Introductions!

I'm Jim, 52, husband of 30 years, father of a son who's a recent grad from Clemson University in Comp Sci, who reads pretty much anything. We're in central Maryland with roots in Louisiana. I like to read (obviously), cook, want to learn to fly fish, and trail bike riding with the wife. Of course, LT is a big time sink, but the wife seems to have come to terms with my LT addiction...8^}

Here's my thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185035

Hi Jim and thanks for organising us again!

This is probably the only time this year that I'll be up to date in the group and I'm loving every second of it.

I'm Cushla, 43 years old, from Wellington, New Zealand. I teach maths at high school, run around with my 2 kids and husband, and read when I get some spare time. Life is pretty crazy during term time but I have great intentions of reading and posting here more in 2015 than I managed last year.

My new thread is over here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/185040

Hello again everyone I am Matthew. I am 33 and I have been married for almost 8 years. We have 6 kids between us. Oldest two, 20 and 14 are my step daughters. Next one,9, is from my first marriage. The last three, 7, 5 and 4, are all ours. The eldest does not live with us but it is still a busy house.

I am a active duty soldier, currently in Anchorage Alaska. I just moved here in the last few months. For those who have read my page this year know it was a long two week drive from North Carolina to Alaska. It was an amazing trip but one not worth repeating since we barely made it before the weather got to bad to drive.

I work in the Artillery field and have been in for 15 years. I am originally from Chicago and plan to back there when my time is done. I spread my time between work, reading, my xbox, spending time with my family and a few various other things. This is my 4th year in the challenge. This year I came close to the 100 mark. on Today's date was 96. with a few more days to go, lets see how I finish.

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Hi, all!

I'm a retired IT professional, an avid reader, and an avid duplicate bridge player. This is my 3rd year in the 75 group. When I retired, we left the cold weather in New England and settled in sunny Florida - a move which I don't regret! One of the great joys of retirement is the amount of time I can spend reading.

Here is my thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185050

Hi everyone! I'm Carrie, and I'm back for my 5th year in this group. It's such a busy group that I have a hard time keeping up with everyone, but I try to make a few new acquaintances each year as well as keep up with old friends. My reading is fairly eclectic, but leans toward mysteries and history. This year I'll be attempting the British and American Authors challenges as well as venturing into science fiction/fantasy. By day I'm a librarian, and at home I'm "mama" to furbaby Adrian, a 3-year-old Shih Tzu mix I adopted from the Humane Society in September 2013.

My first thread is here.

I'm Linda, a 53-year old from suburban Chicago. Besides reading mysteries, my great enthusiasms are Chicago Cubs baseball and Chicago Blackhawks hockey.

I'm back for my 7th year in the group and hope you'll join me at: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185052

Hello fellow early listers! I'm Megan, it's my second year in the group. I grew up in Australia, but live in the Canadian Rockies now. I tend to audiobook a lot, as it's the best way for me to manage lots of reading combined with having a vaguely clean house, and getting out for lots of outdoor adventures. I love and hate the vast array of awesome book recommendations that come to me in this group ("What, you mean I have to read MORE books?!")

My first thread is here.

I'm Linda, a paralegal from Northeastern Pennsylvania. I am married to a retired IT guy who is also a former aviation electronic technician and Coast Guardsman. He reads a fair amount himself, but hasn't caught the bug that makes you create LT threads yet. He did join last year, and lurks around under the name @flamingrabbit. A pretty little cat named Molly allows us to live in her house, and occasionally even lets me post her picture. We have one married daughter, @lycomayflower, who will show up here with her own thread eventually.

I'm about to finish 2014 with an all-time high reading total (for me) of 100 books. LibraryThing is my Home on the internet, and I can't remember what it was like not to have a place to go and talk about books with other junkies like myself. This will be my 7th year in this group, and I celebrated my 8th "Thingaversary" earlier this month. I have a deep love for American literature, Faulkner especially, but I try not to limit my reading self in any way. I love discovering new authors who speak to me or entertain me, and this group has been an amazing source for that. This year I will be participating in the American Authors Challenge, as well as the British Authors Challenge.

I have opened my first thread for 2015. You can stop in and look around, but the furniture isn't arranged just yet. I'll get serious about that in a week or so. Meantime, if you don't already know me, you can find my current 2014 thread here.

Oh boy, I am so excited to be doing the 75 books challenge for my fifth year in a row. I joined LibraryThing in January 2011 and this group quickly became my home for book discussion, meet-ups, and occasional forays into talk about food, drink, life in general, and (occasionally) the Seahawks.

I'm Ellen, a mid-50s woman living in Seattle with P and Abby. I work in higher education and my bus commute has become one of my greatest allies in completing 75 books each year. In 2013, I completed 108 books, a Personal Record. For 2015, I'll be participating in the American Author Challenge II, the British Author Challenge, and trying to sneak in a few for the Australia/New Zealand Challenge and the Global Reading Group. I feel confident that I can complete 75 books but I'll be hoping for 100.

I'm not ready to start my thread yet but I'll probably start visiting others' as I have time.

JIM -- THANK YOU for the work you for this group. You are an amazing guy and we all love you!!

>9 EBT1002: Aw, shucks!

Hello! I'm Katie, mid-30s, currently living in Dallas, Texas. Other than reading, my interests include traveling, eating good food, drinking good drinks, and spending time with my favorite husband and our faithful hound, Louis. I've been with the 75ers since 2011 and can't really imagine a better place to hang out!

My 2015 thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185083

To get a sense of what I like to read and chat about, you can check out my current 2014 thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/183606

Hi, I'm karenmarie, a Senior Analyst for an automotive mfg company in central NC. I am married and have a 21-year-old daughter who is at loose ends now but will figure things out eventually. Meantime, she's lots of fun and flatters Mom and Dad by liking to visit. We live on 8 acres in the middle of a rural county, which makes for nice, dark night skies, and lots of quiet.

2014 was a "slow" year for me with only 84 books read (or 85, depending on when I finish The Bone Clocks). I have cataloged almost all of my books - I think there are about 20 boxes in the garage from my MiL and FiL's house. I hope to be able to dig through the boxes this year and try to find room on my already-overburdened shelves this year. Double- and triple-stacking of books is the norm.

This is my 8th year in the group, which absolutely amazes me. The people here are fantastic, fun, and full of recommendations, drat y'all!

Thank goodness for accidentally ordering The Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill and loving it - went to his website and saw that he was on LibraryThing. I couldn't imagine a more wonderful website for a serious reader if I tried. It's absolutely perfect for me.

Here's my first thread for 2015 - I love visitors!

karenmarie's 75 Challenge for 2015 Thread #1

Thanks for setting this up again Jim.

I'm Ron, 61. My wife and I are avid readers and have 2 grown children. We have two kitties, one young, one old. We lost two of our oldest this past August and September and the house is much quieter now. This will be my third year in the 75'ers. I love reading and reading about books (of course, we all do!). I read a lot of science fiction each year, but by year's end I would rarely name more than one or two of them as the best books I've read. They are more entertainment reading. Otherwise I mix in historical fiction, mysteries, a little fantasy, a classic or two, a couple newer releases and whatever strikes my fancy. I find I have a hard time sticking to book goals, despite the best intentions. My library seems to grow faster than I can read them - I bought way too many books in 2014 and I will work on that this year. I've picked up a lot of what I call "maybe' books at library sales the past few years. This yields some great surprises sometimes but causes a pile-up.

I'll be trying to read more WWI and WWII fiction and non-fiction. My favorite book of 2014 was Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road.

My one goal for 2015 is to seriously read off the shelf here. If I'm lucky I'll get to 75 books, but that may not happen if I get around to finally starting the Game of Throne series and other doorstoppers. Looking forward to the group - I love to lurk on some peeps threads to see what they are reading. I'm not a big commenter for chit chat but dive in now and then when a particular book that intrigues or excites shows up. I plan to be a little more active here in 2015.

Here is my 2014 thread http://www.librarything.com/topic/162945

The 2015 adventure will begin here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185134

I'm Madeline, age 67, and have been with the 75ers for what seems like forever. I'm a former home health RN who was forced into retirement one year ago due to the elimination of my job position.

I'm married with three grown children and one darling grandson. In my free time, I like to bird-watch, read, manage my own Little Free Library of Twinbrook (#7720), manage the TIOLI challenges here on LT, attend BookCrossing and LT meet-ups, drink lots of coffee, and eat chocolate. Life is good!

This will hopefully turn into my new thread. :)

I'm Stephanie and 2015 will be my third year with the 75ers. This is a community I cherish and am looking forward to getting acquainted with even more of you. I started a new thread but am not quite done with 2014 yet. http://www.librarything.com/topic/185101

2014 was a bad year personally, but I'm hopeful that 2015 will be much better. This group really helped keep my spirits up.

And a big shout-out to Jim for keeping us administratively organized.

>9 EBT1002: I am all Ellen, in that I have no thread yet and that I worship the ether that Dr Jim *e-walks* on ;)

I am Megan and live in New Zealand's biggest South Island town- some even all it a city. I have two little boys (6 and 3) both of whom only run at a high rate of knots. And I am currently trying to maintain my A average at a part time university course in *gasp* the ARTS. I am hoping to fulfill a lifetime urge to learn, just to learn for the sake of it. This is self-indulgent, I know, but life is too short I reckon to be doing anything that you aren't really into.

I fell short of 75 books in 2014 due to educational commitments, but had great fun trying. Which is what it is all about. Good luck in your challenges, everyone. We all love reading here.

Hi I'm Jacqui from Melbourne, Australia. I'm in my late '30s, single and with no kids.
I'm still a relative newbie to the group, but I feel like I have quickly got into the swing of things.

When I'm not reading, or writing reviews for my blog and other on-line publications, I work for a trade union. Oh, and I've taken on the responsibility for the ANZAC Author Challenge for next year. I'm a regular at the Byron Bay and Melbourne Writer's Festivals- which is how I get to hear about so many fantastic Australian writers. (You might notice that I have a particular leaning toward Oz writers.)

I look forward to a fun year sharing my favourite books, warning you about ones best avoided, and discovering all of your favourites.

Hello, I'm Susan, and this will be my fifth year in the 75-ers. In the last couple of years I've started to read a lot more non-fiction, so my goal this year is 100 non-fiction books and 50 fiction.

I read a fair amount of social history and other history, but I am a big library user so my main criterion is how new and clean the book looks...And that's led to some interesting finds!

I live in London although I'm really a Kiwi. This means that friends and family still send me jaffas and pineapple lumps, and occasionally chocolate thins. Mmmmm.

Here's my thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185105

Hello everybody! It's so great to do this again. I'm Barbara. I live in Zürich (Switzerland), I'm 53 years old, married since 25 years and have two daughters. Two cats are also living in our house. I'm working as a primary teacher. I've a wide variety of interests as reading, travelling, music, art and history.

I enjoyed my first year (2014) in this group very much and it would be great to see you here fequently.

Thanks so much for starting this again, Jim. You are a gem.

I'm in for another year. I've been on LT since 2007 and started the 75 book challenge in 2011. I've managed to reach 75 most years - last year only because of audiobooks during my commute. I'm a 61-year-old geologist in Pennsylvania - though originally from New England. I'm married to a retired geology professor, we have a kid in college and three cats.

I'm looking forward to another year of reading - both books and on LT, learning about people and the books they like.

my thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185110

Hi Bookish Buds!

I'm Jean, a retired US Air Force Officer and current RVer in search of great beaches. At the moment we are way too far inland, in North Carolina visiting family.

I live with Mr. Majkia and our two dogs on a small bayou on the Emerald Coast of Florida, the Florida Panhandle to those who don't know it, the Redneck Riviera to those who do.

I'm mostly a genre reader, but I do venture out into the scary wilds of non-genre in a few instances.

My thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185076

Hi folks. I'm Catherine, 36, I currently sell secondhand books for a living, and although I've technically been in the group since 2008 I've been really quiet the last few years while I was studying for a Masters in Church History. That's finished now (though I'm still waiting for results *chews fingernails nervously*) so I'm back to reading more and hopefully posting more. Non-book related activities in my life include knitting and singing in the church choir.

There will almost certainly be some theology, history, biography, fantasy, golden age crime and chick lit in my reading this coming year, but just about anything might turn up.

My thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185097

Hello, everyone, I'm Karen, a 70 year old retired school teacher living outside of Seattle, Washington, with two medium small dogs, Greta Garbo and Benny. I've been checking in on LibraryThing for years, 7 or 8, I guess. I read pretty broadly and find myself acquiring more books than I'll ever be able to read in this lifetime. I hope my descendants will enjoy sorting, selling, and giving away books after I move on to the great library in the sky. Genre I explore include biography and autobiography, history, popular culture, historical fiction, literature, graphic novels and other graphic books, and all the "book bullets" which fly about here on threads.

My 2015 thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185046#

Hi, I'm Darryl, a 53 year old physician employed by a large children's hospital in Atlanta as a pediatric hospitalist, a relatively new medical specialty in which I and my partners treat children who require hospitalization (very few primary care pediatricians and family practitioners admit their patients to hospital, so that's where we take over). I'll have worked at Children's for 15 years this coming August, and it's a very rewarding although often stressful and at times challenging profession.

I've lived in Atlanta since 1997, but I was born just outside of NYC, where I lived until the age of 13, when my family moved to suburban Philadelphia. I love to travel and meet LTers, some of whom have become good personal friends. I also enjoy jazz and classical music, theatre (I managed to see 17 plays in London in 2014, and I'd like to see even more in 2015), modern art, authentic ethnic cuisine, and, most recently, cooking.

2015 will be the seventh year that I've been a member of the 75 Books group. I'm also very active in Club Read (my first thread of 2015 can be found here), and I'm the administrator of the Booker Prize group. I took a bit of a hiatus from the Reading Globally group in 2014, but I'll be very active there in 2015, and I've volunteered to host the second quarter theme on writers from the Iberian peninsula. I made my first visit to Spain last June, as I spent a week and a half in Barcelona, and I'll almost certainly return there and visit Madrid this coming year; with any luck I'll be in Spain and possibly Portugal during the theme read!

I have several hundred books in my TBR collection that I'd like to read, and hopefully 2015 will be the year that I finally make a serious dent in the pile, especially since many of them are books that I've been eager to get to.

My book interests include literary fiction, literature from outside North America, literature from the African diaspora, literature in translation, non-fiction books about medicine and public health, and modern poetry.

Hello, I'm Terri, 58 y.o., with three grown sons and three grandchildren. I've been on LibraryThing since July 2006, and a member of the 75 Challenge group since 2008. I live in St. Charles MO (which no one ever comes to visit *sniff*). I'm a project manager for a large health system, and I am 2 classes away from getting my Masters in Management. I like to read (duh), buy books (yikes), and enjoy an occasional adult beverage. No challenges for me this year--too much pressure (self-induced pressure but still...). I'm a big fan of World War I books, I'm trying to read president's biographies in order (up to McKinley), I have about a hundred series that I'm in the midst of, and I have run out of shelves for books in my house, so instead of spending time on LT, I will be cleaning up the back bedroom so that I have a place to put my new shelves. Whew. Tired of me yet?

If not, you can find my 2015 thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185117

Hi to all!
I'm Grada, 43 years old, married, mother of one (almost 17-year old) son. I work full time, but I have no idea what the name of my occupation is in English. (In Dutch it is "functioneel beheerder", but when using Google translate, I get nonsense :-( Will get back to you on that.

Last year I joined the 100-books challenge, but life got in the way majorly (studies, renovations, sickness), so for 2015 I decided to take it a bit easier, because studies are continuing untill half way next year. A bit, for some people still think it is crazy to try and read 75 books a year...

This year I've participated in the SantaThing and I loved it very much. Hopefully I'll be able to join again next year!

I have WAY over 500 books om MTBR, that are mine or given to my by generous BookCrossers. And I want that Mount Everest to be lowered. All the books I'll be reading, will come from the BookCrossing books or from my own books.

In a seperate thread I'll keep a Ticker for quick progress and list my books / additional challenges.

Here's my thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185126

Hi, I am Cyrel, a retired art teacher from Toronto, Canada. I have found that since I retired I have read a lot more. I belong to a women's pottery co-op and my art work is more sculptural than functional. I have travelled widely. ( Morocco, Vietnam, China, the "old" Soviet Union and Japan). Last year i went to Spain and had a wonderful time. I have taught courses for teachers upgrading in visual art and am stlll active in the provincial art teachers organization.
I am looking forward to more good reading in 2015.

Charlotte here - again.

I live on the south coast of Massachusetts with my new cat, Jane who is my first 'shelter' cat. I work part-time (currently) as a loan processor for a mortgage brokerage and hope to get back to full time - soon! With the exception of Autobiographies and Graphic Novels, I'll read pretty much anything. (I have never been able to believe that a person can write an honest autobiography and GNs are just too much like comic books for me.)

This is my 8th year in the 75 book challenge and so far (crosses fingers) I've always managed to meet the challenge. This year I've decided - for the first time ever - to seriously join in some other challenges - BAC, ANZAC and the Jane Austen Group Read. I am notorious for never completing a challenge so we'll see if this old dog can reform.

Can't wait for the start of 2015 in the 75 Book Group. Last year was a stinker of majorly proportions and I am really hoping for a much, much better year.

Can we start now???

My thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185121

ETA to add thread location.

Hi, I'm Marie. I've been on LT since 2007 and with the 75ers since 2010. I'm a 27 year old librarian. I'm currently working at an academic library, but one day I'd like to move into public libraries. I'm married to a firefighter in the Air Force. We're currently stationed in Charleston, South Carolina, but we are originally from Nevada. We have a yorkie dog (Finn) and an orange cat (Neko).

I read eclectically. It is a mix of literary fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, young adult, narrative non-fiction, classics, graphic novels and this year I want to beef up on poetry. Anything goes really, and I love recommendations.

I'm over here, come visit me!

2014 was my first year in this group and I'm here for the long haul. Looking forward to 2015 and my second year here.

I'm Juli. I'm 54. I live outside of Portland, Oregon with The Hubster and two very spoiled cats. I'm a booklover and blogger (at Whimpulsive. I'm a data analyst and use my train commute to downtown for reading as often as I can manage it. Since I typically end up standing my Bluefire reader app on my phone has become my best commuting friend.

I won't be starting my 2015 thread until closer to the first because I still have some 2014 reading to wind up.

Untl you can catch up with my current 2014 thread here.

Hi everyone, glad to be back for 2015!

I'm Mary, I'm a librarian and I live and work in western Massachusetts. I regularly read over 100 books a year. I usually say my "go to" genre is fantasy, and while that's still true I read pretty widely and you'll often find me reading teen dystopias due to a friend's regular recommendations. I will read fiction and nonfiction, books for teens and adults, classics and contemporary fiction. I like some mysteries and historical fiction, and while I won't completely avoid it I'm very picky about romances. I will avoid horror. I enjoy books with great characters and inventive world-building, whether in an imaginative world or this one.

When I'm not reading, I enjoy watching sports and knitting (sometimes at the same time). I have two brothers and two sisters, no husband or kids, and family is very important to me. If all goes well, I'll have a new niece or nephew to introduce you to in the summer.

I've just finished setting up my 2015 thread, and look forward to seeing you there!

Well, after threatening to change my LT name I'm staying with Sibyx for at least another year. Lucy is what I answer to generally (unless I have my headphones on). I live off the grid in Vermont which is 'interesting.' (Code for never a dull moment). We have power when others don't, yes, but especially in winter when the sun don't shine things get mighty perilous. The one goal is to NEVER lose internet, so we'll go around using candles and not doing any laundry if necessary. FYI anyone who comes up with affordable and reliable batteries will make millions.

Eclectic is the word to describe my reading taste although I think a certain level of playfulness with language and ideas is what draws me into any genre, from the most serious to the most frivolous-appearing. I like balance so I'd rather read Joyce or David Foster Wallace or Iain Banks or Virginia Woolf than someone describing meticulously and seriously but without humour how venal and hopeless human beings are. Complex characters are a must unless it is satire or parody.

I play Irish music on harp and concertina, I'm a writer and I seem to be suddenly taking up knitting. Oh yes, when I turned 60 last year I vowed to walk the entire Long Trail end-to-end in Vermont. So far I haven't hiked one foot of it. When I turned 50 I vowed to start Tai Chi and I did when I was about 50 and 7/8's so I expect this will be the same.

My 2015 thread is up: HERE!

Hello everyone!

My name is Melissa. I’m 23, recently graduated with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Anthropology with a Biology minor, and hope to pursue a doctoral degree in Molecular Anthropology in the future. In the meantime I am waiting to hear from the Peace Corps on my placement, but if that doesn't pan out I have a few job applications out being reviewed at the moment. I am greatly looking forward to starting a new chapter in my life. But whatever happens, you can be sure to find me here.

This will be my 5th year on ‘LT 75 Books Challenge’. For those who have not followed my threads before, I like to read fantasy, historical fiction & GLBT but that is certainly not all you will see here. I never know what I’ll get my hands on. However if it helps, my favorite authors are as follows: Elizabeth Chadwick, Lynn Flewelling, Terry Goodkind, Robin Hobb, W. A. Hoffman, George R. R. Martin, Melanie Rawn, Patrick Rothfuss, Brent Weeks and Bart Yates to name a few. You are also welcome to go to my statistics page here to see my favorite books of the last few years.

I'm looking forward to all the reading in 2015

My 2015 thread is HERE

Hi everyone. I'm Hannah, a 36 year old artist and arts educator currently living in Manchester with my professional film geek husband. Being arty, hanging with other artists, attending art events and other weird happenings is kind of a professional responsibilty, but is also what I like to do for fun! When I'm not doing that I like going to concerts, eating out, and generally enjoying city life, interspersed with a bit of country walking when I fancy a change of scene.
This will be my fifth (FIFTH!?) year in this group, and despite so far never getting close to the magical 75 books, people round these parts always make me feel very welcome, so here is where I'm staying. I tend to follow a pattern of reading Sci-Fi, Contemporary Literary fiction, and "other", the other being random stuff, but most often, some non-fiction, a bit of fantasy, historical mystery, or something a bit out of my comfort zone.
I'm not normally one for setting reading targets but this year I'm planning my most ambitious reading project yet; a weird mash up of a 150 years of reading challenge with trying to acquaint myself with some of the classics via the Guardian's "1000 Books Everyone Should Read". I guess this will take me a few years, but I'm hoping to make a good dent in it in 2015.

I loving interacting with folks of any reading persuasion, so do pop by for a visit: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185152

Hi everyone, My name is Lisa and I'm 30 years old living in Auckland New Zealand. I live with my partner of 12 years and our cat Cleo. My reading interests used to be quite narrow mainly classics and literary fiction and 'best of lists' but a while back I decided to give everything a go and haven't been disappointed yet. So far I've delved into YA fiction, Romance, Crime & Mystery, Non-fiction. I think SF&F is up next for 2015. Only problem is that the TBR list grows exponentially with each genre.

oops forgot to put a link to my thread: HERE

Hi, I'm Deedledee or just Dee.
I'm a 40 year old librarian in rural Nova Scotia. I've been a member of LT since December 2005 and have been doing the 75 Book Challenge since 2009.

My thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185156

Feel free to follow me on Twitter: @dhcry

I'm Samantha and I live in the Netherlands. I'm in my twenties. I'm currently looking for a job (that sounds so much better than saying 'unemployed!') and keeping busy doing some online courses.

I found out last year that not planning my reading doesn’t really work for me. So for this year, I’ve once again signed up for quite a few challenges, as well as having some plans of my own. My reading is quite eclectic due to my challenges, ranging from global authors, to mysteries and thrillers, to romances and classics, to sci-fi and fantasy, to non-fiction.

My thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185160

Hi! I'm Kerri, and this is my 5th year in the group. I'm a 41 year old librarian/association professional who lives in the Chicago suburbs with my husband and hound dog. I mostly read literary fiction, sci-fi, mysteries/crime novels, and some non-fiction.

I plan to participate in most of the American Author challenge this year and I belong to two real life book clubs. Otherwise, I've been trying to take a tra-la-la approach to book selection and cut down a bit on challenges.

Last year I topped my threads with photographs of classic country artists wearing sparkly, outrageous costumes. This year my theme is Bad-Ass Women of Rock. So there's that.

While I'm perhaps not for everyone, I do love visitors, both old and new, so feel free to stop by my thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185161

Happy almost new year!

>32 sibylline: setting up your 2015 thread on January 1!~?? Talk about controversial ;)
*Hehe*
Me too.

Hi, I'm Jenny. I live in Lansing, MI and teach second grade. I love watching sports, especially Michigan State, but I'll really watch any sports. I also enjoy reading (of course!), traveling and spending time with family and friends. I grew up in Michigan, lived in central Virginia for seven years and then moved back to Michigan two years ago. I love being back! This fall I bought a condo, which hampered my reading, along with the start of the school year. I might actually be on track to finish 75 books, though, thanks to Christmas break!

I've attempted the category challenge several times, but never successfully. This will be my second year doing the 75 book challenge. I'm hoping to be successful for 2014. Four books to go!

I'm a very eclectic reader. I read almost exclusively from the library and I find most books just by browsing. I tend toward ya fiction, historical fiction, mysteries, chick lit and biographies.

Along with my 75 "adult" books, I also started using my 2014 challenge page to track books I read to my students in school. I'll try to be a little more organized with it in 2015 but it's interesting to look back at the books I've read in class. I don't count them toward the 75 book challenge.

Here's my 2014 page: https://www.librarything.com/topic/167586
Here's my 2015 page: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185153

Hi y'all! My name is Lori; I am 33 years old and live in South Carolina with my husband and our four dogs, Devil (golden retriever), Bear (golden retriever), Dalek (English springer), and Maya (Siberian husky).

My shelves groan from the number of unread books, despite the addition of an e-reader several years ago. One of these days I'll catch up! I read mostly fiction, with that tending toward Fantasy, some Science Fiction, some Mystery, the occasional Romance, and whatever catches my eye.

You can see my 2014 Reading Challenge here: (http://www.librarything.com/topic/168335).

And my 2015 Reading Challenge is here: (http://www.librarything.com/topic/185180).

Happy reading, everyone!

Hello all I am Therese 40 year old wife and mother to 6 girls. My husband is a soldier in the army and we currently relocated from NC to AK. My husband introduced me to this challenge a couple of years ago(personally I think he like to compete with me to see who can read more books). Most of the time I beat him. This year may be different. With trying to set up house, keep it clean and take care of our girls, by the time I fall into bed I am to tired to read the book I have started. I am looking forward to reading others list and maybe finding new authors and books I like that I have never tried before. I wish everyone the best of luck and happy reading!

Here is my 2015 reading page (https://www.librarything.com/topic/185165)

Hi, I'm Karen, a 37-year old currently living in Germany, with a husband (Army doc) and 2 sons, ages 5 and 8. We will be moving back to the States this summer (probably Colorado?), so this promises to be a busy year. I am a pediatric speech pathologist, working part-time seeing English speaking kids. I have been on LT for 8 years, and this will be my 4th year with the 75ers. My reading tends to be general fic, literary fic, sci fi, and NF. I don't have time to comment much on others' threads, but I am definitely a thread reader-lurker! My thread is here. My thread from last year is here.
Happy reading!!

Definition of Lunacat:

A mild mannered eccentric known for nonsensical comments, an abundance of animals, and a general love of the absurd and impossibly cute. Creator of crafts. Accident-prone in the extreme.

Mostly reads fantasy, light science fiction, historical fiction and light pre-Georgian history.

Has five cats, a guinea pig, and a horse, and is often visited by many many many ducks.

Resides in rural England, and achieves country-yokeldom by always having mud or straw attached to her body.

May or may not read 75 in 2015!

My real name is Maggie, and this will be my second 75 Book Challenge--I first joined 2 years ago, then last year took the year off to focus on a smaller number of my long books. This proved too daunting, so I'm back to the scattershot approach.

I was a bookseller for many years and began stockpiling books with my staff discount in anticipation of quitting. Now, 25 or so years later, I'm still trying to make my way through that pile. I tend not to buy much because of this, but also because my city has an excellent public library. Mostly I read literary fiction from the 18th-21st centuries, and I tend to focus on British authors. Despite the fact that I love to plan, I'm trying to keep from committing to a lot of challenges this year to avoid the doldrums of 2014, when I found myself facing a formidable list that took a lot of the fun out of reading. I'll keep a planning list, but I will not be held to it!

I'm on break, so I am reluctant to write about work, but I am a university teacher working in a small department that develops innovative approaches to teaching and learning.

My thread is here:

Hi everyone! Nice to meet you all.

My real name is Cathy. I just turned 62 years of age and I sometimes feel much older and sometimes much younger. I have two sons, 31 and 27 and they live near me with their wives. I now have a brand new grandson who is the cutest baby ever (born Oct 9, 2014)! He is growing like a weed and so adorable I can hardly stand it! And I have a beautiful tuxedo cat and a sweet, tiny Yorkie that share my home with me.

I love to read and am often frustrated because there isn't enough time to read everything I want to. I have some health issues and often find it difficult to concentrate (although in the last few years that has been much better) so you will see a lot of 'beach read' type books in my library but I try and get in a lot of classics also. And I read (skim) a lot of non-fiction.

I became a member of the Library Thing community in August 2011 and just lurked about for a few months while I was cataloguing my books.

In January 2012, I joined the 50 book challenge titling my thread, “ccookie is more likely to read 50 than 75!” I read 2 books in January, 3 books in February and then 12 that March. When I reached 52 books in July of that year, I was astounded, and I flipped myself over to the 75r’s group. My grand total for that year was 81 books read.

In 2013 I managed 96 books and, this year, I will be just over 100, depending on what happens in the next few days. My top count, since I began tracking my reading, is 19 books read in a month, which I managed to do in April and repeated that in July. So, I have gone from reading 2 or 3 books a month to reading somewhere between 7 - 19. I have completely stopped watching television … really … completely. And, you know what, I don’t miss it.

My favourite places to hang out are at all the threads from the 75r’s, especially the TIOLI challenges and the group reads, and I love the Virago Modern Classics Group.

I have found the LT challenges instrumental in increasing my reading. I am more motivated to make time to read as opposed to leaving it to the end of the day and falling asleep before I can get anything much done.

Thanks to Library Thing and all its members for making reading even more enjoyable!

Hello everybody! I'm Laura, 53-in-February, and living in Chester County, Pennsylvania (the part very close to Maryland and Delaware). I've been married forever, and have two daughters who both attend Kenyon College in Ohio. One will graduate in May, the other is in her first year. When I'm not reading, I enjoy knitting, gardening, music, and hanging out with our two dogs and two cats.

This is my 7th year in this group, and my 9th on LT. I can't imagine life without all the friends I've made here. You can find my 2015 thread here.

Heigh ho, all! I'm Laura, 34-next-week, living in southwest Virginia (originally from northeast Pennsylvania) with my husband and two feline overlords. I work from home as an editor for a small publishing company and volunteer at my local library and local history museum. In addition to reading, I like to swim and crochet and am hoping to get back into photography this year (with the help of a new camera what showed up under the Christmas tree). I read (nearly) everything, though I skew strongly to fiction. My first inclination is toward literary fiction and books about books, but I read a fair smattering of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and classics as well. The only things I pretty much steer clear of completely are straight-up horror and nonfiction about politics or economics. (But never say never!) I'm in a book club at my local library (and I'm running it this year!) and am going to participate in the British Authors Challenge as best I can. This is my eighth year keeping a thread on LT, seventh as a 75er. I'm not always super-great at keeping up with threads but am hoping to do better this year. If you see laytonwoman3rd and I sniping at each other, don't worry, it's just the shared DNA.

Come visit me here in 2015 or see what I'm up to for the last few days of 2014 (I'm still reading like mad) here.

Hi, I'm Shannon, just turned 44, living in Hillsborough, NC with my husband and 6-year-old son. Our 13-year-old black lab passed last summer, so I'm hoping to have a new canine family member before 2015 gets here! I participate mostly in TIOLI (this will be my second year participating). I am an avid reader, freelance book reviewer, and blogger, and I enjoy cooking and gardening. I mostly read speculative fiction, but I also enjoy literary fiction and horror, and I intend to focus mainly on books written by women in 2015. I also participate in a real-life book club and serve on the board of the Friends of the Library. I had a great reading year in 2014, and am now reading my 75th book of the year, the first time I have achieved that number since I've been keeping track! I'm looking forward to another great reading year in 2015.

I can't keep up more than one thread so I track my reading and review books in the 2015 Category Challenge group. My thread is here.

I'm Lori, a 50-something librarian and genealogist living in East Tennessee. During 2014, I updated my Facebook status to "in a relationship" which has caused a significant decline in the volume of books I'm able to devour in a year. He lives a little over 300 miles away which means that one or both of us must travel each time we see each other. It's usually both. When I do find the time to read, I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction. Most of the fiction will be mystery or historical fiction with a little mix of literary, chick lit, etc. thrown in. Non-Fiction tends to be history, religion, genealogy, or DNA-related reads, but I sometimes throw in travel, books about books, and other things that sound interesting to me.

I do hope to be owned by a new cat at some point in 2015. I miss Brumley, who died in June, very much.

It's my 5th year in the 75 book group. My thread is here.

Hi, I'm Jeff, a just short of 50 IT professional. I live, with my wife and son in Southern California (originally from Pittsburgh). This is my third year in the group and I hope to keep up with my 2013 numbers, which for me, were outstanding! This is a great group with wonderful people and I hope that I'm able to provide a little of interest and entertainment on my thread.

Here's my 2015 Thread Come on by...

Hi, I'm Ilana, a young 45 and living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with my three furkids Coco (an adorable toy poodle mix) and my cats Mimi and Ezra. I've been on LT since 2007 and enjoyed cataloguing and obsessively tagging my books (still do), then joined this group in December 2010, have made wonderful friends here, and there's no looking back now. I used to read mostly literary fiction and classics, with some mysteries and thrillers thrown in, but this group has helped expand my reading choices to include YA and children's illustrated books, fantasy, non-fiction, graphic novels, and most notably, has introduced audiobooks to my reading life, which has in effect helped to more than double my reading capacity when I discovered I really enjoy listening to great narrators. I managed to read and listen to over 230 books so far this year, but some recent changes in my life have me thinking I'm not likely to repeat that score in 2015. I do intend on keeping up with a few challenges, namely the American Authors Challenge, and especially the British Authors Challenge, since a good portion of my vast catalogue is comprised of UK authors.

When I'm not reading, I like to work on my art, which recently has taken the form of photorealistic pencil drawings which take me dozens, if not hundreds of hours to complete. This gives me the opportunity to also complete many audiobooks as I work. After being single for over 10 years, I've recently met a wonderful person, so I've also rediscovered the joys of cooking à deux. This budding relationship has somewhat taken over a lot of what used to be free time all to myself, so that I doubt I'll be beating reading records this coming year, and I have less time now than I used to to visit threads, but this group is still important to me, and change is good.

Here's my thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185670

Hi! *WAVES* I'm Jennifer... 32 year old mommy and wife... working at a local library as an Information Specialist (which I love)... used to teach preschool but not any longer... I have been on LT since Jan of 2011 and a 75er since 2012... the last 16 months Sept 2013 - December 2014 has been a difficult time for myself and my family so my reading declined... but things are looking much better and I hope to complete the 75 book challenge this year... I am an official thread stalker... who posts occasionally

I mainly read YA fiction... but I'll try just about anything... I haven't set up my 2015 thread yet but I'm working on it...

Happy reading everyone!

My name is Valerie and this is my fifth year (on and off) with this wonderful group. I am a proud mom of two by day and book hoarder by night. When I'm not busy wrangling my two boys (or their dad..ha!) I usually have my head in a book or in a pile of laundry....or in a pile of dishes.
There is no specific genre that I avoid or dislike and am pretty much open to any book because being a family with one income, reading books truly is the most cost efficient way for me to travel. Places to go, people to meet and I get to do all that most of the time in the comforts of my home.
I can't wait to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. Feel free to drop a line and let me know you've been around! :)

http://www.librarything.com/topic/185229

My name is Cindy (Cindysprocket). This is my 3rd year in this group. I am 67 retired and enjoying it. I have a SO of 26 years we are very out doorsy people, and both love to read. I also do art journaling for stress relief. Here is to another year of good reading.

Hi, I’m Meg, a 62 year old who loves history, genealogy and tracking down facts and stories on the research trail. I’m a freelance writer with a day job as well as an active volunteer for a genealogy society and a heritage society. Did I mention that I am going to school part time? I am working towards a diploma in professional writing when I don’t stray into courses on history or creative writing, that is.

I share my home in Coquitlam with my son and our cat, Sally. For those that don’t know Coquitlam is a suburb of Vancouver, BC. I have spent most of my life in Canada living in Pointe Claire (close to Montreal), Halifax, Charlottetown, Vancouver and one very cold winter in Calgary but I was born close to London; no, not the one in Ontario. (Maybe that explains the whole section on London in my own personal library – I should actually read those books sometime, I might learn something.)

I have a large collection of books, most of which I have not read and really should but there are over a thousand of them (edging close to two thousand as more books follow me home all the time). This is my third year in the 75 challenge and I love connecting with LTers but those BBs don’t help my TBR stacks! I came up with the handle Familyhistorian in 2008 when I joined LT as a way to catalogue my books before I knew there was another, social side to LT. I am contemplating coming up with a new handle after finding out that it could be done on Sibyx’s thread.

My thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185222

Hello everyone! For those of you who don't know me, my name is Lori and this is my fourth year participating in the 75 Challenge. My reading is pretty much all over the map as I am willing to try out anything that catches my fancy, even something wrapped in a pretty book cover, but my mainstays are of the historical fiction, mystery, speculative fiction and steampunk variety. I also have a habit of overstretching myself with all the reading challenges I love to participate in. This year I will be reading books for both the British and American Author Challenges, as well as trying to reduce my ever growing TBR piles by reading books I own for the ROOTs Challenge. When I am not busy on LT struggling to keep up with all the great activity happening here, I lead a happy life living on Vancouver Island with my boyfriend of over 25 years, enjoying the temperate climate, my love for long walks along the waterfront and when I am not busy reading or earning a living I enjoy various hobbies and pastimes, like beading, sewing and cooking/baking.

My 2015 thread can be found here and is open all hours for all visitors!

Hello everyone.
I'm Yoona and currently a grad student studying Applied Statistics. I'm planning to get my Masters degree on May and also planning to be a doctorate student right after that (provided that I get at least one acceptance letters from the schools that I applied).

I'll try to read anything that catches my fancy throughout the year.

My 2015 thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185255

Hi, I am Nathalie, I’ll be 44 in a couple of days, and I am looking forward to my 8th year on LT and my 6th year in this wonderful, welcoming group. I'm a German from the Rhein-Main region (think Frankfurt), but moved to Merano in North Italy a little more than 5 years ago. I still struggle with that change of environment and change of work and culture, and I found that discussing books and other life issues here on LT has given me something like an additional home.

When I joined LT I read almost exclusively from the “1,001 Books to Read before you Die” list, but now I get hit by BBs in the various threads here all the time and my range has extended considerably, although I keep my focus on literary fiction. I’d love to re-integrate poetry in 2015.

Last year I experimented with food and read several of books about nutrition, and now that my book boxes from Germany have arrived that had been in storage for 5 years, I am again in possession of a nice little library of international recipe books. Therefore I decided to change my thread a bit this year. It’s still going to be about books and all things life can bring, but I’m also planning to share the more successful recipes and to post pics when possible. My food usually tastes good but doesn’t necessarily look so. :)

Other interests are yoga which helped me enormously in the past year, travelling (which had been neglected since moving here, but I took the first careful steps in 2014 and plan to continue) and I want to take up mountain hiking again in spring after a lazy 2014.

My 2015 thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185107

Hi, I'm Randy. This is my fourth year in the 75 Books Challenge. I'm 51, a sometimes communications consultant, periodic public speaker on open source software, former philosopher, and sporadic blogger. I spent a long period living in Oxford and London in the UK but returned to Canada in 2007. I find myself now living in Waterloo, Ontario, which has an excellent public library and a great independent bookstore within walking distance of my home. So it suffices for now, but I anticipate further travel in 2015.

My 2015 thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185261

Hi! I'm Amy, and this is my 8th year in the 75 Book Challenge.

I read a variety of books, including literary fiction, mysteries, and assorted non-fiction. I have two sons (an 8th grader and a 5th grader), so I read some YA/juvenile books that they've recommended to me, as well as some that I want to check out before making recommendations to them. You'll also see some management/leadership books that I read for the classes that I teach at the University of Iowa.

My 2015 thread is HERE.

I'm Steve, 46, a librarian at a medium-sized public university in Missouri. This is my 6th year with the 75ers. Besides reading my hobbies include mathematical puzzles and running stupid distances.

Last year's literary diet was heavy with thrillers, but I'm about thriller'd out. This year I want to read more "off the shelf": my shelves are heavy with science fiction, fantasy, and stuff that looked interesting in the bargain bin. I also hope to read more nonfiction which will be an eclectic mix mostly of history, popular science, and mathematics.

The thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185283

Fair warning re: running. I try to participate in at least one competitive run per month and I do occasionally talk about training, achievements and disappointments on my thread. Running posts will be clearly marked for your easy avoidance.

Hello everyone!

I'm PawsforThough, sometimes just shortened to Paws. I've been an LT member for a little over two years. I have been suffering a soul-crushing reading funk for most of those two years and I'm hoping that particular black hole will soon let me escape so I can get back to reading again.

Anyways. I read lots of different genres but mostly classics and fantasy/sci-fi. I've relatively recently discovered graphic novels to quite a big portion of my reads are GNs.
You can find me either here in the 75ers or over in the Cateory Challenge or Club Read.

My 75ers thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185285

Hi I'm Bryony, 31. I live with my Sister and Parents in Kent, England. I work for a large supermarket which takes up most of my time. But in my free time I like to read( this is a given), eat good food, watch tv, play video games, spend time with my few good friends. I on occasion try to write and this year will be taking part in NaNoWriMo in November, 50,000 words in 30 days I must be mad but apparently it is doable! I have been a Scout Leader since I was 18 and find it very enjoyable, if I mention the Boys and Girls here on this Thread I'm talking about the 30 or so miscreants that make up the troop I help at.

I read pretty much anything, I will give anything ago. Though saying that I read Fantasy, Science Fiction and Graphic Novels the most.

My Thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185132

Hello! I'm Anne, 44 years old. I live in Colorado with my husband of 21 years and two daughters (13 and soon-to-be-16). I am an elementary school librarian at a little mountain school, and I also work for a professional children's performing organization as a music assistant and music librarian.

This will be my sixth! year in the 75-book challenge group, and I am eternally grateful to >1 drneutron: Jim for creating such a wonderful space, and the many friends I've made here who still come visit my thread even though I can't return their visits as often as I would like. I am a pretty moody reader, picking my next reads based on what feels right. I read fiction, nonfiction, children's and YA lit, and cookbooks when I get the chance. I never listened to audiobooks until I joined this group, and now I can't live without them -- usually reading a combination of print and audio books is the only way I can get to 75.

>43 karspeak: Karen, hope to see you in Colorado! There are quite a few of us there, and we do get together from time to time:)

Thank you and Happy New Year to everyone!

Here's the link to my 2015 thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185336

I'm Jennifer, a library assistant at a community college south of Dallas, Texas. This will be my third year for the 75 challenge. Besides my main job, I am also a graduate student working on my masters in library and information science so that I can become a "real" librarian. I read mostly non-fiction and genre fiction, fantasy/sci-fi, mysteries, historicals, history, religion, and environmental writing in particular. But I read over 200 books a year, so there's plenty of space for everything. Meanwhile at home, I loyally serve my rescued hound-terrier mix (he tells me he wants a friend; we'll see if that happens).

So pop by my thread, inge87's 2015: Miles and Miles of Reading. The book recommendations have already begun, so don't miss out!

Hi folks, I'm Mike. This is my seventh year here, although I've been sort of MIA for the last couple of years. This year I've vowed will be different and I'll actually post something about what I've read in a timely fashion. I live in Northern Virginia, work in DC, and am getting a little closer to 50 then I would like, although that also has the benefit of being retirement age. I recently finished by MA in American History and am currently working on a certificate in Civil War Studies. My reading is split about 50/50 between fiction and non-fiction, with most of the fiction being SF or fantasy. My current thread is located here and if you're interested last year's is here.

Hi all! I'm Heather. Almost 50, but try not to look like it. So let's keep that a secret. I have been a member of LT for several years, but I have not been all that active on here. I think I read over 300 books last year. I was in a challenge on GR which took a lot of my time. I read everything, but for several years I have been on a paranormal binge. I also just started a website so the 300 books are going to be cut down this year. I have Spinocerebellar Ataxia. Basically, I can't walk. If you have any questions about this disease let me know as it is not that common. I am in no pain, and try to go to the gym 5 days a week. Until 7 years ago I walked fine. Lol, but now I have extra time to read, and I get better parking.

I'm Luanne and 2014 was my first year in this very active group. I retired from manufacturing management in September of 2013 so I have recently completed my 1st year of retirement. I thought that once I retired time would slow down but oh no, it seems to fly by even faster! I live in Arkansas, spend a lot of time outdoors (quite often with a book in tow), and like to take part in various volunteer activities. This year one of my challenges will be a house remodel that begins Jan 5. I'm the closet thing to a mom 2 30 something ever so handsome men have, my sisters boys. Both she and my bil died a few years ago and we strive to hang on to each other and remain a family. I am not a very disciplined reader and like to grab whatever strikes my fancy at the time. I think that may be an excuse to keep a lot of unread books at the ready but, well, there you have it. I was not an active poster last year but resolve to do better in 2015 (hand on heart).

Hello hello. I'm Marcus. I'm 25 years old and I live in northern Florida. I'm currently just working at a liquor store (my work title is Celebration Specialist). I have a love for stories and the act of storytelling. I'm awful at it, but it's one of my passions.

This is my very first year in the 75-book challenge group. My dear sister has been a part of it for several years and has gotten me excited to join up. When it comes to reading, I tend to gravitate more towards fiction of various varieties. I like looking at the systems and underlying parts of a story as much as I like lingering on powerful lines and the plot in general. I have a BA in English that I like to think I use everyday if only by trying to be always thinking.

I'm still trying to get the formatting down on how threads work. Mind the dust. BookMarc's Thread

Hi, I'm Nicole, 28 and live in Tasmania, Australia. This is my second year in the 75 group. I am currently working full time and completing a Bachelors Degree part time. Other than spending my time working and studying, one of my loves is archery, my husband and I can be often found partaking in this activity.

I enjoy reading mostly fantasy and historical fiction, but will occasionally read some YA, crime fiction, classics and general fiction.
You can find my 2015 thread here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185340

Hi, everyone! I'm Charlotte. I'll be 50 in February. I've been a member of LT for quite a few years but haven't been active at all for the last couple of years. I'm looking to get back on track this year and get back into reading for pleasure. It's hard for me to pick favorite reading material as my tastes are very eclectic but I enjoy reading nonfiction especially books about science. I also have a knack for finding the most ridiculously titled books or subjects and reading them. In recent years, I've been enjoying a lot of YA books after getting bored in that section waiting on my daughter to make up her mind. The YA horror/sci-fi/fantasy reminds me of the old masters of those genres. I've been addicted ever since. I'm a teacher so I take my reading in spurts with lots of reading around holidays and summers and almost no reading when be events are coming up. I'm excited to get started this year!

Hi yall, I"m Ulliowl a 66 y.o. that loves to read, do genealogy, and photography. I work with developmentally disabled children for our local school district. I have been a member for several years but was mostly a "lurker" as the say in the MMORPG worlds. I have decided to try the challenge this year and to make it easy the first time I will be reading with the Hillerman/Longmire group. I have all of the Hillerman books but Longmire is new to me.

I live in Texas and so I find that reading often gets put on the back burner to outdoor pursuits all year long, I hope that by being in the challenge I can resist the pool and the gardening.

I do not have a thread yet but when I do I will post it. Be seeing yall around.

Here is my thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185343.

>65 AMQS: I had noticed that, that would be so fun!

Hi I'm TJ. I'm 20 from Minneapolis, Minnesota! I'm a single Bartender + Barista + Security guard who's going to school for law and drug/alcohol abuse counseling (I know really odd mix of stuff) and I love dark, gothic and horror things! Oh and cats, I like cats too.

This is my fifth year in the challenge and so far I'm not doing a good job but I hope to kick some butt this year.

Click Here For My Thread

Hi, everyone. I've been doing the Goodreads Challenge for several years now, so it's only fair for me to join the Thing's Challenge, too. I've been happily married for over twenty years, and I'm a writer and owner-editor of Dingbat Publishing.

Here's my thread.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/185347

Hi, I am Bianca, a 45 year old single mom, with a beautiful 15 year old son, who is just starting to spread his wings :) - He will go this year for the first time to a New Years Party (with sleepover) .

I commute between Germany and England which tends to give me the best of both worlds. When in England I am based in London (one of my fave cities in the world) and when in Germany I live in a small town, Voerde, at the "Niederrhein" - lower Rhine region just outside of the Ruhr area.

I am a pediatric nurse, but I am specialised in neonatal intensive care nursing for almost 18 years and work in a large level 3 unit in London, who caters for the extremely small, sick and babies with various kind of surgical issues.

My hobbies are - aside from books - cooking, crafts and knitting, hiking, theatre, museums, generally travelling.

I first joined in summer 2012 and since have been present at sporadic intervalls due to some serious health issues.
I am hoping to be more active again this year and plan to participate in the BAC, AAC, the Global Reading Group and finally starting to make a greater dent into my 1001 books pile and generally TBR.
I am not good at planning my reading - well, I tend to create little book mountains, which I glance at from time to time - I tend to read according to mood and so far this has worked quite well for me.

However, I usually manage to take part in the challenges and I enjoy in particular the TIOLI challenge created by Madeline on a monthly basis as this one always helps me to make a dent into my TBR.
I am looking forward to this year again and wish everyone a wonderful 2015

Hi, I'm Heather. I'm in my mid-thirties and I live in a small town north of London in the UK with my husband and our slightly neurotic rescue cat. I read all kinds of things including a lot of older books (about a third of the books I read last year were published before 1950) but I also read contemporary books.

I've been part of the group since 2010 and I love it. I've made so many great friends and I completely blame this group for the ridiculous size of my TBR collection which is largely based on recommendations from people here!

This year I am not planning my reading as I realised last year that I get most enjoyment from my reading when I let myself pick up whatever I feel like rather than the book I feel I should be reading.

My 2015 thread is here: souloftherose's year of (mostly) unplanned reading.

Hi, I'm Chèli, and have been a 75er since I joined LT in 2008.

I'm a retired Systems/Budget Analyst since 2007 and love being home so that I can read and read and read! But's that's not all I do. I have 7 grandchildren that I love to visit and family galore! My Mom just celebrated her 90th birthday in October and I spend time with her either visiting or chatting on the phone. I am an avid Baltimore Orioles fan (maybe this year, Jim) as well as the Ladies' social director at our Country club where I teach bridge and mah jongg. But rarely am I without a book.

Reading is my mainstay because of a very bad back which restricts my activities, but I've found that losing myself in a book, I can lose the pain for awhile.

I wish everyone a great reading year.
Visit me at My Thread or come over and join a bunch of us working on our TBRs at the ROOT Group

Hi, I'm Jarno, a 27 year old PhD student in medical imaging from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. This year I joined this group for the first time. The last few years I build up a big to be read list. I hope this will help me actually reducing the stack.
As I'm a grad student, I don't have a lot of time for reading. Moreover, I prefer to read big epic fantasy novels, which are usually more than 500 pages. So, I doubt I'll make the full 75 books. So my personal goals are to read at least 50 books, or 25000 pages whichever comes first, and have a shorter to be read pile at the end of the year.

My thread is here: Jarno87's book reading challenge for 2015

I'm a computer programmer in Pennsylvannia, back for year 5... I’m not nearly as chatty as some folks here, but 75 is just about right, and counting is motivation. A typical pattern is 12 magazines (1 month of subscriptions to New Yorker, Atlantic, Scientific American counts as 1 book), books about half non-fiction (tending heavily to science, also culture/history/biography) and half fiction (tending heavily to science fiction & lablit, also occasional remedial or revisits to classics, and experiments on whim or in response to buzz). My thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185428 .

Hi All, I'm a 67-year-old Book Junkie from Springfield, Missouri. When I'm not reading or playing on LT, I am hanging out with my bridge buddies as I learn the difficult (for me anyway) game of duplicate bridge. I also spend two days a week with my two grandchildren in town. A lively 4-year-old and 18-month-old keep me hopping. I also have 3 grands in KC and a baby grand (ha!) in Denver. Road trips are great now that I've "discovered" audio books.

I'm excited about starting my seventh year in this marvelous 75er community. I hope to meet new people, renew friendships, and deepen the relationships with some of my LT besties! I wouldn't mind some more meet-ups in 2015 as well. I read mostly literary fiction but have branched out a bit more in the past few years with good results. I take part in a few challenges and group reads throughout the year. This is a great place to hang out!

My thread is up and running over here.

I'm a reader and a writer (among other things) in the urban suburb just across the street from Chicago. I'm taking a break from my job writing and copyediting for my local newspaper (but continuing to write the crossword puzzles) to work on a novel. I've got to read good stuff to write good stuff, and this challenge looks like fun. My default favorite is fiction, but I read a lot of other material as well.

I live in Evanston, Illinois, across the street from Chicago. I write for The Evanston RoundTable, where I also copyedit and write crossword puzzles. I'm taking time off to work on a novel.

My husband's a physician; we met in London as undergraduates studying philosophy. He's from Liverpool. We were married at the City building in Chicago where the Blues Brothers' final chase scene was filmed, by a justice of the peace who played "Hawaiian Wedding Song" on a music box. She was later ousted for corruption, but our marriage was unaffected. We have two kids and two cats, whose names we sometimes mix up even though the cats are quite well-behaved. I have an MA in Chinese literature.

In the past I posted more on GoodReads, and I'm trying to get the titles over here before 2014 is out, in order not to affect my results in this challenge. I will read almost anything. I have shelves of books I bought because I liked the covers, and I must now read the books themselves. Then there are my wish lists on Pinterest, Amazon, Book Depository...

This is my first year trying the 75 book challenge. I usually push myself to read 50 books in a year and almost or barely make it, so this will be tough. I'm sure if I say that I am a college English professor, people will think I do nothing but read; however, I never have enough time to read.

I live in southern Louisiana with my wife and kids, all of whom are avid readers, even the 6 year old.

Jay

Hi I’m Joanne, aka coppers. 2015 will be my sixth year with the wonderfully bookish 75ers. I’ve only actually reached that reading goal once or twice but no one seems to mind except for me. I live in Colorado, but am from New Jersey. As of this coming year, I will have spent half my life in each state. I have a husband who reads sporadically but happily benefits from recs I get here, and a son who is a senior in college and currently working on grad school apps and stressing about student teaching next semester. He’s a big reader and a talented writer. Rounding out the household are two spoiled golden retrievers, Copper and Skye, and a grey and white kitty named Boomer. I like to travel, miss the ocean, and enjoy Colorado’s mountains and plains.

I mostly read fiction and mix some non-fiction in if the subject interests me. Since joining LT I’m never at a loss over what to read next and have come to the disturbing conclusion that I’m not going to be able to read everything that I want to read. I’ll keep trying though. I’ve also discovered the joys of a good mystery series since discovering LT and so my tbr pile has grown exponentially.

This year I plan on joining in both the American and the British Author Challenges. That’s the plan anyway.
Here’s the link to my thread if you'd like to stop by and say hello:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/185453

I am Nikk. I am 38 and from Sydney, Australia and this is my first year in the group. My partner and I have been together for 4 years and we have an amazing almost 3 year old daughter who is already a big reader, albeit picture books currently, to the point where when I tuck her in at night, rather than cuddle up to a teddy or soft toy,she asks to cuddle up to her new box of Peppa pig books :-)

I have always been a big reader and in 2011 started a book review blog: Realm of the Sapphired Dragon. I mostly review YA predominantly urban fantasy, paranormal and general fantasy with the odd YA contemporary thrown in however my reading tastes also range to regular urban fantasy/paranormal/paranormal romance to crime novel authors such as j d robb to anything else that takes my fantasy.

Last year, I hit a bit of a rough patch with my reading. Between working as a Fitness administrator and looking after my daughter, I didn't seem to find much time for reading as by the time I managed to find a spare 40 or so minutes to myself, i either immediately remembered something that i had to do or else I was so exhausted, it was I could do to play some mindless facebook game or watch something that didn't involve much brain power before falling sleep. Also with a lot of blof tours scheduled, I found myself reading back to back review titles, which whilst i enjoyed them is not quite the same as reading purely for pleasure.

This year I am raring to go and plan on getting my reading mojo back and look forward to participating in this group this year as well as reaching my reading goals :-)

Hi, I'm Theresa--recently retired from teaching English and American Studies and being a dean at a small New England college--usually have 3 or 4 books going at a time, but since July only for fun--no more for teaching. Married with three grown children and three grandchildren. I'll read most genres but love mysteries most. I'm brushing up on my foreign languages and right now reading The Little Prince in French--but don't think I'm ready for much beyond that level. Looking forward to being part of this group!

Hi, I'm Monica and I am back again for the 75 Challenge. This is my 6th year. I have been doing this since 2009 but skipped 2010. I have read over 75 books in 2014 and hoping to finish one more before the year is over. My reading choices change often. I belong to a book club and we have very different books then what would usually choose to read. I have found some great books through the book club. I will give any book a try. My favorite genre has always been mystery. I also enjoy, romance, historical romance, young adult, books about real life events (Pearl Harbor, Anne Frank, World Wars etc.) I even enjoy fantasy, whether urban fantasy or just fantasy.

I have created a thread which also has an introduction. I hope to see you over at Crazy4reading New Year, New Reads 2015 thread

Happy New Year!!

I'm Kriti, and this is my fifth year doing the 75 book challenge. I'm a software engineer and I work remotely from Oberlin, OH for a company in San Francisco. I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, but I plan to read more non-genre / non-fiction this year – we'll see how that goes. I review books at Just a World Away.

Here's my thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185100

Thx for the warm welcome!
I'm Sharon from mid-Canada ~
I'm adding this challenge to a good sized list of 15 others, {and disregarding admin logistics} ;)

I blog, read, write, and review for publishers, and look forward to some personal FuN reading choices..

As a Canadian, current winter weather is offering a Lot of reading time!
I love Readathons motivation and look forward to hearing about more of them.

Any Mystery Challenges to recommend...?

Hoping this is my 'thread' ... http://www.librarything.com/topic/185490

Hi, I'm Rachel. I joined this group a few years ago, and while I haven't been a very active member, I hope to take part more this year. I grew up in Michigan, worked in Europe for several years, and recently moved to Ohio, where I work in youth services at a small-town library.

I love reading historical fiction, YA and children's books, some non-fiction and memoirs, occasionally some classics, and anything else that catches my interest. I'm always getting book suggestions from this group, so I'm looking forward to more in the upcoming year!

My 2015 thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185519

I'm Deborah, and this is my 7th year in the 75 group, although I was mostly absent last year. I'm a retired attorney in my mid-60's and I live with my husband of 44 years, dog (Dante) and cats (Thalia, Dinah and Mama) in the Seattle area. OUr 5 kids are scattered: our three sons (and one daughter-in-law and grandson Teddy) live in NYC; our older daughter (and son-in-law and grands Boden and Madeleine live in Houston); and our younger daughter lives in Palo Alto. Consequently, we travel a lot.

My reading is eclectic, about 75% fiction, 25% nonfiction. I like to read translated fiction, and I make a lot of reading choices from the 1001 list or other "best of" lists. Other choices are serendipitous discoveries in the used book stores I haunt. For the past few years, I've been working my way through Zola's Rougon Macquart and I'm now more than half-way through. I also read smatterings of science fiction, mystery/crime, and historical fiction.

My thread is here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/185515

Come on over--I'd love to talk books with you.

Hi all! I'm Stephanie and this is my first year doing the 75 book challenge. I'm an archivist and historian by trade working at a public library by day and freelance writing in my limited spare time. My husband and I have been married for twelve years and we have two kids - a daughter, 12, and a son, 5, who is adopted and has cerebral palsy. I write about my life and other such nonsense at Playfullytacky.com; it is my stress relief. I also do mini-reviews on a lot of books I read there (see the "On My Bookshelf" link in the top menu if you are interested).

I read a lot of nonfiction - largely memoir, women's history, and social commentary - but I've challenged myself to get back into reading more fiction this year. I enjoy historical fiction, literary fiction, humor, and a bit of YA. I'm always open to suggestion, especially of books not in one of my "go-to" genres.

My first book of the year is going to be IQ84 by Haruki Murakami. I'm starting it tonight since the husband and I plan to stay in with a nice bottle of wine.

My thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185539

Happy New Year everyone! My name is bohemiangirl aka Sacil (sounds like Cecile). This is my fifth year doing the 75 book challenge and the first year I posted my thread in the correct group on the first try, so 2015 is starting off right!

I usually read fiction (murder mysteries and horror are my absolute faves), but I plan on adding some nonfiction this year. I like YA, fantasy and sci-fi as well. I'm not too much into military fiction and definitely NOT into romance. But I'll give anything a try. I listen to a lot of books while I draw, crochet, bead and do other things with my hands. I'd rather listen to a book than watch t.v. while I work. Check out some of my creative mischief at http://www.MyCreativeMischief.com, https://www.sketchbookproject.com/library/14715, http://www.redbubble.com/people/bohemiangirl or https://www.pinterest.com/bohemiangirl35/. I have about 20 actual books (not audio books) in my living room right now begging for attention.

I was more of a lurker in 2014, but I'm hoping to make the time to be more active this year. I'm actually writing a personal mission statement and some overall goals so I don't waste time on things that seem urgent, but aren't really important to me.

I usually post the book cover and a short review on my thread unless I'm pressed for time. My 2015 thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185569. I'm looking forward to learning about new authors and being exposed to new books from you all!

Hello Fellow Book Lovers,
I just joined this group and I am very excited to participate. I am not quite sure how to start a "thread" for my books, but I 'm sure one of you will help out this clueless rookie. LOL.
I went back and checked...I read 72 books in 2014, so I think I can meet the challenge.
Nettie195

Nettie...click on the main group name (75 Book Challenge for 2015). Scroll down to where the "Topics" list starts. Just above that you will see "Post a New Topic". Click on that, and type the title you want to use for your thread in the "Subject" box. (Best to put your username in the title, so people recognize it as yours and can find you. "My 2015 reading" could be anybody, you see?) When you're satisfied with the title, type an opening message, click enter and off you go! Welcome to the group. It's great to see so many new people checking in.

OK - wound up my 2014 thread and started my 2015 thread.

Hi Group! I am Tracy (aka Mickeycat). I am a recent 43 yrs old and this will be my 4th year to try the challenge. Looks like I will wind 2014 up with about 62 books. (Maybe 63 if I read fast tonight). My 9 yr old son says he will try this year, he will be listed under Mickeycat, but as Mickeycat Jr.
Here is my thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185579

My name is Kara and I have been a member of LT since March 2009. I'm 44, a Clinical Care Coordinator for the Developmentally Disabled, married, have 2 dogs, 1 cat and 2 parrots. My life seems like a zoo at times but somehow I seem to manage to find the time to read, which keeps me sane.

My reading is eclectic, very little NF tho. I'm a big connoisseur of Library books. This will be my fifth year in the 75 challenge and I have met many wonderful people here in this group and hope to continue those friendships and possibly add new ones.

Again this year I will have 2 tickers. One to track my goal of 75 books in 2015 and the other will be a Books Off My Shelf goal.

My 2014 thread was a "cricket cricket" thread; my fault entirely with just plain work and life getting in the way. I did manage to reach 54 books and hopefully in 2015 my end total will be closer to 75 :)

My 75 Challenge For 2015 Thread is here

Hi, I am Erik (Oberon). I am a lawyer and father of three in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I read more non-fiction than fiction. My interests are art, travel, archaeology, Africa, theater, history and foreign policy - a pretty broad mix. I also read a decent amount of graphic novels and fantasy books.

This is my third year participating in the 75 Book Challenge and I am pleased to say I have met the goal for the past two years. I do have a bad tendency to lurk on lots of other threads without commenting a ton. I am hoping to improve on that a bit this year.

Please feel free to stop by. My thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185507

Hi folks...

As some of you know, I'm Suzanne, and I'm back for my sixth year as part of this group. I'm 52 (exactly a month away from turning 53, to my dismay...) and live in Providence, RI, a rather odd place for me to end up, given a peripatetic background that has mostly involved giant cities in countries around the world. I'm a journalist -- freelance for the last 12 years -- and review and blog about books, too.

My thread this year is going to be a kind of literary salon (or at least, that's what I'm going to try to make it!) Please drop by for civilized chat about books of all kinds. My own tastes are VERY eclectic. What I don't like is easier to describe, sometimes: badly written books, "insta-classics" by new writers hailed as the next Updike/Salinger/whoever that are terribly self-conscious and overly structured and sometimes feel so carefully plotted that the author has lost any sense that these are supposed to feel to the reader like real stories about real people. That said, I love beautiful, elegant writing; complex characters and plots and convincing narratives. I don't need to like or approve of a character to love a book: do you love Macbeth or Lady Macbeth? But how can you not find Shakespeare's play gripping and thought-provoking, because he has made them such vivid and convincing characters?

Those of you who do know me, are aware that I'm a slightly obsessive and voracious reader. I'm also somewhat indiscriminate... While I think of myself as being a serious reader, in that I value excellent writing, creative minds and intelligence, that doesn't stop me from reading fluff and genre fiction. Mostly, that's mysteries, but I'll also read a fair amount of historical fiction (a passion since childhood; my parents had to tell Harrod's book department in London that I was allowed to buy adult books when I was eight or nine, and I began by buying Jean Plaidy and Georgette Heyer's complete works!) I love books that make me look at the world in a different way, and read a lot of non-fiction. I do some re-reading every year, too.

My least favorite genres are memoirs (what people find interesting about their own lives may be of overwhelming interest to some people, but rarely grips me unless there is something truly fascinating to say, or unless the author has a fabulous narrative voice, like Ann Patchett does in Truth and Beauty), romance (sigh; trite... and too often, bad writing and editing as well) and science fiction or techno thrillers -- the kind of Steve Berry novel with a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter.

I've recently resumed blogging -- uncommonreading.blogspot.com -- and am a reviewer for Amazon Vine, and have joined a group blog with some other Vine reviewers, as well.

I work from home; work tends to drive me slightly batty. So do my three cats -- Tigger-the-terror-cat (who earned his name honestly), Molly and Cassie. They are starting to get elderly (Tigger and Molly will be 13 and Cassie will turn 11 this year) and have me twisted around their paws. Molly, in particular, has taken to trying to participate in phone interviews with my sources, meowing away in the background, which is very disconcerting.

Not sure what else is relevant. I've suffered from horrid migraines since my teens, although for the first time they seem to be starting to abate, on the margins. Just in time for me to have to start on some very extensive and very difficult and very complicated and stressful dental work (with the help of a new dentist, the husband of an LT 75 member!) and deal with some new mobility problems (a sprained hip) that I'm hoping will vanish soon.

And, as you can see, and as my editors have learned (to their exasperation), I can run on and on and on ad infinitum.... So you can just visit my thread here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185596

>96 nettie195: once you get your thread started following >97 laytonwoman3rd: advice check out this thread How to do cool things in your thread it has been very helpful to me over the years!

Hi, everyone!

I'm Amber, a former classics professor turned stay-at-home mom to now-6-year-old Charlie, wife to a Tomm (who works in a large textbook publishing company), owner of an etsy shop, frequent volunteer at Charlie's school library and occasional substitute teacher. Oh, and we also have the Best Border Collie Ever, Tuppence. I may be biased in that opinion, though. And we'll be adding a puppy (for Charlie) sometime this year - a Golden Retriever who will be named, or so we've been told, Mario.
And, this is the last of these intro threads in which I'll be able to say that I'm in my thirties. *ahem*

Stop by my thread anytime to catch up on the Daily Doings at Scaife Manor:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/185568

Hi everyone! I'm SandDune (Rhian in real life), a 53 year old accountant working part-time as the Finance Manager of a local charity after spending most of my career in the City of London. I live about thirty miles north of London with my husband (aka Mr SandDune), who is Assistant Principal at a local secondary school, and our 14 year old son (aka J), who attends the same school. There's also our (nearly) 3 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier Daisy, and 12 year old cat Sweep, who have an uneasy relationship in which Sweep permanently has the upper hand. I read mainly literary fiction, classics, science-fiction and fantasy and tend to avoid horror, detective fiction, chick-lit and thrillers. All the family are avid readers, although Mr SandDune doesn't get time to read as much as he would like: J has inherited a love of reading science-fiction and fantasy from me and a love of reading history from Mr SandDune so our books are increasingly shared. I read hardbacks, paperbacks, on kindle and listen to audio books particularly when driving or walking the dog. Apart from reading I love travelling, eating out, going to the theatre (not so often as I'd like but I've made a resolution to remedy that this year) and I'm doing a part-time degree with the Open University which keeps me pretty busy.

My first thread for 2015 is here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/185633#4979208

Steve here, from the Boston area. My fifth year with the group. I'm mid-40s, I've a wife, no kids, no pets, and am happy with that arrangement. I practice medicine but not in one of the Harvard hospitals (snobs! - {just joking}). These days I read a lot of historical fiction and history, but would like to get back into some classic SF/fantasy. I also dabble in Italian, though not very successfully. I read when I should be doing other things.

My thread is here, and the 'Friends of Nancy P.' thread, where you can talk about your rejected reading, is here.

Oh, and I'm going to thank Jim too! Your hard work for this group is very much appreciated!

I'm Chris. Been with this group since 2009. My participation has been rather asymptotic, with lots of reviews the first year, some reviews the second year, etc. Similarly, with my chattiness. But tracking my reading has been a very useful exercise, and I do like seeing what people are reading and discussing, even if I don't participate much. This is a great group of people, and a great place to hang out, even if I haven't been around much the last year or two. Maybe I'll start a new trendline; I'm not a prisoner of geometry.

Anyway, I'm 44, living in Midwestern USA. Working as the managing editor of a medical journal. Live with my partner and Dexter the cat, plus growing piles of books as we need more bookcases. Cancer survivor, now 5 years since treatment ended and still passing all of my checkups, but trying to manage lymphedema and quality of life concerns as a result of treatment, plus additional minor health concerns. So the focus is on overall health and fitness and expanding my tai chi practice. Plus, I have a few projects that I want to actually complete, so I may need to be much more directed in my reading and stay away from the allure of fiction so that the research actually moves forward. We'll see. I'd love to broaden my horizons some more and get beyond my comfort reads. But I do turn to the familiar when stressed. Plus, there's the eternal TBR mountain to be conquered. We'll see how 2015 goes.

Here's my little backwater.

Hey! I'm "fuzzi", and this will be my fourth time/year accepting the 75 book challenge thrown by Jim.

I'm in my mid-50's, married for 34 years to the same sweetie I fell in love with back in 1979. We have two grown children.

I love animals, and assist with a local no-kill rescue for cats, as well as caring for my own menagerie of a Shepherd/Lab ("Tirzah"), two geriatric indoor cats ("Java" and "Moonpie"), three ferals ("Momma Cat", "Mittsie", and "Boots"), one pond Goldfish ("Dagon"), and several tropical denizens in my aquarium. I keep my bird feeders well-stocked, too, which ties in with my love of photography. I love to garden, but have been physically limited in that hobby recently. :(

I also love to sing, and try to do so as I attempt to play my favorite hymns by ear on an out-of-tune and well-loved (worn) piano. I do not have a soloist's voice, but can stay in tune with the others at church.

I discovered LT in 2011, and have managed to read over 100 books each year since. I will read just about any book: I have tried almost every genre, and only avoid those that are extremely graphic about violence/sex, horror, or that are largely anti-Christian.

My favorite reads? I like STORIES, characters, plots. If the genre is youth, YA, romance, western, history, whatever...I don't care, as long as I have a good story to read!

Here on LT I am active in several groups, including but not limited to both the 75 and 100 book challenges, TIOLI, ROOT, and TBSL. I have a soft spot for The Green Dragon, too.

Feel free to check out my current reads (threads linked below), and my reviews. I review every book I read, and do so without spoiling the plot, so read my comments without worry. And do add your thoughts as well. :)

75 Book Thread

ROOT Thread

Reading Journal

And if you are interested, my reads from 2014 are here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/162424#4867210

I am Karen, 50 something, and I live on an 18-acre farm in eastern Virginia with my husband, two dogs, pigs, chickens, and turkeys. We live in a drafty old farmhouse but it has a library so for the first time in my life, I am surrounded by my books. My husband is the farmer and I work from home doing a variety of jobs all related to educational technology including running a non-profit that does training and teaching graduate courses mostly online. I love to read, bake, and crochet. In addition to getting involved with LT this year, I am determined to keep up my personal blog.

75ers Thread
ROOT Thread
In One Place (My blog)

I'm Micky, a 28 year old librarian at a public library in southern Alberta, Canada. I read a pretty wide range of genres although YA fiction, romances, classic literature, and a smattering of non-fiction are what most commonly crop up in my list. I am trying to read a few authors I've been meaning to get (back) to this year and be a bit less structure in what I decide to read this year. In addition to all my reads, my thread is usually home to quite a bit of fangirling over various TV shows and good looking men, as well as the occasional picture of my cat, Mister Smee. I love to chat about all kinds of things so pop by my thread any time.

I'm Paul. I'm 47 and live in Portland, Oregon though I'm originally from the UK. This is my first time doing the 75 books challenge.

I started a new job last year that paid much better that my previous job working at a non-profits so my book buying habit went up but my reading didn't keep pace. Hopefully things will approve this year. Specifically I want to get back into reading poetry again, and try to avoid getting dispirited by tacking books with too many pages for someone with a small child.

The thread is here.

Hi I'm Jess, 35 and live in Canberra, Australia.

I am a cartographer by trade (Yep I make pretty maps), I am owned by two oriental cats and a very pretty horse. I mainly read Fantasy, Paranormal and the occasional Autobiography, and this will be my 5th year in the 75 book challenge.

My space in this challenege can be found here

I'm Roni, a retired school psychologist who was born and bred in Kansas but has been in San Diego for the last 35 years. In retirement, I keep busy with gardening, making jewelry, throwing pottery, crocheting, and of course reading, and I post about all of it on my thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185178.

Fear not, though, it is mostly about books. The great majority of my reads are genre speculative fiction, but I try to read at least one nonfiction book each month. I also have a few mystery series I follow at a slow pace, and I read several of the popular books that a lot of 75ers say good things about a year as well. I have the good fortune to be a fast reader and usually pass 150 books per year.

Please come and visit.

I'm Rhonda, live in Portland, Oregon, work as a Social Worker and live with a wonderful partner, dog, and three cats, and an 18 year old daughter, who is here when not off at college. I think I read mostly literary fiction, but I try to keep a diverse bookshelf with non-fiction, some SF and YA, etc.

My thread is here

>46 ccookie: where's your thread???

Hi I'm Tututhefirst - Tina B in real life. This is my 7th year in the 75 challenge. I live in coastal Maine. I'm a retired librarian, book reviewer, grandma, unofficial book editor and very eclectic reader. I'm a member of the judging panel for the Maine Readers Choice Awards committee so I get to do a lot of literary fiction.

I'm married to Bob Branco (also an LT member), retired Navy (we moved 19 times in 26 years) and author of Strike from the Deep.

I'm also a huge history and mystery fan, I LOVE LOVE LOVE audio books, and I generally read between 120-150 books a year.

Please stop by my link to lurk or chat: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185753

I'm Sandy from the Kansas City area, and I'm another who's been here a number of years. I'm joining the group again, but am not planning to keep a thread here. Last year I found that I posted more in the cozier confines of the Category Challenge group and ignored this big bustling place, so this year I will just plan to do all my posting there. (This kind of goes along with our recent real life move from the big city to the country, coincidentally.) Of course I hope all my 75er friends will star my thread there and won't forget about me. I've already starred many threads here and will visit the group from time to time to check out things like group reads. Find me here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185528

Hi, I'm Judith (crotchetymama) and I almost joined this group last year, but chickened out. Since my TBR has blossomed like a...well, not really a rose...more like a triffid...I am going to concentrate on reading the pile and not buying new books this year. Except I did yesterday. In my defense, the book was on sale and also on my wish list!

I live in West Wales with a couple of cats and a lot of books. I tend to be very quiet, and lurk on other people's threads, but will try to keep my books read list up to date this year.

My 2015 thread is here - http://www.librarything.com/topic/185890

Hi, I'm Terri, and this is my 7th year in the 75 Challenge. I live in the mountains of West Central Pennsylvania (the Laurel Highlands) with my husband, teenage son, and a tabby cat named Siegfried. I work in a library. I read a variety of things, fiction and non-fiction; but I especially like mysteries and am really focused on catching up with some of my favorite series this year.

My 2015 thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185856

Hi, my name is Thomas and I am 53. I live in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Whenever I have time, I love to read.
In my third attempt I hope I will keep my thread up to date.
My 2015 thread is here: (Sir)Thomas' third attempt.

Hi! My name is Dawn and this is my 7th year participating in the 75 Book Challenge!! I live in Lexington, KY with my husband, I work in the horse industry and read mostly horse books, fiction, some young adult and I LOVE reading cookbooks! I look forward to the new reading year and you can join me here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/185911#4986625

Hi Dawn,

Come join us for the CookingKIT challenge: https://www.librarything.com/topic/180139 .

Hello everyone! My name is Laura, and this is, I think, my 5th year in this challenge. I'm 36, single, living just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin with my two furkids in my grandparents old house. I'm a massage therapist and while I'm also a shelver at my local library, I'm hoping to quit that job soon. (Like the job, love the coworkers and my boss, but the pay is waaaaaaay too low!) It would be nice to just have one job. It's been nearly 8 years since that last happened!

Last year saw the loss of my dear Dad and my Mom's diagnosis of breast cancer. She's all better now, but it was a long slog to get to this point, and I've just started to really process all of the stuff with Dad. It's been a lot, and I finally feel like this year will turn around for me, and life will become a little easier in just about every way. Really, it has to get easier somehow, I'm so sick of struggling just to barely survive!

Goals for the year are to work one job, read more of my own books (and therefore, bring far fewer home from work every day), visit Fairbanks to see my ailing Uncle, and to have quite a lot of time to myself to regroup, be creative, and maybe even have a bit of a life. My thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185696

Hello all! I'm Sandy, from northeast Ohio/Cleveland suburbs. I read most types of fiction, except for sci-fi (just not my thing) and horror (too scary). I also like biographies and memoirs, cookbooks, and anything about show biz/music.

I teach youth theatre for a non-profit arts organization. No reading goals, although I would like to read more books off my shelves.

my thread is
here.

I'm late to make an introduction! Hello, I'm Kristin-Leigh (two first names - not just Kristin, and not just Leigh!), I'm a Seattle native in her mid-20s who works in mobile app software.

I like literary fiction and over the past year have specifically been trying to read more fiction by women and more works featuring disabled and non-neurotypical protagonists. I also really enjoy novels featuring haunted houses/buildings that are practically characters in their own right. I'm also a total sucker for "large-scale competition/game" tropes, particularly if the stakes are life or death, and stories that take old fairy tales/mythologies and give them a different spin.

Aside from those favorite tropes and ideas, my big goal for 2015 right now is to get my 47-book to-read shelf down under 25 before acquiring more books. We'll see how that resolution goes!

Here's my thread!

Augh! I nearly forgot to do an introduction!

Hi all (and let me add, too, special thanks and hello to Jim, who does such an awesome job for us every year). I'm Sarah, I'm in my mid-30s, and I live in Michigan. I teach mythology, literature, and writing at the college level and most of the time, these days, I read student essays more than I read fun books -- but this year I'm trying to get back on track with the reading that I actually enjoy. I love fantasy and science fiction (I even get to teach science fiction on occasion, which are the best semesters) but I try to read a little bit of a variety of things, including mysteries and classics and occasionally even non-fiction. I also just started an MFA program in children's literature, so expect to see a fair amount of kids and YA books around my thread. :)

I've been on LT since 2006, and this is about my 8th year with this particular group, I think -- although last year I was MIA for the most part, so that hardly counts. I'm very glad to be back amongst the friendly crowd, though, and I look forward to lots of good books and great ideas.

Hope everyone's new year is off to a smashing start. Stop on by my thread any time!

Hi all! I'm Kathy, and I've previously been a 75-er, although I took a bit of a break last year. I'm in my mid-thirties, I'm a British ex-pat living in Canada, and by day I'm a programmer.

I primarily read SFF, mysteries, and historical romance, although I do branch out into non-fiction sometimes. I'm also a bit of a comics nut. When I'm not reading, I'm a Doctor Who addict, a genre TV lover, a baker, and a writer.

My thread is here.

Hello to all. My name is Judy and this is my 5th year with the 75ers. I am a 64 year old grandmother and a voracious reader. Due to some health issues, I have decided to scale down on my participation this year and not keep a thread here. I will however, be dropping in and visiting on a regular basis and participating in the AAC, BAC and the TIOLI's on a regular basis. As I am a long time member of the Category Challenge I can be found over there.

Please feel free to drop in at My 2015 Category Challenge - Part I

Hello! I'm Emilie. I'm in my early 30s, live in Michigan, and work (a lot) in the veterinary and horse industries. I've been in the 75ers for several years now, and each year my reading has been a little different. Thanks go to Jim for setting us up and keeping us going!

I read mostly YA, juvenile, and picture books. I also read some non-fiction, generally about animals/horses and history.

My thread is over at alsvidur's 2015 list.

I just realized I hadn't posted here yet! I'm Kirsten, and while I've done the 75 before, I slacked in tracking my reading for the last couple of years. Nothing like becoming an employee of LibraryThing to justify spending more time both on the site, and reading :)

I live in Portland, Maine, with my brother Joshua, who is 17 and a junior in HS, and two spoiled felines, Xander and Iliena. Reading for me is an escape from being a grown-up, so while I occasionally dig into something intense (often related to gender studies/queer history), I mostly tend to read lighter, fun fiction. My reading-related goal beyond that is always to chip away at my TBR and try to keep myself from adding too many hundreds more. Happy reading in 2015, and drop by and say hi on my thread! Kirsten's 2015 challenge

Hello folks. I'm Nicki, and this is the second year I've done this group. I live in coastal North Carolina, and do a fair amount of "reading" via audiobooks while I'm working in my garden. But as it is still chilly enough here for me to wear a sweater, right now I'm curled up in my reading chair in my library.

I don't read anywhere near the number of books most of the folks here do, so my thread will be one of the slower ones, but I've appreciated having the place to talk about the books that make an impact on me.

Here's my 2015 thread: Southernbooklady's Reading Journal for 2015

I'm Robin and this is the 4th or 5th year I've been in this group. I'm 51, married, and the mother of two sons in 7th and 4th grade. We live in Dublin, OH which is a suburb of Columbus, OH. We have two cats, Matisse and Picasso to round out our family.

I am a CPA specializing in tax planning and preparation and am self-employed.

I am always reading at least one book - one in print or on the Kindle, one to my sons each evening, and an audio book for the car.

I mainly read mysteries, science fiction and fantasy and young adult fiction, but will read just about anything. I prefer British mysteries and dystopian SF! For some reason, I was never required in school to read many of the classics, so I'm trying to make my way through those as well. My TBR pile grows exponentially.

Besides reading, my family enjoys and is very involved with soccer. I am a huge Sherlock fan and have been a Dr Who fan since I discovered it on PBS in the early 80's.

My thread is: rretzler's 75 - Trying this once again

Hi, My name is Paige. I am 35, and I just joined Library Thing, so this is my first experience with the 75 Challenge Group. I am an avid reader and will read just about anything. I teach 7th grade reading, so I spend much of the school year reading YA books. During the summer and holidays is when I really branch out and read everything else.

Being a book nerd, I of course have a TBR list that is a mile long, but I really hope to put a dent in that this year. I have created my own blog/website to help myself keep track of everything that I read and also practice writing about books. This is something I teach my 7th graders to do, but I feel that I need to practice what I preach and actually take the time to write about the books that I am reading as well.

I like the idea of joining this group so that I can challenge myself to read more and have a place to talk about the books that I read. I am completely new to blogging and posting and interacting on sites such as this, but I am really excited about it and hope to meet other book lovers like me.

My Thread: Paiger1979's 2015 Challenge

Welcome!

Yay! New blood! (Don't worry, we aren't particularly vampirish around here.) Welcome to the very best book club on the planet. Hope you enjoy yourself with the rest of us.

>134 Paiger1979: *waves* Hi, there! Welcome.

Hello!! This seems like a nice, fun group! Glad to be a part of it.