sangreal tracks again in 2015

Last year was my first attempt at tracking what I read using my own thread. I was quite happy with the results, and know that this is something I'll continue.

I have no idea how my reading will go this year, but I one thing I noticed was that I never even read the books I got through SantaThing in 2013! I couldn't believe it ... the year was so hectic and I found I took the easy route of using my tab or kindle, rather than picking up a physical book from my shelf. Before 2014, most of my books were packed away, but I was actually able to unpack most of them during the year, so that was no longer an excuse.

My goal is to read some of those books now beautifully displayed on my living-room shelves. I decided not to join an actual challenge, because I know I won't be able to keep up with the thread, so instead I'll just note it in this same thread if it's a physical book off my shelves or not.

I'm starting the year with two re-reads in e-book format, as I ended last year with the first two books in the Little Women series, and am going on to the last two books.

Looking forward to another wonderful year of great reading.!

JANUARY

Books Completed:

1. Jo's Boys - Louisa May Alcott
   
2. Little Men - Louisa May Alcott
   
3. The Rabbi's Cat - Joann Sfar (off the shelf)
   
4. Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi (off the shelf)
   
5. Warbreaker - Brandon Sanderson (off the shelf)
   
6. All the Names - José Saramago (off the shelf)
   
7. We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
   
8. Stone Mattress - Margaret Atwood

FEBRUARY

Books Completed:

1. Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
   
2. Wreckage- Emily Bleeker
   
3. The One That Got Away - Simon Wood
   
4. Everything Burns - Vincent Zandri
   
5. Tunnel Vision - Aric Davis
   
6. Rooms - Lauren Oliver
   
7. Prince Lestat - Anne Rice
   
8. Ruby - Cynthia Bond (off the shelf)
   

MARCH

Books Completed:

1. A Bad Character - Deepti Kapoor
   
2. Horns - Joe Hill

APRIL

Books Completed:

1. The Very Best of Tad Williams - Tad Williams
   
2. The Paper Magician - Charlie N. Holmberg
   
3. The Glass Magician - Charlie N. Holmberg
   

MAY

Books Completed:

1. Solitude Creek - Jeffrey Deaver
   
2. The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins
   
3. The Weight of Blood - Laura McHugh
   
4. Bent Road - Lori Roy

JUNE

Books Completed:

1. Until She Comes Home - Lori Roy
   
2. Let Me Die in His Footsteps - Lori Roy
   
3. A Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War, and a Ruined House in France - Miranda Richmond Mouillot
   
4. The Various Haunts of Men - Susan Hill

JULY

Books Completed:

1. The Other Side - Chevy Stevens
   
2. That's Not English - Erin Moore
   
3. The Harvest Man - Alex Grecian
   
4. Finders Keepers - Stephen King
   
5. Speaking in Bones - Kathy Reichs
   
6. A Share in Death - Deborah Crombie
   
7. All Shall Be Well - Deborah Crombie
   
8. Leave the Grave Green - Deborah Crombie
   
9. Mourn Not Your Dead - Deborah Crombie
   
10. Dreaming of the Bones - Deborah Crombie
    
    

AUGUST

Books Completed:

1. Kissed a Sad Goodbye - Deborah Crombie
   
2. A Finer End - Deborah Crombie
   
3. And Justice There is None - Deborah Crombie
   
4. Now May You Weep - Deborah Crombie
   
5. In a Dark House - Deborah Crombie
   
6. Water Like a Stone - Deborah Crombie
   
7. Where Memories Lie - Deborah Crombie
   
8. Necessary As Blood - Deborah Crombie
   
9. Nocturne with Bonus Material - Deborah Crombie
   
10. No Mark Upon Her - Deborah Crombie
    
11. The Sound of Broken Glass - Deborah Crombie
    
12. To Dwell in Darkness - Deborah Crombie
    
13. Devil's Bridge - Linda Fairstein
    

SEPTEMBER

Books Completed:

1. The Night Sister - Jennifer McMahon
   
2. The Pure in Heart - Susan Hill
   
3. The Risk of Darkness - Susan Hill
   
4. The Vows of Silence - Susan Hill
   
5. Shadows in the Street - Susan Hill
   
6. The Betrayal of Trust - Susan Hill
   
7. A Question of Identity - Susan Hill
   
8. The Soul of Discretion - Susan Hill
   
9. Little Black Lies - Sharon Bolton
   
10. Black-Eyed Susans - Julia Heaberlin
    
11. Those Girls - Chevy Stevens
    

OCTOBER

Books Completed:

1. Cover Her Face - P. D. James
   
2. A Mind to Murder - P. D. James
   
3. The Unraveling of Mercy Louis - Keija Parssinen

NOVEMBER

Books Completed:

1. The Master Magician - Charlie N. Holmberg
   
2. Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith
   
3. The Pocket Wife - Susan Crawford

DECEMBER

Books Completed:

1. Menagerie - Rachel Vincent
   
2. Ashley Bell - Dean Koontz
   
   Year Total - 71 (69 new, 2 re-reads)

Happy New Year and good luck finding lots of enjoyable reads this year.

Happy New Year to you! I look forward to seeing what you read this year.

>15 Sakerfalcon: Many thanks, and Happy New Year to you as well. Hope it's a great reading year for you :)

Off to a lovely start this year, if I do say so myself! Finished Jo's Boys and Little Men, then moved on to the two graphic novels I received via SantaThing, The Rabbi's Cat and Persepolis. I absolutely loved them both, and now that I've realised that there is a Part 2 to The Rabbi's Cat, I have to acquire it at some point.

I'm halfway through Warbreaker, which was another SantaThing gift, and it's really, really good! More to come.

Just three days left before beginning a 21 day vacation ... no guesses necessary as to what I plan to do with all that free time, especially considering DH has to work!

Warbreaker completed on Monday night. I simply LOVED this book. There were multiple dimensions everywhere - the characters, the cities, the motivations - I felt like I was never quite sure what was coming next.

My only disappointment was that I felt the end was a little bit rushed, especially as it's a stand-alone. I would have liked a little more story in the epilogue concerning Siri and Susebron's actions afterwards, especially in terms of what the balance of power looks like now. Anyway, that's probably just my love of detail.

Picked up All the Names - Jose Saramago next, but couldn't start yesterday, and probably won't today, owing to the massive amount of work I am trying to complete before my vacation starts tomorrow.

I've got Warbreaker on the TBR pile so I'm not going to peak at the spoiler for now but will come back after I've got around to read it (I hope) to see how our feelings compare. Hopefully next month! Ha Ha Ha

What a great start to the year you've made! I read The rabbi's cat books a few years ago and adored them (though the curly script isn't always easy to read) and Persepolis is great too. And I too really enjoyed Warbreaker; all the plot strands were compelling and I always wanted to know what would happen next.

I've only read one book by Saramago - The stone raft - but I really liked it and need to read more of his work. Hope you like All the names.

Starred! Looking forward to hearing about your three weeks of reading! :)

>19 Peace2: Looking forward to hearing what you thought.

>20 Sakerfalcon: The curly script wasn't difficult for me ... mostly because I had to learn to write like that in school! It was sort of like meeting an old friend again - I haven't written like that in ages.

>21 Marissa_Doyle: Welcome! I plan to thoroughly indulge myself, especially after I take the Christmas tree down this coming weekend and can access the bookshelf that has S in it!

Just had to note this now ... how have I never read Saramago before????

I'm just about twenty-five pages in, and I'm savouring the language like a fine meal! It's just so lovely. The long, convoluted sentences are making me slow down and absorb carefully.

Finished All the Names a few minutes ago. Oddly enough, it reminds me of reading Virginia Woolf for the first time. The stream of consciousness style felt similar to To the Lighthouse which was my first Woolf, and remains my favourite.

All the Names isn't even considered one of Saramago's best, but I really liked it, so I'm guessing I'll probably enjoy his others as well.

The search for self, and an understanding of identity, set against the backdrop of bureaucratic indifference.

Well between your experience with Saramago and that of >20 Sakerfalcon:. I suppose I must now go find something by him to read. Do you know off-hand, sangreal, what is considered to be Saramago's best?

>25 jillmwo: His most well known, and considered one of the best is Blindness, which will probably be my next read of his.

Definitely going to be more lists than comments this year, or until something changes at least. Work is getting more and more hectic and intense. I've been back just seven days now, and I've left two to three hours past my normal time for five of those days. I know I can't keep that up for long so hopefully it settles down soon.

One thing to note ... Station Eleven got much better reviews than California, which I read last year, but I found them fairly similar in theme and actually enjoyed the storyline in California more. Wonder if I'm missing something. Hmmm.

>27 sangreal: I just read Station eleven and loved it. California is on Mount Tbr, so I'm glad to hear you thought so highly of it. I'll probably try and read it soon.

I hope your busy work schedule still leaves you time to read, even if you can't come and tell us about it!

>28 Sakerfalcon: I'd love to know what you thought of California when you do read it.

I actually managed to blow through four books this weekend, albeit very short, easy reads. They were all good, but none exceptional. This was one of my better weekends. I also finished another short one yesterday. We also have a holiday weekend coming ... four whole days off from work! I hope to get a lot of reading done then.

So much for reading this weekend gone ... found so many other things to do, seeing that DH was home as well. Still, managed to finish Prince Lestat and began Ruby - Cynthia Bond as well.

Completed Ruby last night and began A Bad Character - Deepti Kapoor

Everything came to a halt after that last post. My uncle died that same day (last Friday) and sent me into something of a tailspin. A stupid, senseless death that I still can't even wrap my mind around - even after the funeral yesterday.

I haven't read a word since last Friday morning.

I'm sorry to hear that. Unexpected death is so shocking that it's no wonder you can't concentrate on a book right now. Here's to finding strength and serenity.

>32 sangreal: very sorry about your uncle

So sorry to hear of your loss. I hope you are able to take all the time you need to heal. I will keep you and your family in my thoughts.

So very sorry for your loss. I'll be sending good thoughts your way too.

Adding my well wishes to the others. Take care of yourself.

Yes, sympathy from me, too. Take care.

Sorry to hear of your loss. I send you my good wishes.

Thank you all for your thoughts and well-wishes ... your caring has actually made me smile today.

(((((sangreal))))) and may you and yours have extra strength to cope.

My condolences on your loss.

Oh, how awful for you...wishing you peace and strength, sangreal.

Give yourself the time you need. LT will be here when you need us.

Thank you for your comments and your caring. We are slowly coming to terms with what happened.

Finally finished A Bad Character and started Horns. Still not in too much of a frame of mind for reading, but hoping vacation next week will spark my interest again.

Spent the last two weeks home from work, with serious low blood sugar issues. All I could do was read. I'm bingeing on Deborah Crombie. Not usually a fan of cozies, but these aren't bad.

"Cozies" and rereading are often worth more than the newest books.

Sometimes the brain requires something different from the usual fare. Glad to see you can begin to focus on something!

I've finally exhausted the Deborah Crombie books, and I'm glad to say I enjoyed them all. I like the progression of the characters as the series went along, and while the mysteries weren't particularly challenging, they were well thought out. A good series all around.

Still in mysteries, though. Brain doesn't seem ready for much else, and I'm not forcing the issue.

>50 sangreal: I haven't read any Deborah Crombie - will have to see if my library has any.

>51 NorthernStar: If you do read any, let me know what you think.

>52 sangreal: I checked and our library has about 10 of her books, but not the first few. Is this series one that is important to read in order?

>53 NorthernStar: It is, to a point ... the personal lives of all the characters develop from book to book, and that's half the richness of the series.

On the other hand, Crombie usually manages to seamlessly work in a synopsis of what's happened before in the early parts of the book. On the whole,

I would say it depends on how important it is to you to experience the sequence of events first hand, as it were. I usually prefer to start at the beginning, but that's just personal preference :)

2015 ended really tough for me, and my reading fell off badly in the last few months. Still, I enjoyed pretty much everything I read for the year, so I consider that a very good thing.

The new year has actually started off even harder, and I'm burying myself in comfort re-reads just to keep coping. Will just have to see how the year goes.

Best wishes to you, for your year to improve. Give it time, and I think you have a great coping strategy in reading comfort re-reads. Be gentle to yourself. *hug*

I'm sorry to hear that you had a hard time last year, and I hope that things do improve for you in 2016. I hope the comfort reading gives you some solace in the meantime.

Sending good wishes for things improving for you. x

Coincidentally there's a new thread on comfort reads here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/214689

I hope the year improves quickly for you.

>56 MrsLee: >57 Sakerfalcon: >58 Peace2: >59 Marissa_Doyle: Thanks very much for the good wishes. They made me smile when I saw them :)