Goonergirl1982 - here I go again...

Starting in January this year, and not 5 months later. Will at least try to get somewhere near 75 and not get distracted or give up.

I will also finish Wolf Hall.

Welcome back!

Hi, DrNeutron.

Could really do with encouragement this year.

How's this?

That'll help. :-)

Rosalind - I would guess that your Moniker signifies a misplaced loyalty to Arsenal. As a much longersuffering Leeds United acolyte I won't hold that against you. Good luck with getting to 75 in 2013 and I'll pop in to give you encouragement (though less frenetic than Terri's) from time to time.

Stopping by to add to the encouragement for you! Good luck with your challenge!

I will add encouragement as well!

Rosalind - Happy New Year!

Thanks Paul, Lori and Stasia. It's so good to know that people on here are interested in my progress. Hopefully I'll get up near 75.

I have a "Must Read" Pile. These are the books I put aside to read next, and I usually take from the top of the pile (new additions go straight to the bottom).

The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
Swimming home - Deborah Levy
Faceless killers - Henning Mankell
Salmon fishing in the Yemen - Paul Torday
Gravity - Tess Gerritsen
The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama
Delusions of Gender - Cordelia Fine
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Robert Tressell
I dared to call Him Father - Bilquis Sheikh

Rosalind - I loved The Hobbit, I am a huge fan of Scandi and got into via Faceless Killers and the Robert Tressell is required reading for all us Brits.
Have a great weekend.

Thanks. Looking forward to reading all of them. Got into the Scandinavian crime books via Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy.

Finally finished Wolf Hall. Including it in here despite starting late last year (are there any rules on when the books need to be started/finished?)

Following Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII's advisors, as the king divorces his first wife for not having a son. The background of reformation in Europe - Luther, Tyndall, etc - reflects another divorce, from the Roman Catholic church. An epic novel with plenty for us to think about today.

No rules at all Rosalind we all make them up as we go along and as it suits you. It is a chunkster too as I remember.
Hope you get your breath back and have a good weekend.

Yeah. Took me six weeks to read!

Well done - I am still battling with Wolf Hall!

Hi Rosalind - you're off to a great start with Wolf Hall finished. What's next? From your list in post 11 I have read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and can definitely recommend it.

#17 Jackie - it's hard going, isn't it?
#18 Susan - currently reading The Hobbit

It really is. My husband buys me a hardback book for my birthday each year and that one has sat for a few years now with the book mark going back and forth! Maybe 2013 will be its year in this house!

#20 - always room for it in this year's 75!

2. The Hobbit - I wanted to read this and then watch the film at the cinema, but now it's going off every cinema local to me. :P

Despite his protests, Bilbo joins a gang of dwarves trying to reclaim their treasure from the dragon and proves to be a clever little thief.

3. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy. "Nominated for the Man Booker Prize 2012", but those weren't the words that encouraged me to add this book to the "Must Read Pile". Joe, Isabel and Nina are dysfunctional family on a dysfunctional family holiday. Also there is a suicidal young woman called Kitty, who leaves an impression on all of them.

4. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell. The first Wallander book. Kurt Wallander is a middle aged police inspector with a shambolic personal life and a drink problem. His team have to solve the brutal murder of an old couple, while apprehending neo-nazis. A good introduction and leaves me wanting more Wallander.

5. Salmon Fishing in The Yemen by Paul Torday. Alfred Jones - a logical and conventional scientist - is approached by a Yemeni Sheikh who gives him the crazy task of encouraging Salmon to live in Yemen's waterways. Alfred goes from confirmed sceptic to believer, despite everyone mocking him. The book deals with political manoeuvrings, the nature of faith with a bit of love story thrown in. All while remaining very readable.

6. Gravity by Tess Gerritsen. Emma has been sent on the dream mission to the International Space Station. But the dream turns nightmarish when an infected fungal culture spreads round the ship, causing the slow, painful deaths of the crew. A thriller with a hint of science fiction, and it all sounds very Torchwood.

7. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. Should also be called, "why I am a liberal." He calls for American politicians to understand their opponents viewpoint, and work together instead of the us/them rhetoric. Essential reading, especially if you think Obama is a socialist.

8. Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine. A must read for any feminist/student of gender relations (anyone?). Fine looks into the "science" behind gender differences and finds it to be a bit shaky. Rather than genetics being why girls like pink - I'll admit to liking pink here - it's out of a desire to fit in with their peers. At the age of three, the only obvious identity is boy or girl.

9. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell. As relevant today, in the post-banking crisis world, as 100 years ago. RTP follows the lives of a group of painter/decorators whose work is unappreciated and underpaid by bosses intent on only making a profit. It does drag on a bit though (600 pages)

10. I Dared to call Him Father by Bilquis Sheikh. Short and light compared to the previous book ^^. Sheikh tells of her journey from lapsed Muslim to born-again Christian, and how Jesus changes her life. Explains Christianity in simple terms, and still remaining sympathetic to her previous faith. A recommended read for anyone interested in faith and religion.

11. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell. Orwell's memoir of his time serving with the POUM militia on the front line against fascism, during the Spanish Civil War. The horrors of the fighting (not to mention in-fighting between various left-wing groups) described in graphic detail. The militia all amateurs, up against an organised fascist army. Recommended for anyone interested in the Spanish Civil War, and why the Spanish state is so fragmented today.

12. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J K Rowling. I'm making my way through Harry's time at Hogwarts - slowly! Goblet of Fire takes Harry, Ron and Hermoine to the Quidditch world cup where Voldemort's supporters rise up and dark magic gains in power. Definitely a lot darker than the first three books.

Why is it taking me so long to read 75 books?

I always have the same question... The answer I always come up with is "life". Life happens and we don't get to do what we love nearly enough. :)

Life happens. Also moving house happens.

13. Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child. Another Jack Reacher book - I'm getting a bit fond of him. Thanks to 9/11, Jack has to carry ID and a bank card, but still the only way his old army mates can trace him is by sending coded messages through his bank account. In the age where the government are spying on all our internet use, going off grid like Reacher does is probably a good idea.

3 Books read so far in June. Yay.

14. How to be good by Nick Hornby. Katie (a GP and self-declared "good person") is married to David (writer who trades on his "angriest man in Holloway" persona). Katie has an affair, David meets a faith healer and it turns their whole family around. Neither are particularly fulfilled by the good they think they do, so it asks the question - "does doing good work make us better people?"

15. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. This made its way onto the "Must Read" pile because everyone was talking about it, and the blurb sounded interesting. It's about Nick and Amy - New York literary types in exile in Missouri. Amy goes missing and all the clues point to philandering Nick, who claims he didn't do it. Unfortunately, the twist came a bit early so the last 100 pages felt a bit like filler.

16. The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler. Aaron's wife, Dorothy, dies in an accident involving a falling oak tree. Aaron is distraught, until he starts seeing and talking to Dorothy. A nice little book about bereavement, that helps more than self-help or counselling.

17. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution & Revenge by Paul Preston. Taking a break from fiction, I indulged in one of my over loves - history. Preston writes a general history of Spain's Civil War, including how the rest of the world betrayed the democratically elected Republican government while Hitler and Mussolini gave Franco support. It raises questions about the motivations of intervention.

18. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling. I continue in my goal to finish Harry Potter books this year - only two more to go!

Harry's in his fifth year at Hogwarts, and having seen Voldemort's return in book four, spends the year trying to convince everyone (including the Ministry of Magic) that he's telling the truth. And Snape is on his side, sort of.

19. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Harry enters his penultimate year at Hogwarts with the Magic world on full alert for activity by Voldemort. Someone else dies at the end of this one, and it's another one of the Order of the Phoenix.

20. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. I've finally finished Harry Potter - what am I to do with my literary life?

Game of Thrones? That'll keep,you going a while! :)

#44. Thanks. Will have to add it to the "Must Read" pile.

21. Capital by John Lanchester. A doorstep book that is also a very easy read. Capital follows the lives of the residents of a street in South London through love, redundancy, injury and the beginning of the financial crisis. One of the characters is a banker, but he's not as obnoxious as you might think.

Tamora Pierce? Diane Duane? More along the lines of HP than GoT (but I'm not a fan of GoT).

22. The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Following on from The Shadow of the wind and The Angel's Game, Prisoner of Heaven tells of the fate of David Martin (locked up in a prison on a hill above Barcelona) and the story of the son of the woman he loved. Marvellous, evocative language that puts the reader on the streets of Barcelona.

23. Incendiary by Chris Cleave. A letter/series of letters to Osama Bin Laden (written at a time when he might have been public enemy number one) from a widowed mother who's lost both her son and husband in an attack at an Arsenal Chelsea match. Less about football, more a study in the extreme lengths governments go to in the name of counter terrorism.

24. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. A man hits a bratty child at a gathering, which leads to way more conflict than it should do. None of the grown ups are innocent (despite thinking they are always right) and the kids are a product of their parents behaviour.

25. The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. Love Terry Pratchett and the Discworld series, but this is new territory, which is where his characters find themselves. Humanity discovers how to "step" into Earths in other universes and all decide to make little journeys into the new worlds. Except those who can't, they just stay on Earth and bemoan progress. Mirrors European exploration of America in the middle ages.

26. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. I love fantasy, ghost and some horror stories, so when I found this in Waterstones I was intrigued. Well, it didn't disappoint (even if the pace was a little slow). It's a decent gothic, vampire story.

27. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. A young solicitor is called to the eerie Eel Marsh House to deal with the affairs of its recently deceased owner. However, he sees a ghostly woman in the grounds that the locals are unwilling to acknowledge. She haunts the agnostic solicitor, with tragic consequences.

I'll be happy if I read more than 30 books this year. How do some of you manage 75?

28. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick. Not my favourite PKD book, and I wouldn't say that it's a good example of his work. However, his speculative account of what would've happened if the Nazis had won WW2 (as you'd expect with a fascist state, it's pretty chilling) is a good, albeit slow, read. The book within the story reflects the world of an Allied victory. Ending a bit confusing and a damp squib though.

29. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. From one book about Nazis to another. This one is narrated by Death (who seems to be a decent guy), and follows Liesel - who sees a fair bit of death in 1940s Munich.

I'm obviously not going to make 75 books in 2013, but hopefully I'll get through 30.

30. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld. So I made it almost half way to 75, maybe 2014 will be my year! Thanks to this little book about crime, psychology and Sigmund Freud for helping me finish thirty books in 2013.

Now off to arrange the "Must Read" Pile for January.

Rosalind, I can normally beat 100 and sometimes 150 but I shake my head in awe and wonder at some of our peers here reading over 400!!!

Have a lovely weekend

Thanks, Paul.

It takes a lot of concentration, I guess.