December 2014: What 1,001 books are you reading?

I can't believe it's December already! So, what are you reading this end-of-year holiday month?

I'm reading The Sense of an Ending because I needed a nice short book with paragraphs before I set out to tackle Extinction for the group challenge. On audio, just half way through Midnight's Children. Clearly I did not drive enough in November.

I started Extinction and decided to read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest first. I needed a little crazy before Bernhard, though I liked the first 10 pages. I think what put it on hold was the lack of paragraphs- no breaks is tiring!

I'm also reading Fall on Your Knees at work, which means I'll finish it sometime in the middle of next year.

Here's to you, Jesusa!, Diary of a Nobody, The Brothers Karamazov, On The Road and Infinite Jest just at the moment. Plenty of time for more though!

I'm partway through Moby Dick, which I'm surprised to say I'm really enjoying. I've also ordered Orlando from the library for the group read and am about to start Growth of the Soil.

Haven't started the last book quite yet, but I'll be wrapping up my read of A Dance to the Music of Time this month too.

I'm about to start A Dance to the Music of Time in January. It looks like I'll be reading it the same way as you - a month at a time?

Cat's Eye, which is starting out well just like every other Atwood novel on the list.

#3 -- maybe we should have a little private group read on Extinction? I too got through about 10 pages before deciding that no, it was not the right thing for airplane reading on a very long flight. Although If on a winter's night a traveler wasn't the right choice either, as it turned out.

@M1nks: Yes, a month a time... a great way to read it. I'll kind of miss having a monthly installment once it's done.

>8 annamorphic: Perhaps that will give me the motivation to keep at it. I just couldn't handle another whiner who can't stand his family after finishing Seize the Day.

I'm listening to The Reluctant Fundamentalist which is working very well as an audiobook.

After a long hiatus (induced by college and an obsession with serial television shows) I'm finally getting back into reading. I'm picking up with The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, the book I abandoned about a quarter of the way through when I was sucked in by my shows and classes.

I forgot to add Moby Dick which I am slooooowy re-reading via the internet during quiet evenings at work.

>12 CayenneEllis: Oh those tv series, I know exactly what you mean, so addictive!

I just finished Black Dogs and starting Orlando for the Group Read. Next will be The Siege of Krishnapur and I have also moved 2666 up from my bookcase to the pile beside my bed. It has been calling for my attention ever since.

Currently reading Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen. I was having trouble with it earlier -- life is too hectic -- and then yesterday I was able to focus and found it to be a very very good book.

Just started Nemesis by Phillip Roth. Really good so far and short, so will be onto the next one quickly! A Gate in the Stairs by Lorrie Moore next I think.

I had my yearly reread of A Christmas Carol and I am making my way through the Patrick Melrose series by Edward St. Aubyn and now arrived at the one listed book, Mother's Milk.
And yay - my Italian translation of the lauded The Devil to Pay in the Backlands, "Grande Sertao", has arrived today and I read the first 3 pages. That one will be a very long and difficult read, but after all those positive comments I am so looking forward to it!

Well that's a coincidence. I've just emailed someone on GoodReads who is willing to email me a pdf of this. I've had no luck finding it another way.

Now that I have a few days off, I am hoping to catch up on some reading and reviewing. I finished A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne, a short little book that nevertheless took me over a week to read and also read Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood (thanks to the push from Steven's review a few months back). This morning in the mood for something more contemporary, I started The Siege of Krishnapur.

Having finished Extinction -- three weeks to get through 325 pages! -- I am now reading The Reluctant Fundamentalist because it has paragraphs and chapters, so conspicuously lacking in Extinction.

Just finished The War of the Worlds by HG Wells. I plan to fit in one more 1001 this year, although I haven't decided which one yet.

I just listened to The Day of the Triffids which is really, really fun and I liked it a lot. I'm in the middle of reading The Stone Diaries, which isn't fun at all and which I don't particularly like.

It occurred to me today that I haven't read any Dickens all year so am going to round out the year by accompanying the final volume of In Search of Lost Time with A Tale of Two Cities

My first proper audiobook is currently The Elegance of the Hedgehog but I doubt I'll finish this before the new year.

I'm reading Cannery Row and Memoirs of Hadrian. I should easily finish both of them by year's end, and that'll be it for this year of 1001 reading.

Ursula - I found Cannery Row such a surprisingly fun read. Hope you enjoy it even half as much as I did.

>23 JonnySaunders:. I loved The Elegance of the Hedgehog on audio! I hope you enjoy it.

>25 Nickelini: I am almost finished with it and it has definitely been enjoyable. I had such a bad experience with The Grapes of Wrath that I always thought I hated Steinbeck, even though I loved East of Eden. But then a couple of years ago I read several of his books and started to appreciate him. His books are always sort of weird for me because I grew up in the Salinas/Monterey area, so the sense of place they evoke is especially strong for me.

His books are always sort of weird for me because I grew up in the Salinas/Monterey area, so the sense of place they evoke is especially strong for me.

That would colour your reading experience for sure! What an interesting area of the world to grow up in!

Oh I loved The Grapes of Wrath. What didn't you like about it?

>22 jfetting: Hi. I am new here and still getting the hang of LT. I hope you don't mind me popping in to ask what do you not like about The Stone Diaries? I have it on my shelf and have not gotten around to it yet. I have to say I did not really like Unless very much either.

>28 Nickelini: I never thought so. ;) It's pretty agricultural, so kinda boring in a lot of ways. On the other hand, it's very pretty and the ocean is always nearby. It's strange how even with so much time intervening between Steinbeck's settings and when I was growing up, much remained the same (a result of it being one of those places that managed to stay mostly agricultural, I imagine).

>29 M1nks: Everything.

#30, I didn't care much for Unless but when I read The Stone Diaries (admittedly a long time ago) I thought it was very good.

I finished the year with Oliver Goldsmith's short The Vicar of Wakefield. And I started our January read, Sula, early and it's so short that I must put it on hold now until Thursday.

#30 Welcome to LT, @dieKatze! So I liked the structure of The Stone Diaries - each chapter is slightly different in format, not just straightforward narrative. I just didn't like the story. I wasn't interested in any of the characters, I didn't like her prose style, and overall I found it depressing and I wasn't in the mood for a depressing novel at the time.

>34 jfetting:: Ahh I see. Yeah the right book really has to hit at the right time. Thanks for the welcome!