1AnnieMod
I used to be a regular in the Category Challenges groups but dropped off after 2013 after getting so boggled into my categories that it looked like numbers matter more than reading. Time to try again I guess. Starting slow: 3 main categories with 2 bonus ones (because you should always have bonuses planned
22 books per main category, no minimum on the bonus ones. 1 book per author in the main categories; no restriction in the bonus ones.
1. Series novels written in English (XX and XXI centuries)
2. Non-series novels written in English (XX and XXI centuries)
3. Translated books (originals in XX and XXI centuries)
Bonus Category 1: Before the Greeks took all the credit
Bonus Category 2: And then they could print - from Gutenberg to the Victorians (and their contemporaries)
Let's see how this goes this year.
My other running threads (as not all I read will be eligible here):
The Fifty States: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337408
The Global Challenge: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337283
Short stories: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337456
2022 Magazines: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337457
Pre-2022 Magazines: TBD
The big reading thread in Club Read 2022: TBD
22 books per main category, no minimum on the bonus ones. 1 book per author in the main categories; no restriction in the bonus ones.
1. Series novels written in English (XX and XXI centuries)
2. Non-series novels written in English (XX and XXI centuries)
3. Translated books (originals in XX and XXI centuries)
Bonus Category 1: Before the Greeks took all the credit
Bonus Category 2: And then they could print - from Gutenberg to the Victorians (and their contemporaries)
Let's see how this goes this year.
My other running threads (as not all I read will be eligible here):
The Fifty States: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337408
The Global Challenge: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337283
Short stories: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337456
2022 Magazines: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337457
Pre-2022 Magazines: TBD
The big reading thread in Club Read 2022: TBD
2AnnieMod
1. Series novels written in English (XX and XXI centuries)
Rules: 1 novel per author. 1 novel per series.
1. Inheritor by C. J. Cherryh -- Foreigner (3)
2. War Women by Martin Limón -- Sueño and Bascom (15)
3. Wayward Souls by Devon Monk -- Souls of the Road (1)
4. Robert B. Parker's Bull River by Robert Knott -- Cole and Hitch (6)
5. Hoodwink by Bill Pronzini -- Nameless Detective (7)
6. The Fall of Koli by M. R. Carey -- Rampart Trilogy (3)
7. Abandoned in Death by J. D. Robb -- In Death (54)
8. At Last by Edward St. Aubyn -- Patrick Melrose (5)
Rules: 1 novel per author. 1 novel per series.
1. Inheritor by C. J. Cherryh -- Foreigner (3)
2. War Women by Martin Limón -- Sueño and Bascom (15)
3. Wayward Souls by Devon Monk -- Souls of the Road (1)
4. Robert B. Parker's Bull River by Robert Knott -- Cole and Hitch (6)
5. Hoodwink by Bill Pronzini -- Nameless Detective (7)
6. The Fall of Koli by M. R. Carey -- Rampart Trilogy (3)
7. Abandoned in Death by J. D. Robb -- In Death (54)
8. At Last by Edward St. Aubyn -- Patrick Melrose (5)
3AnnieMod
2. Non-series novels written in English (XX and XXI centuries)
Rules: 1 novel per author. Authors with novels in category 1 do not qualify.
Rules: 1 novel per author. Authors with novels in category 1 do not qualify.
5AnnieMod
Bonus Category 1: Before the Greeks took all the credit
Part of my long-running Reading through history project that keeps sliding back into prehistory. Fiction and non-fiction written or about the world before Homer.
Part of my long-running Reading through history project that keeps sliding back into prehistory. Fiction and non-fiction written or about the world before Homer.
6AnnieMod
Bonus Category 2: And then they could print - from Gutenberg to the Victorians (and their contemporaries)
Fiction published in the period and non-fiction from or about it; from mid 15th century to the Victorians.
Fiction published in the period and non-fiction from or about it; from mid 15th century to the Victorians.
8VivienneR
Excellent format! I look forward to following along with your reading, especially the bonus categories 1 & 2.
10rabbitprincess
Welcome back to the category challenge gang! Looking forward to seeing how your reading year unfolds :)
11DeltaQueen50
Welcome back, Annie, hope 2022 brings you lots of great reading!
12dudes22
I love all the ways we find to structure our challenges - looking forward to your reading.
14MissWatson
I'll be very interested to see what you read in your "before the Greeks" category. Happy reading in 2022!
15AnnieMod
>14 MissWatson: Sneak peak: The Harps that Once...: Sumerian Poetry in Translation :) Not sure that it is the first I will finish - being a pretty big anthology - but I am pretty sure it will go into 2022 (not enough time in 2021 to finish it) so it will make it to that Bonus category sooner or later.
>8 VivienneR: >9 hailelib: >10 rabbitprincess: >11 DeltaQueen50: >12 dudes22: >13 Tess_W: Hi everyone :)
>8 VivienneR: >9 hailelib: >10 rabbitprincess: >11 DeltaQueen50: >12 dudes22: >13 Tess_W: Hi everyone :)
16MissWatson
>15 AnnieMod: What a fascinating find!
17pamelad
Nicely flexible categories. They look as though they'd hold almost any book.
I'm very tempted by The Global Challenge, so will follow along.
I'm very tempted by The Global Challenge, so will follow along.
18AnnieMod
>17 pamelad: There are things that won’t fit (English non-novels after the Victorians and the whole period between Homer and Gutenberg) but they were designed that way - big enough not to become irrelevant when my reading shifts but not as wide as “Novels”. :) Lessons learned from a decade ago and all that.
>16 MissWatson: “Wait, but there is more” :) I also have an Akkadian one (Before the Muses and a few Ancient Egyptian ones. One you start looking, there is a lot more besides Gilgamesh out there (and he is relatively late in that corpus).
>16 MissWatson: “Wait, but there is more” :) I also have an Akkadian one (Before the Muses and a few Ancient Egyptian ones. One you start looking, there is a lot more besides Gilgamesh out there (and he is relatively late in that corpus).
19thornton37814
Welcome back and have a great year of reading!
20MissBrangwen
Welcome back from a fairly new member!
21mathgirl40
Welcome back! I too ended up simplifying my challenge somewhat last year and enjoyed the process much more.
22AnnieMod
What would you know - I managed to start the year with something that actually fits my categories :)
1S. Inheritor by C. J. Cherryh
Type: Novel
Original Language: English
Original Publication: 1996
Series: Foreigner (3)
Genre: Science Fiction
Format: mass market paperback
Publisher: DAW, DAW Collectors #1018
Reading dates: 30 December 2021 - 1 January 2022
Finishing the first trilogy inside of the much longer series, Inheritor picks up 6 months after Invader finished. The human ship is now part of the normal life of everyone, the second interpreter is steadily learning the language and Bren is back to trying to do his job. Except nothing is the same really - Mospheira don't even talk to him and Deanna Hanks is up to no good again.
The relative peace does not last long and Bren (now with Jason) is thrown back in the middle of the machinations of Hanks and her supporters. Ilisidi gets to pull one of her tricks again, we get to see even more of atevi society, a love affair or three finally get to happen and the reason for the ship being back after 200 years is finally revealed (thus setting the stage for the next novels).
As usual with this series, it took me awhile to get into the style - Bren's constant doubt in anything that happens and his own actions can be annoying. On the other hand, he is a translator and the world literally depends on his work - one wrong word and things can crash down - just see what happened when Hanks mentioned FTL. Making a translator the main character and giving us the story from his viewpoint makes this series a bit different. And we are not talking about translations between languages and cultures only but between species - different brain wiring makes it impossible to find commonalities (or makes it very hard anyway). And looking at the society from outside while becoming part of it (in some ways) is going to always be interesting.
Cherryh specializes in writing humans as the outsiders - her Chanur and Mri series did the same. But this one is somewhat different - in both Chanur and Mri, there is only one human (and when others appear, they are there just marginally), here Bren is alone in the atevi world but the rest of humanity is still there (and getting everyone in trouble). The whole idea is as much dealing with a different culture as it is smoothing the way for the two cultures to meet. Plus he had been trained for that (unlike the Chanur and Mri cases).
I also think that with getting more familiar with the atevi helps the series - the first book was a hard read - worth it but still hard one. This books feels a lot lighter in some ways - mainly because things finally make sense. I almost want to go back and reread the first book now - but then I have a lot more left. But I can see myself returning.
Don't even try to read this novel on its own - it is very much a part of its series and even though a lot of the background is repeated, it won't work if you never read the previous 2 novels. On the other hand, if you are up for an adventure, you cannot really go wrong with this series (unless you bounce off the style anyway).
1S. Inheritor by C. J. Cherryh
Type: Novel
Original Language: English
Original Publication: 1996
Series: Foreigner (3)
Genre: Science Fiction
Format: mass market paperback
Publisher: DAW, DAW Collectors #1018
Reading dates: 30 December 2021 - 1 January 2022
Finishing the first trilogy inside of the much longer series, Inheritor picks up 6 months after Invader finished. The human ship is now part of the normal life of everyone, the second interpreter is steadily learning the language and Bren is back to trying to do his job. Except nothing is the same really - Mospheira don't even talk to him and Deanna Hanks is up to no good again.
The relative peace does not last long and Bren (now with Jason) is thrown back in the middle of the machinations of Hanks and her supporters. Ilisidi gets to pull one of her tricks again, we get to see even more of atevi society, a love affair or three finally get to happen and the reason for the ship being back after 200 years is finally revealed (thus setting the stage for the next novels).
As usual with this series, it took me awhile to get into the style - Bren's constant doubt in anything that happens and his own actions can be annoying. On the other hand, he is a translator and the world literally depends on his work - one wrong word and things can crash down - just see what happened when Hanks mentioned FTL. Making a translator the main character and giving us the story from his viewpoint makes this series a bit different. And we are not talking about translations between languages and cultures only but between species - different brain wiring makes it impossible to find commonalities (or makes it very hard anyway). And looking at the society from outside while becoming part of it (in some ways) is going to always be interesting.
Cherryh specializes in writing humans as the outsiders - her Chanur and Mri series did the same. But this one is somewhat different - in both Chanur and Mri, there is only one human (and when others appear, they are there just marginally), here Bren is alone in the atevi world but the rest of humanity is still there (and getting everyone in trouble). The whole idea is as much dealing with a different culture as it is smoothing the way for the two cultures to meet. Plus he had been trained for that (unlike the Chanur and Mri cases).
I also think that with getting more familiar with the atevi helps the series - the first book was a hard read - worth it but still hard one. This books feels a lot lighter in some ways - mainly because things finally make sense. I almost want to go back and reread the first book now - but then I have a lot more left. But I can see myself returning.
Don't even try to read this novel on its own - it is very much a part of its series and even though a lot of the background is repeated, it won't work if you never read the previous 2 novels. On the other hand, if you are up for an adventure, you cannot really go wrong with this series (unless you bounce off the style anyway).
