Kerry (avatiakh) travels the literary world, part 3

Welcome to my 2026 #3 thread. I'm Kerry, from Auckland, New Zealand and a member of the 75er group since 2009. I read widely, love books for the young and translated works. Happy to relax with a romance or crime novel from time to time, scifi and fantasy also getting a look in.
No particular focus this year apart from participating in a few challenge threads.

In 2023 I briefly visited Ireland, we had a night in Rostrevor, NI to visit places nearby that had family connections. Rostrevor had the nicest accommodation on offer at the time. We discovered that it was where C.S. Lewis spent many happy summer holidays as a child and later on as well. There were lots of Narnia themed murals and our hotel room was the 'Narnia room'. The artworks were all quite amateur but with so many it was quite magical as well. A short walk from our inn was a Narnia themed wood & fairy glen.

Currently Reading:
Life & Fate by Vasily Grossman - slow read
Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash
Cherrywood by Jock Serong
The Odyssey by Homer - Penguin Classics on audio
Guns and Barbed wire: A Child Survives the Holocaust by Thomas Geve - stalled

My 2026 Category thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/376477
I'll list my 12 + 1 categories later today.
I've volunteered to host a Cat & 2 Kits -
Decade CAT - April: 00 years
The Book of Splendour - set in 1601
The Tokaido Road - set in 1701
SFFKit - July: Humorous SFF
The Portable Door by Tom Holt
Skaredy Kit - October: The Occult

The picture is of a hobbit house in Hobbiton, Matamata, one of the film locations for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. It's about a 2.5 hour drive from where I live but I still haven't visited.

Goals for 2026
Each year I set a reading goal of around 150 books, this includes picturebooks though I don't count them here but do over on GR. I recorded 186 books so far read in 2025 at GR and hope to finish around 3 more books by year's end.
So again for 2026 I'll set my reading goal at 150 books.
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1) To finish books I've started in previous years
2) Rereads - I want to reread a few books as I round off some fantasy scifi series such as the Sterkarm books by Susan Price.
3) Paul's Americas Challenge - try to read at least one book for each month
4) The British Authors Challenge - again 1 or 2 books each month
5) Tidying up - finish up reading my Graham Greene paperbacks and others
6) New to me writers - still exploring Lavie Tidhar works & want to try more of Joseph O'Connor
7) English Children's Classics - I have lots of old paperbacks of Leon Garfield, William Mayne, John Christopher, Rosemary Sutcliff, Geoffrey Trease as well as my ongoing Carnegie (UK) Medal List.
8) Focus - The Big n' Ugly books in my collection - read them and turf them

plus a repeat of my now more successful 2022/3/4/5 goals which includes the books I vouched for over on the Club Read 2022's HOPE TO READ SOON: a tribute to Rebeccanyc. Only two books left.
I started The End of Everything in 2025 and hope to finish it in 2026.
Aira, César. The Seamstress and the Wind
Bergelson, Dovid. The End of Everything
The 2025 HOPE TO READ thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/371043

Paul's Americas Challenge in 2026

January - CHILEAN AUTHORS
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
February - ANGLO CARIBBEAN AUTHORS
The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon
March - MEXICAN AUTHORS
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
April - HISPANIC NORTH AMERICANS
nada
May - BRAZILIAN AUTHORS
Captains of the Sands by Jorge Amado
June - NON-FICTION ABOUT THE AMERICAS
The Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival by Alicia Partnoy
July - CUBAN AUTHORS
August - FRANCO CARIBBEAN AUTHORS
September - COLOMBIAN AUTHORS
October - FIRST NATION NORTH AMERICANS
November - ARGENTINIAN AUTHORS
December - OTHER PARTS OF THE CONTINENT

Picture is from my 2016 trip to Chile & Buenos Aires, I need to delve into my digital files and find some more photos.

Holocaust Literature Group

Holocaust Literature - A few years ago Lisa (labfs39) and I started a Holocaust Literature group which anyone is welcome to join -
We set this up as a separate place to record and discuss Holocaust related books and media.
I visited several Holocaust museums and memorials on my 2023 travels.
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so many worthy books I've still not read, yes this list is the same as 2025, I read other Holocaust books instead of what I'd picked out for myself -
Brodeck's Report by Philippe Claudel
The Cap: The Price Of A Life by Roman Frister
If not now, when? by Primo Levi
Helga's Diary by Helga Weiss
A field of buttercups by Joseph Hyams
Guns and Barbed Wire by Thomas Greve

My Holocaust Literature reading thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/338441#n8014630

Ongoing Focus:

Prix Goncourt:
I've read books that have won the Award, some older ones are hard to find.
Here's what's still on my radar for the near future:
_
Under Fire by Henri Barbusse - stalled
The Great Swindle by Pierre Lemaitre
Watching Over Her by Jean-Baptiste Andrea

also ongoing is my read of the winners of the UK Carnegie Medal in Children's Literature‎.
'The CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals are the UK’s oldest and best-loved children’s book awards.
The CILIP Carnegie Medal is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people.'
I like that this is awarded by librarians. The Kate Greenaway Medal is for illustration, so mainly picturebooks win.

Carnegie Medal (UK) Winners still to be read-

Next up is Wolf Siren the 2026 winner

2025: Margaret McDonald Glasgow Boys - READ 2025
2024 Joseph Coelho The Boy Lost in the Maze
2021 Jason Reynolds Look Both Ways
2001 Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents - own
2000 Beverley Naidoo, The Other Side of Truth - own
1994 Theresa Breslin, Whispers in the Graveyard - READ 2026
1991 Berlie Doherty, Dear Nobody
1980 Peter Dickinson, City of Gold and Other Stories from the Old Testament
1976 Jan Mark, Thunder and Lightnings - READ 2025
1970 Leon Garfield & Edward Blishen, The God Beneath the Sea
1969 Kathleen Peyton, The Edge of the Cloud
1963 Hester Burton, Time of Trial - READ 2025
1961 Lucy M Boston, A Stranger at Green Knowe
1960 Dr IW Cornwall, The Making of Man
1959 Rosemary Sutcliff, The Lantern Bearers - own
1957 William Mayne, A Grass Rope - own
1953 Edward Osmond, A Valley Grows Up
1952 Mary Norton, The Borrowers - READ 2026
1949 Agnes Allen, The Story of Your Home
1947 Walter De La Mare, Collected Stories for Children - own
1942 ‘BB’ (D J Watkins-Pitchford), The Little Grey Men - own
1940 Kitty Barne, Visitors from London
1939 Eleanor Doorly, Radium Woman - READ 2025
1938 Noel Streatfeild, The Circus is Coming - own
1937 Eve Garnett, The Family from One End Street - own
1936 Arthur Ransome, Pigeon Post - own

I hope that I am not too early to wish you a happy new thread, Kerry.

>7 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. I'm just needing to add my July reading plans.
Started listening to The Odyessy this morning, so good on audio. Decided not to wait to finish A Thousand Ships.

Reading Plans for July:
I seem to have given myself a large number of books to try and my reading has slowed done somewhat this month.

BAC challenge:
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
The Amber Fury by Natalie Haynes
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Americas Challenge: Cuba
I'll be reading Margarita Engle as I have two of her books that I'd like to offload when I finish
Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck & Rima's Rebellion.
Technically she was born in the US to Cuban parents so not quite Cuban.
The Red Umbrella - Christina Diaz Gonzalez

SFFKit - July: Humorous SFF
I'm hosting this challenge over in the Category CHallenge
The Portable Door by Tom Holt
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

TIOLI:
Most of the above are also TIOLI reads
Boom! - Mark Haddon
Cherrywood - Jock Serong
Dogsong - Gary Paulsen
The Hot Country - Robert Olen Butler
Not Tonight, Josephine: A Road Trip Through Small-Town America - George Mahood
Battle of the Jade Horse - Alison Lloyd
Nancy and Plum - Betty MacDonald
Ursa - Tina Shaw
A Dog so Small - Philippa Pearce

The Dream of the Celt - Mario Vargas Llosa
A Little Lower Than the Angels - Geraldine McCaughrean
The Supreme Lie- Geraldine McCaughrean
Whispers in the Graveyard - Theresa Breslin
Wolf Siren - Beth O'Brien
A Moment Comes - Jennifer Bradbury
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk - Ben Fountain
Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash
Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests - KJ Whittle

Slow read:
Life & Fate by Vasily Grossman

Happy new thread! What an impressive Reading Plan! Enjoy!!

Happy new thread, Reba!

I forget, which translation of The Odyssey are you reading? Who narrates it? I'm slowly working my way through Emily Wilson's translation. In fact, I'm going to get off the computer and read some more now before the kids arrive.

I just checked to see if I have the Wilson translation of The Odyssey on my shelf and I do. We are seeing an interview with Wilson and Christopher Nolan at the 92nd St. Y tomorrow evening, live-streamed (so I assume anyone can buy a streaming access). Haven't read the Wilson translation yet; the Fagles is the one I worked through out loud with friends a few years ago. It will be interesting to see the differences.

Happy new thread!

>12 labfs39: I'm listening to the Penguin Classics edition, translated by E.V. Rieu, revised by D.C.H. Rieu and narrated by George Blagden.
My hard copy is the new Daniel Mendelsohn edition, also by Penguin Classics. My son read this a few weeks ago.
A Thousand Ships does clash with it but I'm ok with that now that I made a start. I listened to The Iliad back in 2024 (Penguin Classics, translator E. V. Rieu & narrated by Steve John Shepherd).

...and seeing I paused on Peter F. Hamilton's Exodus: The Helium Sea on audio, I started watching The Expanse on tv., so my scifi needs are being catered for.

My oldest son has arrived here at 7am to watch the semi final game with my husband. England vs Argentina.

I'm going to see the film, The Odyssey, this afternoon with two of my sons. They were definitely going and that would mean I'd have to see it on my own later on, so decided just to go.

I read up on Odyssey translations and am happy with the Penguin Classics editions & translators. I prefer a more traditional translation rather than one reinterpreted for present times. Several posts on Lattimore as the best, but I already made my choice. We also have the Fagles translation on the shelves so I'm not limited to just Mendelsohn in book form.

From my last thread, I posted a link to a substack on ranking Dickens Novels - https://bibliollcollege.substack.com/p/every-novel-by-charles-dickens-from
Since then I've read some of their other posts and really enjoyed them. I haven't subscribed and so miss a part on some of the posts but there is enough to satisfy my reading.
https://bibliollcollege.substack.com/

Just arrived by courier from Northampton, UK:
London Peculiar and other nonfiction by Michael Moorcock

>16 avatiakh: I'm curious about The Odyssey film. I hope you post your impressions. I studied Lattimore's translation in college. I find Wilson's translation extremely readable, but lacking in poetics.

>18 labfs39: I'm writing a post about the film but had to finish the last 20 pages of A Thousand Ships first.

Current Reads:
The Odyssey on audio
Cherrywood by Jock Serong
Rima's Rebellion by Margarita Engle - YA
A moment comes by Jennifer Bradbury - YA
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
and some e-books

What's calling to me on my tbr pile::
The Albino's Secret by Michael Moorcock
When we see you again by Rachel Goldberg-Polin
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Name Game by Beth O'Leary

115) A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (2019)
fiction
Read for the BAC challenge: July Natalie Haynes & Moshin Hamid.
This is gives us another look at the Trojan War, mostly the aftermath and how it worked for the women: Greek, Trojan, goddesses and nymphs. Highly enjoyable.

116) A Moment Comes by Jennifer Bradbury (2013)
YA
Set in Jalandhar, Punjab just before the India Pakistan partition, this is a good YA read to understand some of the complexities of partition politics.
Tariq is a Muslim boy with a dream of going to England and Oxford University. He works for one of the Englishmen working on the new border map. Margaret is the daughter, newly arrived from England with her mother. Anupreet is a Sikh girl who works in the household, she just wants to feel safe.

Spent the morning in the CBD. We visited the Graphic Novel Cafe and perused the shelves of manga.
My daughter got a couple of volumes of her latest favourite and I decided to get Vagabond vol. 5 as I've been waiting ages for the library to get this omnibus volume and I'm at the wrong end of a long queue. I'll trade this once it's read.