. Gods in Alabama ★★★★
82. Why Nations Fail (audiobook) ★★★
83. The Great Gatsby (audiobook) ★★★★★
84. Still Life ★★★✰
85. "F" is for Fugitive (audiobook) ★★★
86. Flood ★★★★

Reading Now
Ark
The Best of Me (audiobook)

Just finished gods in Alabama and enjoyed it very much. I also have the sequel so I should put that on my list for September series and sequels. I am in the hospital following knee replacement surgery yesterday so I should have plenty of time to read this month!

I listened to Why Nations Fail. It was difficult to listen to, as the repetition of certain key words kind of got out of hand.

I listened to The Great Gatsby over the past week, which included three days in the hospital after my knee replacement surgery. Although there's a lot of time to spend listening, I tend to fall asleep quickly, so it took a long time to get through a short book. But I loved it. Why did it take me this long to get to it?

Finished "F" is for Fugitive. I had hoped for more reading this month.... Oh well, physical therapy is getting in the way. And a propensity to fall asleep.

I really enjoyed Flood and am moving on to the sequel, Ark. I suspect I won't finish any more this month, although it's possible I'll get through the Nicholas Sparks book I'm listening to this weekend.

October Reading Log

87. The Best of Me (audiobook) ★★
88. Safe Haven (audiobook) ★★★★
89. Ark ★★★★
90. The Boy in the Suitcase (audiobook) ★★★★✰
91. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry ★★★★★
92. The Children of Men ★★★
93. The Long Earth (audiobook)
94. Just Ride ★★★★
95. The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed ★★★★

Reading Now

In the Garden of Beasts (audiobook)
The Catholic Revolution: New Wine, Old Wineskins, and the Second Vatican Council

I was disappointed in The Best of Me. I have liked the other Nicholas Sparks books I've read, but this one just didn't seem to "gel." And the end was just too unbelievable. Too bad.

Probably bad luck that I was reading In the Garden of Beasts, about the the rise of the Nazis, at the same time Hurricane Sandy came storming in and disrupted our lives. Too much negativity all at the same time. Now that I've finished it I'm going on to something light: G Is for Gumshoe.

November Reading Log

96. In the Garden of Beasts (audiobook) ★★★✰
97. G Is for Gumshoe (audiobook) ★★★★
98. H is for Homicide (audiobook) ★★★★
99. The Catholic Revolution: New Wine, Old Wineskins, and the Second Vatican Council ★★
100. Twelve Sharp (audiobook) ★★★★✰
101. Beloved (audiobook) ★★★★

Reading Now

Insurgent (audiobook)
My Extraordinary Ordinary Life

December Reading Log

102. Insurgent (audiobook) ★★
103. The Life of Pi (audiobook) ★★★★★
104. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (audiobook) ★★★★★
105. The Age of Miracles ★★★✰
106. The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach about Jesus's Birth ★★★★
107. Lean Mean Thirteen ★★★✰

Reading Now
My Extraordinary Ordinary Life