Weekly Reading Thread: Jan 1 through Jan 6 2017

I read The Couple Next Door and really liked it! Now am reading Under the Influence - Maynard and just a few pages into it and I really like it!

I didn't have a goal last year but have set one for 52 books in 2017. Starting off with Redemption Road by John Hart which I believe was a recommendation from here.

I set a goal of 52 books this year, and ended up reading 82. Part of that was because I was laid up for 5 weeks with a broken ankle and had lots of reading time.

My last book of the year, which I finished yesterday, was
"Belgravia" by Julian Fellowes, who wrote the Downton Abbey
series. This was pretty good, nice descriptions and likeable characters. Kinda slow but enjoyable. If you liked DA you might like this book.

I finished Underground Airlines by Ben Winters, and I thought it was very good. He created a pretty plausible scenario of what slavery would look like in modern America.

And I read The Mandibles, A Family 2029-2047 by Lionel Shriver. This was pretty good, too, the story of an extended family in the not-too-distant future and what happens to them when the economy goes through a catastrophic crash. It wasn't perfect, but I did find it interesting and a little scary.

I read 73 books in 2016, way off my usual pace. I don't really set reading goals, but I'd like to break 100 this year at least. Happy New Year to you all!

Glad to hear this! I put The Couple Next Door on my kindle!

I did terrible with my book goal for 2016. It was 30 and I only read 15. I'll blame my eye surgery on this fail.

My 2017 goal is 30 again. I'm currently reading The Boys in the Boat based on recommendations here. I'm 20% through and liking it.

I loved that book, it was one of my best reads of last year.

This week I read Some Girls Do by Clodagh Murphy It was a light, fluffy read that's genuinely funny in parts. A scene about sex and food had me giggling out loud.

I'm now reading It by Stephen King

My reading challenge was 25 and I read 30. I've set it at 30 this year.

Hi readers! I'm back after having a long streak of not reading, then reading very slowly and feeling discouraged by all the books I want to read but can't seem to get to.

My goal last year was 52, but I got so far off track last fall, that I really just wanted to not read less than I did the year before. I read all day NYE so I could count the book that put me dead even with 2015.

The book I just finished was Big Little Lies by Lianne Moriarty. I keep seeing previews for the miniseries on HBO, so I bought this on a whim (full price at Barnes & Noble) in order to read the book first. I thought it was great, definitely film worthy. It was the first book in months that I've had trouble putting down. It's the third I've read by the author and I'm ready to dive right in to her other novels.

I read The Couple Next Door and thought it was just okay. In fact, I couldn't help but think it would make a good Lifetime movie...

I picked up the Sisters One Two Three book during Kindle First a month or two ago as well.  I am about half way done but haven't had time to read lately. 

I had a couple of unfinished books that I got done just as the year was ending. I finished Homegoing which was very good and I loved that it was such a thorough story of a family though the generations!

I also finished Lists of Note which was recommended here although my library ebook had some sort of malfunction and would occasionally give me the page with the description of the list but then would not load the actual list. But I did enjoy it and feel so much better about my list making knowing I am in such good company.

Lastly, I finished Fantastic Beasts which was a fun story with little connections to the rest of the Harry Potter series.

My goal for the year was 60 and I read 57. In the last six years since I started keeping track on Goodreads I have read either 55 or 57 each year so maybe I should stop trying for 60 because it does not appear that it will happen.

My 2016 goal was 52 books and I finished with 60 read, so I'm pretty happy because I had a couple slumps in there!

I just finished up The Opportunist by Tarryn Fisher, who is a new author to me. It was the first in a series and it was one of those that ended with you going NOOOOOOOOOO and having to jump right into the next one. That one is Dirty Red which I am well into, and then I will regard the third one, Thief

Agreed! It was also one of my faves from last year. I also really enjoyed Labor Day by her as well. I found two books by her at the used book sale at the library that are now in my TBR pile. 

I read Wool by Huge Howey. The book is kind of a short story combined into a trilogy and is dystopian. I enjoyed it. 4/5 stars. 

I exactly met my reading goal - 70 for year. I set my goal for 2017 as the same. 

Lisa 

Happy New Year everyone! And let me just say how much I love this thread and how much I appreciate every Pea on it. I love hearing all of the books you have read and through the year have gotten so many wonderful recommendations from so many of you. 

This past week I read two books. First up was The Story of Land and Sea by Katy Simpson Smith.  This book I picked up at my local library. I have to be truthful, I was draw to it by the cover and because of two things-it was historical fiction and it was I though going to be about the sea. It looked promising-"Set in a small coastal town in North Carolina during the waning years of the American Revolution this incandescent (how I love that word-how it sounds and what it means) debut novel follows three generations of family" from goodreads.com   Oh, I thought, sounds like my kind of book. 

I wanted to like it. I really did. I read the entire book. I kept waiting for it to get better. It had all of the right ingredients. Great writing. Wonderful setting. Pretty good characters. So what happened? No storyline is what happened. Well, there was one. Obviously there had to be. But it just kept kind of wandering along here and there in my opinion. I don't need all books to end with a happy ending. That would be boring. But this one felt empty. Not my favorite by a very long shot. I gave it 3 stars. 

Next I read The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. Oh my goodness, this author can write! Earlier this year I read her recent book, To the Bright Edge of the World, which I rated 5 stars and really enjoyed. Because of that I sought out her other books and chose her first novel The Snow Child to read next. I can't choose which I like best, but I think it's got to be this one-The Snow Child, which by the way ended up being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. In my opinion it should have won. It is an incredible novel. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it. This novel has everything. A wonderful story line, exquisite detail-it takes place in Alaska and I could feel the frost as I was reading about it, characters you grow to know and care about. I gave this book 5 stars, but I'd give it 10 if that were possible. My favorite book of the year. I'm buying this in a hard copy to keep for myself.