CurrerBell's BFBs for 2023

Jan (0), Feb (0), March (1), Total (1)

OK, I've got five BFBs that I got through partially in 2022 and mean to finish up in the next couple or three months.

Henry James: Novels 1896-1899: The Other House / The Spoils of Poynton / What Maisie Knew / The Awkward Age (Library of America)

Don Quijote (Norton Critical)

Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales

Chesterton's The Complete Father Brown Stories

The Writings of St. Paul (Norton Critical)

And I'm really going to try to get a good crack at some of my humongous Mount TBR of Library of America editions, almost all if not all of which qualify as BFBs.

And I've been thinking of doing a complete, straight-through, beginning-to-end reading of the Bible using the NRSV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (which does not include the Apocrypha). I've got other editions as well, including an Oxford annotated edition with the Apocrypha from all churches with the exception of Enoch (recognized only by the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches and by Beta Israel Ethiopian Jews), but the Cultural Backgrounds edition has fascinating commentary and visuals.

I may have to drop out of the 100 Books challenge for the new year, considering some of my BFB ambitions and the fact that I was only able to hit the low eighties this year. Maybe I'll get back into the Read Our Own Tomes (ROOT) challenge for the new year instead, especially since I've made a New Year's Resolution to leave my B&N membership card and B&N Mastercharge at home to avoid impulse buying.

Very ambitious, Mike! Remember, it's quality, not quantity! I, too, have declared 2023 the year of no book buying! I have just under 500 on my shelves and ereader that I really need to make a dent in!

>2 Tess_W: That's sorta maybe kinda my resolution too, no book buying, but The Mistress of Bhatia House comes out July 11 (it's the fourth in Sujata Massey's "Perveen Mistry" mystery series about a female Parsee solicitor in Bombay in the 1920s, first female lawyer in the city). And who knows what else is going to be lurking on those B&N shelves???

ETA: OK, on my way downstairs now to get my wallet, take out that B&N plastic, and leave it with a couple other cards on a living room table.

'nuther ETA: And remember, as to my resolution, I only said impulse buying. {heh heh}

still 'nuther ETA: Uh oh. Looks like Kim Harrison's Demons of Good and Evil is due out in June, #17 in the "Rachel Morgan" ("The Hollows") series.

>3 CurrerBell: I've read the first Massey mystery. Perhaps when I whittle down my TBR....

Book buying is not the only thing I'm being frugal with this year. I spent 2021 & 2022 in the throes of canning and dehydrating food. I now have enough in my pantry to eat from for 2-3 years. So Jan/Feb are "no spend months." Eating only what is on my shelf or in the freezer. I'm allowing $10 a week for fresh fruits/vegs & 1/2 gallon of milk. I know this is only January 2, but I have dutifully emptied my cart on Amazon (books) and at Kohl's!

>4 Tess_W: I'm going to cut down at least a bit on food buying for a while too. Also, on recreational driving, considering the price of gas. When the weather's warm, I'm hoping to get to nearby Tyler Arboretum, where I'm a member so I enter for free. I'm not sure my health's currently up to it for getting out onto the woodland trails, but I can do an hour-a-day walk on the asphalt pathway around the arboretum. Get myself a little tired out and I'll be less eager to spend money.

Hi Mike, nice to see you here again, no book buying eh, i want to cut down new arrivals but we will wait and see what happens. A book buying free January would be good for me.

Good to see you here, Mike, and the best of luck with the no book buying!

Hi Mike, Good to see you back here. No book buying is not going to work for me, since I bought my first book yesterday.
Very ambitious plans you have. Good luck with them.

March 26 ... Winston Churchill, The World Crisis: 1911-1918 (single-volume abridged)
May 13 .... Justin Cronin, The Ferryman
May 24 ... Raymond Chandler: Stories and Early Novels: Pulp Stories / The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window (Library of America)
August 8 ... Brandon Sanderson, Mistborn: The Final Empire
August 19 ... Honore de Balzac, Wild Ass' Skin, Chouans

September 5 ... Brandon Sanderson, The Well of Ascension
September 17 ... Brandon Sanderson, The Hero of Ages
October 4 ... Olivia Manning, The Balkan Trilogy
December 19 ... John Le Carre Omnibus