September RandomCat: Where did the time go???

This time of the year, it somehow always seems like time has been sneaking up on the calendar and on me. I find myself staring at dates and email, wondering where the heck the summer went and how it's September already. Heck, where did this year go, for that matter?

With this in mind, and knowing that I've got friends and family feeling the same, I figured that Catching Up might be a good theme to jump into for September! So maybe you're behind on work-related reading, or on some plan or reading you hoped to tackle in 2017, or even behind on a series: my challenge to you is to take one more step forward in Catching Up!

To give you some ideas, some possibilities on my end include:

--tackling the next book in the Anita Blake vampire series, which I adore, but haven't gotten back to reading in ages (I think I'm five books behind?!?)

--taking some strides in catching up on earlier reviewer books that have slowly piled up and are awaiting review...

--tackling a book that takes this as a sort of theme in itself... I don't have a book in mind here, but I know I'm currently reading one where the world and life have clearly snuck up on the protagonist, and I've read such books before, so there are plenty of them out there!

Of course, you can also just keep procrastinating by staring at cat pictures, as I occasionally do too often...

I often feel that much of my reading is "catch-up" so this is a great theme for me. I have decided to finally finish a couple of trilogies that have been left for far too long. The Land of the Blessed by Nancy Farmer will complete her Sea of Trolls trilogy and Troubles by J.G. Farrell is the final book for me to read in his Empire trilogy.

Great theme and I love your wonderful cat picture header!

Each month I have picked out a few books that I hoped to read that month, and piled them up on the night table. Actually, what I've achieved is a new dust-collector heap of all the books I didn't get around to reading. There are too many to list but I will choose at least one from that pile. I'd really like to clear the whole lot but that's not possible in one month.

This theme is a good one for me.

One of the books that has been on my TBR the longest, since 2009, is An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears so that's my choice.

I've come back to add something else. To advance at least one series, I'll try to work in A Trail of Ink by Mel Starr. It's a light historical mystery that shouldn't take too long. It's been four years since I read the previous installment. FOUR YEARS??

lol--I figured I wasn't the only who had some plans that slipped past with the passing calendar!

I'll use this as a push to finish Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., which I've been reading off and on via Project Gutenberg since April. Great theme!

I have been meaning to reread all of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books for several years. I think I'll combine this with the CATWoman challenge and read some of these, in order. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how many I'll read since we are moving to a larger cottage in our retirement community at the beginning of the month and I'm scheduled to have cataract surgery on the 20th.

>7 sallylou61: Wishing you all the best for your cataract surgery. I'm told you'll be reading again in no time.

>7 sallylou61: Best of luck for the surgery. My mum had cataract surgery a few months ago, and was amazed at the colours she could see afterwards! I think she found it a bit frustrating that she wasn't able to get her eyes checked for about 6 weeks afterwards so had to go that long with glasses that no longer worked with her eyes. But she said wearing sunglasses (indoors and out) helped a lot.

I'm not sure yet if I'll take part in this. But I have requested an ER book for the first time this year, and if I get it (who knows? Considerably more requests than copies for this one) I will read it as part of this CAT.

>7 sallylou61:, Good luck!

>10 Jackie_K:, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you :)

Good theme! I'm very behind on my series focus this year, so I will probably dedicate September to only series books.

This is a great theme for me as I feel like I'm always playing catch up. I definitely have a couple of books that I intended to get to earlier this year but just haven't yet. September will be the month for one of them!

I love this idea!

I was hoping to finish the BingoCAT in August, but I think my last book (I still have two to go, but should get to one of them this weekend) may get put off, with so many other books lined up, so assuming I don't get to that last one this month, I'm going to say:

Jerry of the Islands / Jack London

Alternately, I could go with either of two other annual challenge books that I have left:
City of Thieves / David Benioff
or
Love Walked In / Marisa de los Santos.

OR, I might just go with a book or two that's been on my tbr amongst the longest amount of time:
With that in mind, I'd say any of these:
Man vs. Weather / Dennis DiClaudio
Split Estate / Charlotte Bacon
The Woman Who Can't Forget / Jill Price

>4 clue: LOL! That sounds like me, with most series! Ok, 4 years doesn't happen very often, but I'm sure it has happened to me, as well.

>8 VivienneR:, >9 Jackie_K:, >11 whitewavedarling: Thanks. I'm kind of scared about the cataract surgery; I have never liked to have anything put in my eyes, even eyedrops. Back in high school many years ago I tried contact lenses for a few months (the hard kind), but could never adjust to them. However, several people have told me that they could see much better after the surgery.

>16 sallylou61: - my sister told me she could see better afterward. Good luck with it.

I'm way behind my planned reading for this year which included catching up with some series. So probably anything and everything I read next month will count for this challenge. But I may go back and look at the books I still haven't read that I added to LT back when I joined (I joined in 2008, but didn't start adding unread books until 2009).

Thanks for this wonderful theme! And the cat picture!

I'm way behind this year and have lots of options. Maybe something for my African category? Or one of my series? Or one of the many BBs that have hit me in the last three years? Or a book I had planned for one of the CATs, but didn't get to? I don't know yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

Will time travel work for this theme?

>7 sallylou61: Good luck with the cataract surgery. I had mine done a couple of years ago and remember being absolutely terrified, but it worked out well and I was reading again very quickly.

>19 majkia:, I hadn't even thought about that, but I'd certainly say so; it's hard to imagine a time travel book where the question of time catching up with you or you being behind on time wouldn't be an issue!

>20 DeltaQueen50: Thanks. Glad to hear that your cataract surgery went so well (and that you were terrified before it since I am scared). I appreciate that a number of people have been reassuring about it.

I think I am going to read for this challenge the book I originally intended to read for the March RandomCAT but never got to: The Wonder by Emma Donoghue.

I think I will go for Victorian London by Liza Picard, the last in her series of books on London, which has been sitting on my shelves for ages.

I'm way behind with my reading of library books. I'll focus on those for this challenge.

Catching up? Is that even possible?

Okay, I'm in. I love to read the new books before they are released, so I request them from NetGalley or here in the ER group. I currently have 43 books in my possession that I'm supposed to have already read.

I will try to "catch up" on at least 10 of these.

*** shakes her head and mutters to herself - "wishful thinking, wishful thinking"***

I like this category! I will have to choose from my pile of "to be read" books.

>26 cyderry:, I can sympathize--I don't have 43, but I'm near on two dozen!

>1 whitewavedarling: I like this topic, I'm ALWAYS playing "ketchup" with my library, so why not apply it to a challenge?

I do have one ER book that I received a couple months ago and have not yet read, Survivors: Extraordinary Tales from the Wild and Beyond.

I have lots of ROOT books that I want to read or rehome, as I'm behind in my goal for the year.

And there are always series books a'waiting to be continued...

>14 LibraryCin: that's one Jack London book I have not yet read. BB!

>29 fuzzi: I think it's in the public domain. I believe I got mine via Project Gutenberg for free. I do hope to get to it in September!

Seeing as my whole theme for the year is catching up on my series I would just like to thank you for this topic - which is perfect for me. Hopefully I will have something to add as September progresses.

>31 Roro8:, lol, glad to help :)

Hey all, I'm so excited to see the theme meets with approval and reading about the catch-up plans :)

That said... I know I'm technically the host here this month, but for those of you that don't already know it, I'm located in SW Florida. I'm getting word from my husband (who works at a local news station) that all signs point to large-scale evacuations because of Irma. There's a Very good chance I'm going to be piling our three cats and our hound into our SUV on Thursday and hitting the highway to evacuate, which will mean I won't be online much at all for probably a week or so, given travel time for me to reach my family in VA, and hurricane time. SO, this is just to say: if there are any questions that you'd normally expect a host to jump in for, I may be largely absent, so you may be jumping in to answer each other... Given the category, I doubt there'll be any questions about what counts, but just in case, I figured I ought to mention it...

Meanwhile, given the rain and the flooding and the fires and the hurricanes this Fall seems to be throwing around, everyone, stay safe! (And if you're reading this and you're in FL also, seriously, just in case, take Irma seriously. I probably hate the idea of evacuating more than most, given that it means I leave my husband behind, what with him working at the news station, but this storm isn't anything to joke about.)

I hope you and yours keep safe and dry, wwd.

>33 whitewavedarling: Oh no! I am glad to hear you are not taking chances and are evacuating, though. Take care of yourself and your kitties.

>33 whitewavedarling: Yikes! Stay safe, both you and your hubby.

>33 whitewavedarling: That sounds scary - hope you both remain safe, whatever you decide to do.

>33 whitewavedarling: Stay safe!

We are in the panhandle of Florida also possibly in Irma's path. However, that said, we have a 3 week RV excursion planned beginning Thursday and will not sit here and obsess over Irma and whether it will hit us, or our friends. We're leaving the house and Niceville to its fate and heading north to the mountains.

>34 Robertgreaves:, >35 LibraryCin:, >36 rabbitprincess:, >37 Jackie_K:, Thanks! The well-wishes are appreciated :)

>38 majkia:, Good plan :) I think we'd already be packing up and heading out, honestly, but for the fact that my husband has to stay here because he works at a news station--it's really hard to leave him behind. I'm praying his boss will decide the whole crew should evacuate and that we can leave together Friday morning, but if not, it looks like I'll hit the road with our animals Thursday. You guys travel safe also!

I've been notified that I was successful in my ER request last month (as mentioned in >10 Jackie_K: ), but am yet to receive the book. If it arrives soon-ish then I shall read it for this month's CAT.

Good luck to all of you looking to avoid Irma - stay safe!

Hope you and your hubby stay safe. That's a long drive to do alone.

To >33 whitewavedarling: and all the others in Irma's path - stay safe & fingers crossed that it doesn't wreak too much havoc!

I have been pondering what to read for this theme - I think that I might try to tackle another Proust. It was a personal challenge to read the whole series of In Search of Lost Time this year but I abandoned it several months ago when my dad got sick.

>33 whitewavedarling: - Good luck! Hope everything turns out okay with Irma.

The first book I finished that qualifies for this challenge is Dombey and Son - part of my ongoing personal Dickens challenge. After not reading one last year, I finally finished one this year.

I've started Speaker for the Dead, which I had originally meant to read in July.

Thanks for the well-wishes, friends. We're semi-glued to the weather reports. Meanwhile, I'm going to start my first book for this challenge, One by One: A Danny Ryan Thriller, which is a Goodreads Giveaway I've been simply not getting around to, even though I loved the first in the series. Here's hoping it proves to be a good distraction from a stressful week! (Meanwhile, it's sitting beside me, and my cat Ziva just started licking the cover for some reason. I guess she approves?)

I'm going to use this challenge to try to complete books that I've started, but never got around to finishing. First up is Mozart's Women, which I've been reading off and on since last July (as in 2016!).

Man Vs. Weather / Dennis DiClaudio
3.5 stars

This is a humourous book that teaches readers about the weather.

I am always interested in the weather and am particularly fascinated by storms and bad weather. I have occasionally thought it might be interesting to be a meteorologist. I mostly enjoyed this. There were a few parts where the science was just a little too much for me, despite my interest, but mostly the author was able to describe it in ways that made sense. There was humour thrown in, and some illustrations. I was particularly interested in the sections on storms and bad weather (no surprise to me), and at the end, I also enjoyed the section on the history of weather (and the Earth and humans, in general).

A year after I joined LT, I entered books into a "to read" collection as I found I was buying books I already had. That was back in 2009 and there are still books from then I haven't read 8 years later. So I'm going to try and get some of them out of that collection and read this month.

I'm catching up on the Bookburners series by Max Gladstone -- I finished Season 1 yesterday.

I'm planning to reread all of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books this year. I have just completed Farmer Boy which means I still have a long way to go (but am making progress).

A Deadly Yarn / Maggie Sefton
3 stars

A friend of Kelly’s is moving from Colorado to New York to further her artist career, but on the morning another friend, Megan, is supposed to pick her up to get her to the airport, she is found dead. Kelly and Megan begin sleuthing to find out who killed Allison (though Kelly has been warned against sticking her nose in before!).

It was ok. A quick read. I think this is where I’ll stop with this series, though. The mystery was fine for me, but I was quite bored with Kelly’s personal issues/decisions/life. I thought the author did a nice job with her descriptions of Colorado, though. There are plenty of cozy mysteries out there, but this series has lost my interest.

I bought my copy of The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton back when it was first released and was going to read it right away, except we were doing the GeoCAT that year and so I decided to save it for the appropriate month. I didn't read it on the appropriate month. I thought now would be a good time to finally get around to it and in keeping with the spirit of this month's theme, I'm pretty sure I won't manage to finish it this month.

I decided to finally finish up the Martin Beck series with the last book, The Terrorists. I had been putting it off because I didn't want the series to end!

I have completed my first trilogy of the month with my reading of Troubles by J. G. Farrell. This was the final volume I needed to read to complete his "Empire Trilogy".

COMPLETED Victorian London by Liza Picard, the last in her London series, which has been sitting on my shelves since Christmas 2015.

The October thread is up: http://www.librarything.com/topic/269480.

Finished One by One: A Danny Ryan Mystery, which is a Goodreads Giveaway that had been hanging about my TBR for far too long! Full review posted, and added to the wiki...

The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe / Peter Godwin
3 stars

In 2008, there was a “democratic” election in Zimbabwe, which apparently defeated its long-time leader/dictator, Robert Mugabe. Mugabe, however, wouldn’t accept it, so while there was to be a re-vote, Mugabe’s people hunted down and tortured and/or murdered people known to be voting against him. The (white) author, who had been born in Zimbabwe, and was now a journalist elsewhere, decided to head back and talked to Zimbabwean people to bear witness.

The book followed the author as he travelled across the country to talk to the people. There were a lot of people and much of the book, particularly the first half, focused on telling the stories of those who had been tortured. Because there were so many people, I sometimes found it hard to follow – is this a new person, or is this one of the people already mentioned? Some of the other parts were a bit dry for me. It’s horrible, everything that happened, but I found much of the book (though not all) a dry read, unfortunately.

This book is copyrighted 2010, so I looked up Mugabe. The man, at 90-something years old now, is still alive and sadly, still the leader of the country.

I finally read Prager Tagblatt which I have owned for ages. Disappointing, since there was not enough about the eponymous newspaper.

Whoo-Hoo! I finished off another long-standing trilogy with The Islands of the Blessed, the third volume in Nancy Farmer's Sea Trolls trilogy. I've had this one on my shelf for some time so I am very happy to finally get it read and I can move it along.

I finished Speaker for the Dead which was awesome - completely different from Ender's Game, which was also excellent.

Am almost halfway through The Great Hunt, second book in The Wheel of Time series and a re-read (first time 27 years ago!) - also awesome!

I finished two books for the perfect RandomCAT theme:
> Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, which I had planned to read for the February AwardsCAT (Tournament of Boooks).
> Der goldene Handschuh by Heinz Strunk, which was published last year and immediately ended up on my "need to read" list.

Both great, but hard reads. I also started The Leopard by Jo Nesbo, which is the 8th in the Harry Hole series.

>62 LisaMorr: I also loved Speaker for the Dead.

I finished The Wonder by Emma Donoghue, which I originally meant to read in March for the Irish themed RandomCat, but only now actually got around to reading.

I have read book 2 in Alison Weir's Six Tudor Queen series - Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession. I think the next book is not quite available in Australia yet, so I am happily caught up with this series now.

I did it! I finished Two Years Before the Mast! Thanks, @whitewavedarling, for the prompt! Now I can find another ebook to languish on my iPad for six months :P

>66 rabbitprincess:, happy to oblige lol.

Jerry of the Islands / Jack London
3 stars

This book follows Jerry, a puppy, as he sets out on the sea with a sailor. From there he ends up on land with a group of people. And he makes his way further from there. Much of the story is from Jerry’s point of view.

It was ok. I had trouble following much of the dialogue. I (no surprise to me) found myself much more interested in the parts that were from Jerry’s point of view, rather than the parts that strayed from that and focused on the people in the story.

Just finished All the Wrong Places: Adrift in the Politics of the Pacific Rim, which I'd been meaning to read for ages; I'm glad the CultureCat and this in tandem pushed me to get to it, and there's a full (glowing) review written!

I just finished Still Life , the first in the Inspector Gamache mystery series by Louise Penny. I am counting this as catching up because it has been recommended to me for ages and I finally decided to give it a try in August, but didn't have time to really read most of it until just recently...catching up. The touchstone didn't work so here is the url for the work page. http://www.librarything.com/work/2705703

I have been having trouble with Touchstones today too. Glad to know it isn't me!

I finished The Great Hunt, which I had originally planned to read in July. It was a re-read for me - hard to believe that I read this 27 years ago! It was excellent; while I remembered the general storyline, I had forgotten the big climactic finish!

I finished Safe House which has been on my TBR since back in 2010. Seems like that's long enough. Too bad it wasn't better.

My Story / Elizabeth Smart
4 stars

In 2002, Elizabeth Smart was only 14-years old when she was kidnapped from her own bedroom(!!!) in Salt Lake City, Utah. A homeless man who considered himself a prophet kidnapped her and he and his wife held her for nine months before they were caught and she was reunited with her family. Elizabeth tells the story of what happened.

In addition to her own story of what happened over those nine months, Elizabeth tells some of how things were going back home with the search. In fact, for a good chunk of the time, she was kept very close to home, until it got too cold to live in their tent and all three moved to California.

The way the story was told seemed very “simple” to me, maybe to reflect (on purpose or otherwise!) how young she was at the time? There is also a bit or repetition. I certainly remember the story in the news, even here in Canada and always wondered about her. She seems to have come through very well adjusted (despite the daily rape!). She doesn’t go into detail on that. The 4-star rating may also have to do with my interest in the case, generally.

For those who don't already know, the 2018 CAT discussion is in progress! Voting will start soon, so stop by the thread if you'd like to be involved in selecting next year's CATs: http://www.librarything.com/topic/269263. (Cross-posting to a bunch of threads, so my apologies if you see this multiple times!)

I finished Little Bee by Chris Cleave that I gave four stars. There were parts that I thought a bit melodramatic, characters that I disliked, but on the whole I enjoyed the book and thought it illuminating on the topic of refugees.

Finished The Lilac Girls finally which I’d been dragging out for months. It was good once I finally settled into it but not great.

>76 VivienneR: Glad you enjoyed it! It was a book club book for me earlier this month and most people seemed to like it.

Starting The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch, the most recent Rivers of London novel, which my sister gave me for last Christmas.

I finished an anthology edited by Mindy Klasky, Nevertheless, She Persisted, which I won in the August Early Reviewers. I know it doesn't really count as something I meant to read ages ago, but including it as part of this month's RandomCAT inspired me to keep going and not leave it for ages!

>80 Jackie_K:, that counts, so far as I'm concerned!

Well, I won't be finishing The Guermantes Way this month but I appreciated this month's CAT providing me with the push to pick up my Proust challenge again.

I finally got around to reading The Prodigal Spy by Joseph Kanon--a fast escape read in a month when I needed distractions! Full review written :)

Where did the time go?

>84 Kristelh: :) lol--exactly!

>84 Kristelh: I'm asking that question myself. :)

The book I finished for this challenge was Buried Angels by Camilla Läckberg. This is the 8th in the series and I have one more to go before I'm truly caught up.