2025 Reading Challenge discussion

My goal last year was 150, and I'll probably make it to 190 before 2015 is out, so I'm setting it for 175 for 2016! Because I have a lot of really long planned books this year. I have a bunch of fun challenges for this year because it really helped motivate me last year. I will be doing series again, along with the Around The World book challenge and I'll be attempting to read at least 50 books off my ever-growing TBR. I'm not doing the Let's Turn Pages challenge this year, but I will be keeping track of how many I read!

268/175 Books
86,008 Pages Read

Around The World Book Challenge
Read books written by authors from 15+ different countries
1. The Dead House - England
2. I Am a Cat - Japan
3. One Rainy Day in May - US
4. Consider Phlebas - Scotland
5. The Investigation -South Korea
6. Big Little Lies - Australia
7. The Raven Room - Canada
8. Nothing - Denmark
9. The Murder Farm - Germany
10. The Baron in the Trees - Italy
11. The Meursault Investigation - Algeria
12. The Supernatural Enhancements - Spain
13. White Hunger - Finland
14. The Heart - France
15. Man Tiger - Indonesia
16. A Cup of Rage - Brazil
17. Tram 83 - Democratic Republic of Congo
18. The Yellow Arrow - Russia
19. The Devourers - India
20. Brother - Poland
21. His Bloody Project - Scotland
22. The Schooldays of Jesus - South Africa
23. Let the Right One In - Sweden
24. Hex - Netherlands
25. The Witch's Market - China
26. Vlad - Mexico
27. Memories of My Melancholy Whores - Columbia


[Note: my initial goal was 15, but I don't consider this challenge "completed" until the end of the year and I see how many countries I got to]

TBR Challenge
70/50 Books Read

Series Challenge

Culture 10/10
Realms of the Elderlings 16/16
Chronicle of the Fallers 2/2

28/28

Unlike last year, where I did a series a month for 12 total, I have 3 big ones that I want to work on in 2016. Series subject to change if I end up not liking any of them!

Big Books I've Been Putting Off (But Will Read in 2016!)

Gravity's Rainbow
Infinite Jest (p 233)
Ulysses


0/3

I totally failed at this challenge last year, but this year I'm going to do it!

Good luck with your challenges, Leah! I'd like to get through some series and big books too this year, but I'm not sure if I'll actually get to them with all of the other things I have planned.

(Please message me if you'd like me to delete this post - I'm not 100% sure if you're done setting up your topic yet or not.)

Good luck Leah. Enjoy your challenges

Cassandra wrote: "Good luck with your challenges, Leah! I'd like to get through some series and big books too this year, but I'm not sure if I'll actually get to them with all of the other things I have planned.

(P..."

Thank you! Series used to be really hard for me to commit to, but setting it as a goal in 2015 helped SO much, this group is really fantastic for motivation!

Zara wrote: "Good luck Leah. Enjoy your challenges"'

Thanks! I love doing challenges, I find they really help me work towards goals and accomplish more variety in my reading.

I agree, the challenges definitely motivate me to read more! Good luck!

Almost halfway through January, time for an update!

1. The Dead House finished Jan 2nd. This restored my faith in YA as a genre. It's creepy, very surreal, and has that "is this magic, or is she crazy?" mood that I absolutely adore. The formatting (a mix of diary entries, post-it notes, emails, AIM chats, police logs, video files, etc...) is really interesting and engaging. Some of the elements were a little juvenile (I mean, it's YA, so I expect a sappy teen romance) but it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the story.

2. I Wrote This For You finished Jan 4th. I always forget how much I love poetry. This book is half poetry, half photography, and it's edited together in a very engaging way. The themes range from normal (love, depression, anxiety) to bizarre (the apocalypse, reincarnation) but they tie together into an overall story that I was not expecting. It's sweet (sometimes almost too sweet tbh), sad, and moving.

3. I Am a Cat finished Jan 7th. Things I love: cats and Japanese literature. What better than a combination of the two!? This book is a satire of human society, told through the eyes of a "humble" housecat. Long sections are devoted to the intricate personal politics of the unnamed cat's owner's life, while others are quite literally about the daily life of a cat. It's an odd balance, but it worked really well for me. Probably because I love cats so damn much.

4. House of Leaves finished Jan 9th. This is a massive book, but I absolutely flew through it. To be honest, I don't even know what to say about this one. It's amazing, it's imposing, it's complicated, large sections make no sense, and I loved it. It's so intricate: both the plot and the actual graphical layout, which is just stunning. This is a beautiful whopper of a novel (but is it really a novel? given its serial nature? time will tell!). Definitely not for everyone, but I have such a book-crush on Danielewski.

5. Consider Phlebas finished Jan 11th. Starting my series challenge off with Culture! I was just in a scifi kind of mood. I was expecting to just like this because people say it's the worst of the series, but I loved it! Not, like, "5-star, my favorite ever" loved it, but it was super enjoyable and I loved the worldbuilding. I thought it was a bold choice to start out a series about a society with a character who is at war with it--starts you off with a really interesting perspective.

6. Snow Country finished Jan 11th. People say this is Kawabata's greatest work, but I have to admit that I loved Thousand Cranes a lot more. This was good, and I did enjoy it, but it was more like a 3.5 than the 5 star read I was expecting. It captures the feeling of melancholy so well, and you really feel that longing for something you can never have while reading it, but I really didn't like the main girl and found her a bit grating.

I've also started Infinite Jest! Strapped in for a long ride with this one...

7. The Raven Room Finished Jan 12th. This is a sexy murder mystery that falls into the currently very popular erotic thriller genre. I needed something a little fluffy after reading some heavy stuff (and starting Infinite Jest) and this was just the thing. The subject matter is actually pretty dark, but it's a smooth & easy read that manages to overstep all my pet peeves with this genre (there's happy polyamorous couples, bi characters who don't need to make their identity revolve around their sexuality, a ~dark & broody~ alpha male character who isn't at all abusive, non-virginal main girls, etc). Fun!

8. The Investigation Finished Jan 13th. This book... it's just so amazing. On the surface, it's about a prison guard in Japan during WWII investigating the death of another guard. WWII Japan is basically my favorite location for historical fiction, so we were off to a good start. But this is a book about books: about the effect of poetry on the soul, the inspiration we draw from what we read, and how the simple act of writing can set you free. It was absolutely gorgeous, with lush writing and a real focus on philosophical questions rather than the nitty-gritty details of a murder case. I expected this to be a kind of hard-boiled detective book and I am so glad I was wrong.

9. Big Little Lies Finished Jan 15th. I was planning on reading the next Culture book but was suddenly overcome with an urge to read some Liane Moriarty. I usually hate chick lit as a genre but she is a very notable exception. As per usual, this is a twisted tale full of fully realized characters that seem SO real. I don't know how she does it, but every woman she writes seems like a real person, not a flat character. This dealt with surprisingly dark topics and had some amazing twists. Great as always.

10. This Census-Taker Finished Jan 16th. Once again I skipped over Player of Games! But any China Mieville book I get is automatically bumped to the top of my TBR, he's my favorite author. This short book is absolutely magic: it's almost-fantasy, kind-of-magic-realism, and really impossible to put in a set genre. Basically it's about a boy who lives on a hill overlooking a very strange city (of course). The writing has a dreamy, surreal quality, and the perspective switches between first, second, and third person. The actual "hook" of the book, the arrival of the census taker, happens 80% of the way in: this is more a book about childhood, how kids see the world vs how adults see the world, than it is about a ~weird unexplained event~. I really wish this was a full length book: the world was so amazing and we only saw glimpses of it!

I Am a Cat has long been on my TBR, but I haven't been able to find it in bookstores. Which translation did you read?

Michaeldavidmcgrath wrote: "I Am a Cat has long been on my TBR, but I haven't been able to find it in bookstores. Which translation did you read?"

I have the one translated by Aiko Ito & Graeme Wilson, with the cat all curled up on the cover--I bought it years ago but I think that version is still in print!

Leah wrote: "Michaeldavidmcgrath wrote: "I Am a Cat has long been on my TBR, but I haven't been able to find it in bookstores. Which translation did you read?"

I have the one translated by Aiko Ito & Graeme Wi..."

I have that version, too. Michael, it's available as an ebook if you have an ereader. If not, and you don't mind used copies, you can pick one up at Amazon for under $10, I think.

Wonderful news! Thanks for the help.

11. Tree of Codes Finished Jan 18th. I love weird books. Like, really weird & experimental books. This was right up my alley! It's not a novel per say, but a book "carved" out of another book. The writing (or "writing" really) was absolutely gorgeous and evocative. There's a very loose story, so it relies more on prose & imagery. Totally fantastic. Possibly my fave of the year so far (this or The Familiar).

12. The Player of Games Finished Jan 18th. Second Culture book! I need to read 3 per a series a month to meet my goal, so I was kind of behind for January. Oops! I enjoyed this more than Consider Phlebas, which I did enjoy. This one was just more... fleshed out? Less happens, there are way fewer characters, but I think it benefited from a tighter and very well-constructed plot. While I have yet to be sold on Banks' characters (except for the droids & Minds, omg I love them) I'm really enjoying the world.

13. Nothing Finished Jan 19th. This was so brutally dark and messed up, which is totally my jam. It's a grim story, but it's really the detached way it's narrated that drives up the creep factor. Not for the faint of heart.

14. The Murder Farm Finished Jan 20th. So far in January I hadn't read a book I'd rate lower than 3.75 stars, but the streak of great reads had to end eventually I guess. This book is based on one of my favorite unsolved mysteries, and I think if I didn't know the context I would like it better. It's too short, the writing is blah, I hated how they treated the more controversial aspects of the case... just did not enjoy this.

15. The Complete Chi's Sweet Home, Part 1 Finished Jan 21st. I've been reading this for ages, a chapter or two a day, and reading it kind of killed me. I love cats SO MUCH and this was just... perfect. Exactly what it's like to have a cat. I got really emotional towards the end--man, I'm so invested in this tiny fictional kitty! Thankfully Vol 2 comes out soon.

16. Little Peach Finished Jan 22nd. Sometimes when I am feeling really down all I want to do is read the most depressing thing I can find. That might sound weird but it gives me "hey life sucks but at least... I'm not a child prostitute?" feels. This book was brutal. I do wish it was longer/had a bit more meat but the writing was lovely and it was really hard to read. Especially the sections about Baby, oh my god.

17. I Am Pusheen the Cat Finished Jan 22nd. After Chi I needed more cute cats. Just all the cute cats. I do think Pusheen works better in gif format but these illustrations were so cute. Chubby cats, aww.

18. The Baron in the Trees Finished Jan 22nd. Calvino is one of my favorite authors, but this book was kind of a disappointment for me. I really enjoyed parts of it (particularly the early childhood bits & the Viola scenes) but others (refugees & war sections) just didn't do it for me. Which is a shame, because I wanted to love this so badly and ended up just enjoying it.

19. Never Never: Part Three Finished Jan 23rd. UGH. I dedicated like a year of my life to this stupid shit. This was the worst thing I've ever read and I am VERY ANGRY about the incredibly stupid resolution like really I just have a lot of emotions.

Okay, wrapping up January!

20. The Widow Finished Jan 25th. Why do I keep reading the psych thriller of the month? The "next Gone Girl?" I am almost never happy with them, and this was no exception. The dullest psychological thriller I've ever read. Super predictable, terribly boring characters, just blah.

21. Through the Woods Finished Jan 26th. Love child of The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories & Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Creepy, evocative, beautifully illustrated and a nice mix of original tales & retellings. Highly recommend if you like horror and graphic novels.

22. Use of Weapons Finished Jan 26th. Probably my favorite Culture book so far. Really innovative plot structure, great twists and turns. But you know what? There’s something missing for me in Culture. I really like the books, obviously, since until now they are all 3.5-4 stars. But they don’t have the same spark as some of my other favorite space opera/scifi giants (Peter Watts, Alastair Reynolds, Peter Hamilton, Vernor Vinge). The world is cool, but not utterly fascination. The alien races are awesome, but we never see enough of them. The characters fall kind of flat for me, and I dislike that all the MCs are male. There are very few big philosophical questions posed in the narrative. The one thing that shines for me above all else is the characterization of the drones & Minds, which is beyond brilliant. But I just wish there was a little extra in this world, if that makes sense. I still like it & will finish the series, but I want more.


23. The State of the Art Finished Jan 27th. A collection of Culture short stories, and my last Culture book of the month--and for a while, since I'm hoping to read the first Farseer trilogy in February. This was a mixed bag--loved some stories, really disliked others. But the title piece had the philosophical questions I was waiting for, finally!

24. This One Summer Finished Jan 27th. Beautiful art, bleh story. Kind of dull and predictable, but you will probably enjoy it if you love slice of life/coming of age. The art, though, was totally amazing and made it worth reading.

25. Hidden Bodies Finished Jan 29th. I loved You, passionately. It was one of my favorite books of 2014. And honestly, I don’t think it needed a sequel. But hey, why not? I’ll read it. And for 80%, I was sold. Sure, it wasn’t as creepy as You, and there was none of the second-person brilliance. But it was dark and funny and Joe is amazing. But then… but then. 80% of the way in this jumped the shark SO BAD. Like, worse than I ever imagined it possible for a book to jump the shark. The plot went off the rails, it was so painfully unbelievable and cheesy, characters acted totally out of character. It was horrible. The worst. 1-star ending, 4-star rest of the book.

26. Shadows of Self Finished Jan 31st. Brandon Sanderson, you and your goddamn magical twists. I liked Alloy of Law, but not nearly as much as the original Mistborn trilogy. I expected SoS to go kind of the same way, and it was until the last 15%. Holy hell. There’s very little I can say about this without spoiling 4 other books but it was amazing. My 2 faves from the original Mistborn showed up, the plot was great, the twists were great, I adore how Sanderson deals with religion in the post-Hero of Ages world. My only complaint about this series is that I don’t really care that much about Wax, the main character. I think he’s complex and well fleshed out, I just… don’t like him? But Wayne makes up for that in spades.

I can't believe I read so much this month! I know I won't continue at this pace, but I'm so happy with my Jan progress on all of my personal challenges.

Good job with all your books? How are you doinh with Infinite jest? I guess I didn't realize it was so long!

Wow! You're making a ton of progress, Leah! I am quite impressed. I also have a list of books I should be reading which I always put off. Most of them are similar to yours-- Infinite Jest is on there too. It's just so long! Good luck with your challenges!!

Alison wrote: "Good job with all your books? How are you doinh with Infinite jest? I guess I didn't realize it was so long!"

I'm around page 100! So not much progress, but I'm giving myself until March to finish it because I don't want to rush and miss anything.

Jackie B. wrote: "Wow! You're making a ton of progress, Leah! I am quite impressed. I also have a list of books I should be reading which I always put off. Most of them are similar to yours-- Infinite Jest is on the..."

Thanks! I meant to read all those "scary big books" last year and just... got really intimidated and put them all off, I felt so bad about it so I'm really happy I already started on that hurdle haha

Another Sanderson fan here, must get Shadows of Self soon!
This Census-Taker looks interesting too, thanks for your reviews and congratulations on your reading progress.

Kiwi wrote: "Another Sanderson fan here, must get Shadows of Self soon!
This Census-Taker looks interesting too, thanks for your reviews and congratulations on your reading progress."

Thank you! Shadows of Self is SO good, I admit that I had mixed feelings about new stories in the Mistborn world because I loved the OG series so much, but they're really fantastic.

27. The Bands of Mourning Finished Feb 1st. How is this trilogy just as good as the first one?? Truly mindblowing. This wasn't quite as twisty as Shadows of Self but I loved the amount of information we got about the world and the insanely awesome character development. Can't wait for the last one!

28. Mistborn: Secret History Finished Feb 2nd. This was quite a surprise in more ways than one. Of course it's impossible to talk about without spoiling SO many things, but I loved the insight this gives into the original series. However, I kind of have mixed feelings about it? Like, I loved the characters & worldbuilding but it made me feel differently about characters in the OG Mistborn trilogy and I'm a bit torn about that. Maybe the mystery was better left uncovered--though I did really enjoy this? See, mixed feelings!

29. Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell Finished Feb 3rd. More Cosmere, why not? I was feeling Cosmere-y. This was good, but I think Sanderson really needs to be in long-novel format. His character development and worldbuilding is where he shines, and we didn't get much of that here. It was fun, and I did like the world, but I wanted more of it.

30. The Suicide of Claire Bishop Finished Feb 4th. I loved this book. Just adored almost every aspect of it. I think it has a lot of mixed reviews because the summary is very vague and kind of misleading. It's not really magical realism--I mean, it kind of is, but it's not the grand time-travelling adventure the summary might have you believe. It's a slow, dark book about memory, identity, and mental illness. Which is basically right up my alley.

31. Our Endless Numbered Days Finished Feb 5th. I will admit that I only picked this book up because it's named after an Iron & Wine album, and I love Iron & Wine. But hey, it's survivalist fake-end-of-the-world fiction, which is right up my alley. This is a beautiful, slow book. Very dark and disturbing in ways you wouldn't expect. I felt like it was too short and I wanted more of the survivalist aspect, but overall this was just fantastic.

32. Into the Forest Finished Feb 5th. I love this series SO MUCH. It gives me STRONG FEELINGS and I spend so much time thinking about the plot, the characters, what could possibly be going on. Waiting for all 27 volumes is going to kill me.

33. The Meursault Investigation Finished Feb 5th. I hate The Stranger. HATE IT. "Oh, I'm so ~tortured~ and in an ~existential crisis~ so I better murder this dude!" Okay, no thank you. So of course I loved this--it's The Stranger from the other side, the side of the victim. But it's so much more. As philosophical as The Stranger with more of a focus on the human side, on emotions and the correlation between our past and our actions. Beautifully written, so thoughtful, and went in a direction I was not expecting at all.

34. The Thing Itself Finished Feb 7th. This freaking book, yes. It's a bizarre philosophical horror/scifi novel with so many references it'll make you dizzy. Everything from Lovecraft to White Heat. It's everything I love, it's everything about science fiction that I love--the big questions, answered and explored in clever ways. Plus there's all these timelines that converge in such a clever way. It's just... perfect.

35. The Fifty Year Sword Finished Feb 8th. I've owned this book for years. I have one of the original 1,000 copies. And it took me this long to read it, how embarrassing. Honestly I am constantly worried about "running out of books" from my favorite authors, how stupid is that? This is probably the most accessible Danielewski book, though of course it's cleverly formatted and has like 20 different levels.

36. The Way Inn: A Novel Finished Feb 8th. This has been in my TBR pile forever, but I only picked it up now because it's referenced in The Thing Itself. How could I not? This is a smart, witty little existentialist novel about same-ness and hotels and corporate America. Also a hotel that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, which is like my favorite trope (House of Leaves, anyone?). I really enjoyed this--it was funny and strange, but I do wish it leaned a little more towards horror OR that it had fully gone into the humor vein. It's kind of in between? Not quite in any genre? But I did like it.

37. Demon Theory Finished Feb 10th. The #1 recommended book if you like House of Leaves or The Raw Shark Texts is Demon Theory. Those have been two of my favorite books for 10+ years, yet it took me... 10+ years to read Demon Theory. I don't even know what my brain is. And, no shit, I loved this. It's meta horror with footnotes and fake movies and self-aware characters and it's just... it's so good. This is the perfect book for me.

So, I really don't know what's gotten in to me! I've been reading so much! And, shockingly, almost all the books I've read are 3-4 stars. In fact, 4-5 star reads have been very common this month. My reading goals are steering me in just the way I hoped. I'm reading books I know I'll like instead of whatever is trendy.

Time to finish off February!

38. The Strange Library Finished Feb 11th. This is basically an illustrated short story, aimed at children/young adults. Usually I love Murakami's short fiction, and while this was okay I felt like something was missing? It had the whimsy, the magical realism, the Sheep Man (yay!) but it was just okay for me. I wanted more.

39. Assassin's Apprentice Finished Feb 13th. First series book of the month! This is slow paced, character driven fantasy, and I think if you like that type of novel this is the cream of the crop. A rich world but with subtle worldbuilding, great characters, a clever but classic-feeling magic system, court intrigue, twisted coming-of-age... I loved it!

40. American Housewife: Stories Finished Feb 13th. This is a clever, quirky little book of short stories focused on women in America. Many of them have an almost magical realism bent: very strange things happen, and there are some dark twists and turns. They are both hilarious and tragic, the perfect blend of humor and social commentary.

41. Dare Me Finished Feb 14th. I got really sick and couldn't focus on so many of the books I was working on, so a fun light read. Or at least that's what I wanted. This was... really stupid. The blurb sells this as the story of two kids who played twisted truth or dare. That’s, like, 3 scenes in the book. It’s really your stereotypical romance/erotica with a ~so rich so handsome so perfect~ dude and a ~mysterious past gorgeous SO TORTURED~ girl who the universe just keeps trying to keep apart. It’s dull and predictable and the girl’s “mystery past” was so freaking stupid I wanted to die. But, um, it could have been even worse?

42. The Dumb House Finished Feb 17th. This book is so hyped, but it deserves all the attention. Deliciously twisted and way more disturbing than what I expected. The main focus is linguistics and language, which is totally my jam, but there's a lot of dark content to get through before we even get to what is sold as the "main plot." I think the blurb is a little misleading: this is more the story of a very deranged individual than it is the story of the Dumb House. Brilliant, amazing, loved every second.

43. Death on the Nile Finished Feb 17th. A resounding meh. I've liked the Christie I read so far, but this felt a little flat. The mystery was, of course, very clever and well put together. But it took way too long to get to the murder, the characters were kind of boring, and there was a lot of racism (both covert and overt, and against... basically anyone not English).

44. The Supernatural Enhancements Finished Feb 19th. This is part horror, part mystery, part National Treasure. It's about a haunted house.... sort of. We've also got a conspiracy, magic, and secret societies. It's told through letters, notes, film summaries, and more... a very clever book that's exactly the kind of quirky thing I love.


45. Royal Assassin Finished Feb 20th. I loved the first one, but I adored the second Farseer book. Basically fantasy perfection. More character development and worldbuilding, the plot moved along so smoothly and seamlessly, the magic was fantastic. And it has Nighteyes, the best book wolf of all time. I laughed, I cried, I want to read everything Robin Hobb has ever written.

46. Girls on Fire Finished Feb 22nd. I really wanted to love this. It seemed like it would be "ya that isn't really ya" a la When We Were Animals but sadly it fell into stock ya tropes and didn't manage to escape how... trite those novels can feel. Some of the writing was gorgeous and I love the "absorbing, destructive female friendship" trope but this never got off the ground for me. The ending was stupid, characters and actions didn't line up... so much potential, wasted.

47. Felines of New York: A Glimpse Into the Lives of New York's Feline Inhabitants Finished Feb 23rd. Cats + comedy + New York. It's my jam. Funny cat stories (told by the cats!) and cat pictures. All I want in life.

48. Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel Finished Feb 25th. THIS BOOK. Perfection. It's got dual storylines (one in frontier America, one in a dystopian America 300 years in the future) told through letters, phone conversations, telegrams, and a straight narrative. It's gorgeous (full color! illustrations! literally a book in the book!), totally meta and recursive, just... it was so perfect. It's weird, it's quirky, it's moving, it's thought-provoking. Literally everything I ever wanted in a novel. Potentially my fave so far of 2016.

49. Lovecraft Country Finished Feb 25th. Lovecraft is one of my favorite authors, and I have struggled for years with his rampant racism. On one hand, he was a product of his times. On the other, racism of that level is never excusable. But at the same time, his incredible xenophobia is what crafted his amazing world: the fear of the other drives almost every one of his stories. So how to come to terms with this? Enter Lovecraft Country, a book that takes Lovecraftian elements and mixes them with a cast of black characters in Jim Crow-era America. What’s scarier than Cthulhu? Cops who want to shoot you because of your skin color, that’s what. This is a really clever, inventive book that takes two very different kind of horrors and melds them together perfectly. I do think it was a little light on the horror aspects, and I wish there was more of a focus on crazy monsters (it was more Lovecraft’s cults and weird houses), but I really enjoyed this. A very different and important take on Lovecraftian fiction.

50. Excession Finished Feb 27th. Finally, I got what had been wanting from the beginning of the Culture series! A truly varied, large cast of characters. Strong horror elements. Philosophical questions. Twists and turns. A detailed look at weird aliens. Main female characters. Space mystery. Plus we got so much of what is, to me, the heart of the Culture novels: the droids and Minds. Who are just… oh my god, I never thought I’d love robots so much. This was so close to 5 stars for me (I felt the two different plot “strands” didn’t meet up neatly enough at the end, which knocked it to 4 1/2) but this made me very excited to read the remaining 5 books.

51. Assassin's Quest Finished March 3rd. And done with the Farseer trilogy! I love these books so much. I do think this one was just too long, with a really slow middle where not enough happened, but there were so many fantastic and moving moments. So much of Nighteyes! There are dragons! You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cry some more. I totally understand the Robin Hobb hype and can't wait to start on Liveship Traders.

52. FukuFuku: Kitten Tales Finished March 4th. I have undying love for Chi's Sweet Home, so when I saw some of the author's earlier tales coming out in the US (finally!) I had to jump on them. FukuFuku is a very different cat from Chi, and I love how accurately she captures cats' personalities and behaviors. If you love cats, all of Kanata Konami's books are must reads.

53. Atonement Finished March 5th. I have such mixed feelings about this book. The writing is stunning, the characters are wonderful (flawed, but very human), and there are scenes in this that will stick with me for my whole life. I also identified SO much with kid Briony. But... the plot. It's all over the place, and I was bored to tears by the middle section. I loved this and also hated it, but overall it left a very good (if flawed) impression.

54. The Well Finished March 7th. I was expecting a very different book than what I ended up reading. I thought this would be about the owners of The Well, a farm that prospers during a severe drought, and the townspeople that hate them. Kind of a "Harvest Home" type creepy gothic read. Instead it's basically a character study of a really unlikeable and boring woman. Some of the descriptions here were beautiful, and parts of the plot were very interesting, but I think this tried to tackle way too many topics yet somehow ended up lacking much of a plot?

55. Malice: A Mystery Finished March 7th. I really love Japanese mystery novels. This one, like several others I have read, is not a whodunnit but a whydunnit. There are so many clever twists and turns, the plot is just fantastic and the mystery is so well executed. I do think the characters could have been a bit better rendered, but that seems to be an issue in 90% of the mystery/thriller genre.

56. Ghostly: A Collection of Ghost Stories Finished March 8th. I love short story collections, and this was a good one. Not all of them were for me and I feel like some stories definitely could have been cut/replaced, but I read a ton that I adored. Plus, spooky cats!

57. One Day Soon Time Will Have No Place Left to Hide Finished March 9th. UGH. This book. I loved it so much. It's literary fiction with a layer of metahorror, which is totally my jam. It's also a documentary, "told" scene-by-scene, and I just love fictional media in books. It's definitely not for everyone because it's so experimental, but if you like weird lit... yeah, it'll probably be your jam too.

58. The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince Finished March 9th. Before starting Liveship Traders I wanted to tackle this one, which is a novella set way before the Farseer trilogy. It was both a wonderful story and a great bit of context into how the magic system of the Six Duchies came to be seen the way it is. This was short but, as always with Hobb, the characters were so fantastic.

59. The Crimson Labyrinth Finished March 10th. I have a weakness for "the most dangerous game" type stories. This is very much in the Hunger Games/Battle Royale/Long Walk genre (though it predates most of them!) with humans vs humans in a strange, inhospitable environment. Setting it in Australia definitely added so much to the story, and while the characters were kind of flat I totally loved this. These kind of books are really a guilty pleasure for me, I just love 'em.

60. Inversions Finished March 11th. Excession is my favorite Culture novel so far, and this book is the exact opposite. So... I wasn't really thrilled with it. It's basically grimdark Medieval fantasy, which uh... not really what I look for in a Culture novel. The mirrored stories were nice, I did love the twists at the end, but it was kind of meh overall for me.

61. Eutopia Finished March 12th. Lovecraftian horror meets real-world horror. What if the KKK was backed by an ancient monstrosity? What if you had to fear both degenerate hill people worshiping an ancient evil and sexual violence? Yeah, it's a great and harrowing combo. This was totally different from what I expected, very gruesome and dark, and I really enjoyed it.

62. The Library at Mount Char Finished March 12th. Why did it take me so long to read this?! It was so weird. So dark. So funny. So good. The exact kind of book I love. I honestly wanted to just start reading this again the second I finished it to pick up on everything I missed.

63. Bones & All Finished March 13th. No. This was not for me. It's just... very try-hard "deep meaning metaphor" YA. I liked the writing but disliked everything else: the MC is insufferable, there's so much bizarre slut shaming, the plot is way too convenient, the "twist" are kind of silly.

64. Little Egypt Finished March 13th. Do you want to read something unbearably depressing that only drags farther down into murky sadness? Then this is the book for you! Seriously, it's just... it starts bad and gets so much worse. I was really hoping for more Egypt stuff in here (since that's one of my passions), but I did enjoy this. Usually I love horribly depressing with a burning passion but something here was a little lacking for me. I did enjoy it, but not as much as I thought I would.

65. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats Finished March 14th. T. S. Eliot. Edward Gorey. Cats. What more can you want from life??

66. The Confessions Finished March 16th. I'm in love with the Original Sinners series, so this was a really bittersweet read. Brought up all the emotions you run through in the series, with tantalizing hints at the future. I really hope we get more of Nora & Soren in the future!

67. Hold Me Close Finished March 16th. A lite Bang. Two kids in a terribly abusive and traumatic situation escape but also fall in love. Girl has 2 other guys in her life. Guy is really messed up and trying to cope. But Hold Me Close is much lighter and fluffier, with a loose plot that really doesn't have a lot of drive. I wanted more angst and feels from this but it left me pretty lukewarm. I did really like the main girl Effie though.

Wow! You're making great progress, Leah. I've never read an Japanese mysteries, but Malice: A Mystery sounds fascinating. If I wanted to get into these, should I start at the beginning of the series? Or is this more like Agatha Christie, where it doesn't matter which book you pick up?

Jackie B. wrote: "Wow! You're making great progress, Leah. I've never read an Japanese mysteries, but Malice: A Mystery sounds fascinating. If I wanted to get into these, should I start at the beginn..."

It's definitely like Agatha Christie, you don't need to read the previous ones at all to know what is going on! It was the first in the series I read and I had no issues with it at all. If you'd like to get into Japanese mysteries/thrillers I'd also really recommend Out and Confessions.

Fantastic job, Leah!

Since you're a Miéville fan, I'll ask you this: Where should I start with his full length novels? The only work of his I've read is Three Moments of an Explosion: Stories and I liked the style and atmosphere that goes along with each story.

Cassandra wrote: "Fantastic job, Leah!

Since you're a Miéville fan, I'll ask you this: Where should I start with his full length novels? The only work of his I've read is [book:Three Moments of an Explosion: Storie..."

Hmm, I think that depends on what type of books you like! I think The City & The City and Kracken are his most accessible works: they're both mysteries (of a sort) and they include heavy magical realism elements. A lot of people start with The City & The City and it's a really good way to get a feel for his work in a shorter, less dense format.

If you like fantasy, especially the weirder stuff, Perdido Street Station is the way to go (and it's part of a loose trilogy, so you can follow up with The Scar--my personal favorite of his--and Iron Council). Embassytown if you love hard scifi and/or linguistics, though it's one of his denser and more confusing books. UnLunDun for YA fantasy with a fairytale mood, a la The Ocean At The End of the Lane. UnLunDun is also a really fast read and has a lot of his bizarre elements in an easily digestible format: I think it's a really overlooked book from him!

Good to know! I do like fantasy, and the weird stuff is what attracted me to Miéville in the first place. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is one of my favorite books, though, so I'll definitely add UnLunDun to my to-read list as well.

Cassandra wrote: "Good to know! I do like fantasy, and the weird stuff is what attracted me to Miéville in the first place. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is one of my favorite books, though, so I'll definitely ad..."

I hope you enjoy it! The story really isn't that similar, but they both have that same dreamy, magical realism childhood feel.

Leah wrote: "It's definitely like Agatha Christie, you don't need to read the previous ones at all to know what is going on! It was the first in the series I read and I had no issues with it at all."

I am about midway through The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and you're right-- I definitely didn't need any of the previous M. Poirot books. Thanks for the suggestion-- this is great reading.

Jackie B. wrote: "Leah wrote: "It's definitely like Agatha Christie, you don't need to read the previous ones at all to know what is going on! It was the first in the series I read and I had no issues with it at all..."

Oh yay! I need to read Roger Ackroyd, I know it's a lot of peoples' favorite of her novels.

68. Horrorstör Finished March 16th. This is like a really fun b horror movie. You know, the ones that are kind of cheesy in just the right way, with fun but stupid characters and a twisted big bad. Like, say, a possessed Ikea knockoff! The format was engaging, and the first 2/3rds were really great. Just a fun horror romp with the right level of gore and mystery. But the last third was real letdown. The ending was just lame, and I don't understand how in a cast of only 6 characters, two of them are totally forgotten about with 80 pages left. I really wanted to love this and most of it was everything I love (weird horror, places bigger on the inside than they are on the outside, some truly gruesome scenes, strange formatting) but the ending... just why. I wish I could go back in time and convince the author to re-write the last act.

69. The Lessons Finished March 18th. If this book was 200 pages longer, it could have been magnificent. We are supposed to meet a rather large cast of characters, get to know them, and understand their "special bond" in 150 pages. It's like a super condensed Secret History, without the character depth or the mystery. I did enjoy it though, especially the last section which actually reminded me of A Little Life.

70. Ship of Magic Finished March 21st. Man, this was amazing. I really didn't believe people when they said this was head & shoulders above the first trilogy (because I loved it so much) but wow. The 3rd person, multiple perspectives works so amazingly. The plot is so complex and the world so detailed. It was also significantly darker than what I assumed--the slavery scenes were honestly hard to read.

71. Step Aside, Pops: A Hark! A Vagrant Collection Finished March 22nd. I impulse-got this at the library. It was just sitting out by itself, looking so lonely... and what a good decision. I've read quite a few of Kate Beaton's comics but oh my god this was SO FUNNY. Laugh out loud, tears in my eyes funny.

72. Burden Kansas Finished March 22nd. I read so many glowing reviews of this, and I think the hype swept me up. It was just okay. Read like a fun, gory B-horror movie. Very little in the way of character development or even the vaguest explanation about the vampires. Still, I don't regret reading it--I just wonder why it got so many 5 stars.

73. White Hunger Finished March 23rd. The Man Booker International shortlist came out and I kind of dropped all my goals to devour a bunch of them. First, Finland! This is a kind-of-apocalyptic novel with some really lovely writing, but I found the perspective a little too detached for how harrowing the events were. I wish there was more emotional intimacy.

74. The Heart Finished March 24th. Talk about a hyped book! This flies off the shelf in France, so I had crazy high expectations. It was... okay? The writing was absolutely stunning, and I liked how it flitted from person to person, but I was not invested in the overall story or any of the people in it. Kind of a letdown.

75. A Cup of Rage Finished March 24th. What even was this? I was confused, I was excited, I was horrified. It's a 7-sentence long novella (short story?) about, um, a couple having a fight. Sure, it doesn't sound interesting, but the prose is mesmerizing. I'm not really sure how I feel about it though: it certainly left an impression, but it was so intense and bizarre.

76. Man Tiger Finished March 26th. After two "me" MBI reads and one wtf one, I was really hesitant to continue. But this book. Oh my god this book! I loved it so much. It's part mystery, part family history, part folklore, part tragedy--all steeped in the beautiful setting of Indonesia. Scenes from this will stay with me forever, and the method of storytelling (bouncing around in time with no warning/markers) was breathtaking. Love love looooove this one.

77. Lovecraft's Monsters Finished March 28th. I love Lovecraftian short story collections and this was a great one, with some real winners. Of course not all of them appealed to me but that's to be expected. Overall, very positive ratings for the individual stories.

78. A Tale for the Time Being Finished March 29th. Another gorgeous Aisa-centric novel. This is one that's been on my Kindle forever and has such great reviews, why did it take me so long to read? I loved the dual perspectives that overlapped so cleverly, both settings were amazing, and it was so deliciously meta. A favorite from the year.

79. The Dead Lands Finished March 31st. Mixed feelings about this one. I loved the setting and idea--a post-apocalyptic Lewis & Clark! And the "dead lands" were amazing, I loved the monsters and glimmers of the past. But it really needed to be at least 100 pages longer: some events felt extremely, distractingly rushed, and there were a LOT of coincidences towards the end.

For some reason I felt like March was a slow reading month for me (possibly because a few books took me longer than usual to finish), but I read more than the previous months in 2016? Overall, a satisfying reading month.

So, for April I want to set more strict goals! My combined tbr, owned-not-read, and on-my-kindle shelves are honestly terrifying. I get too distracted by new releases and shiny 5-star reviews on my feed. So for April, I'm reading ONLY books already on my shelves (so my tbr, my piles of unread books, library books, and the books on my kindle) can be read. I might make one or two exceptions (books released this month by an author I love, or bday books--which I guess would count under owned books?). But no shiny new releases just because I think they look cool! No impulse book downloading! I'm not even allowing myself to put any new books on my kindle until May. Let's see how it goes...

Good luck with your April goals, Leah!

I keep meaning to do posts on the 15th, yet I forget. Every time. Oh well! Let's get on with April, which has been going well so far.

80. Summertime All the Cats Are Bored Read April 1st. Let’s be honest, I picked this up because of the absolutely amazing name. I saw it on the shelf at B&N and it was love at first look. It’s a noir, but a very different noir: our main detective is a homebody who doesn’t want any promotions, no one at the station really wants to do a ton of work, people make actual mistakes, there are no red herrings, and the main detective is not some crazy super-genius–the police force actually works together to solve it! It’s definitely a breath of fresh air in the mystery genre. The mystery itself isn’t really the highlight: the characters and the intricacies of the language take the forefront here.

81. Dream Houses Read April 1st. I have a thing for space horror set in alien and/or abandoned space ships. It’s a very small subgenre, but man, when it’s good… magic happens. Like in Dream Houses, which is about a woman on board a ship ferrying goods from one star to another. She wakes up very early to find that the crew has been murdered, and the ship is… shall we say… not entirely sane. It’s so gorgeous. Lyrical, haunting, creepy, evocative. I loved every second of this.

82. Tram 83 Read April 2nd. Read for the Man Booker International longlist. I’d like to point out that I read, like, 6 books off of it and not a single one made the shortlist. Not even Man Tiger! My luck, guys, is horrible. I know I rated this book pretty lowly but it’s really on me, not the book. It’s just very… masculine? 2 guys in a club talking about women in a super objectifying way (there’s lots of child prostitution here that’s scarily normalized), there’s very little plot. It’s just nothing I like in a book and I wouldn’t have read it if it wasn’t on the longlist, so I feel kind of bad trashing it. Because the writing was very inventive and cool, but I didn’t like any of the content.

83. The Silent History Read April 5th. World War Z meets disability. This is about a silent plague that sweeps the world: children are suddenly born unable to talk or even understand language. It’s told in snippets from many different people (everything from parents to scientists to stray people obsessed with the Silents). I don’t know if everyone will love this, but my brother is autistic so this hit really close to home and felt very important. The Silent children are a clear metaphor for both autism and deafness, and really highlight the messed-up way that our society treats disability. It’s a hard read, but wonderfully told with an absolutely spectacular ending.

84. The Mad Ship Finished April 7th. I love fantasy, but I don’t tend to read high/traditional fantasy because it’s usually either too Tolkien or too grimdarkedgy for me. These books? Perfect high fantasy. Everything I’d ever want from the genre. A cool world where the worldbuilding is shown, not told. Really fantastic and diverse characters that you get SO attached to. An intricate and complex plot. Cool beasties. Lovely writing. It’s just amazing! I can’t say a single thing about the plot without spoiling the first book (and possibly some of the first trilogy), but if you like fantasy and you haven’t read Hobb…. what are you doing?? Get on that asap.

85. Wolf Winter Read April 8th. This is a magical little book. It’s part historical fiction, part mystery, part magical realism. Taking place in Lapland in 1717, it features an isolated community hit by a brutal winter in the midst of a murderer running around. It’s everything I wanted from White Hunger. The writing is so lush, I was lost in the descriptions of the woods and countryside. It felt so claustrophobic, and is one of those books that induce a little bit of anxiety. Plus, witches! I read this shortly after seeing The Witch and it has a similar vibe (goats! witches! isolated houses!) so it was really the perfect time for me to devour this.

86. What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours Finished April 9th. I had so many issues with Boy, Snow, Bird, but there was no denying that Oyeyemi’s writing is absolute magic. So I was really excited to pick this up, especially because most of the stories are fairytale inspired. It’s a little bit Angela Carter, but mostly wholly unique. Each story is a glittering little gem of inventiveness. I loved some more than others, as is always the case with story collections, but it’s surprisingly cohesive: there’s lots of character overlap and the theme of keys runs through every one. I think this is a really good place to start with Oyeyemi: bite-sized chunks of her unique and spectacular style.

87. The North Water Finished April 10th. This is a super-hyped book, and I’m… kind of confused why? It was okay. It was, mainly, disgusting. Just so many scenes of violence and illness in graphic, graphic detail. I’m not at all squeamish but some of these were really hard to read for me. High ick factor. I was expecting more atmosphere: guys stuck in an arctic environment on a whaling boat! But it’s more about the bad dude on the ship and murder and maiming and rape and people getting teeth embedded in their arms and cutting open stomachs to let out pus. Well written, but a little over the top for me personally.

88. Eileen Finished April 10th. This is such an interesting book. It’s a character study first and foremost, with little in the way of plot. Eileen is a very disturbed and strange girl, and we spend the book in her very odd head. The third act is drastically different, but very cleverly so. I think for what this was, it was pretty much perfect. It’s just not the kind of thing I really enjoy? I mean, I love character-driven books and sometimes character studies, but the thriller-combo with that was a little odd for me. Enjoyed it, didn’t love it.

89. The Book Collector Finished April 10th. This book got a lot of hype around the same time as The Dumb House (which I loved) so of course I wanted to pick it up immediately but it took a while for me to find a copy. And the hype train didn’t lie! This little fable about a woman who marries a mysterious bookseller is just fantastic. Like “The Yellow Wallpaper” x Angela Carter, with more murder. Our narrator gets postpartum psychosis and the real draw of the book is how much we can rely on her narration. Some things are clearly fiction, but how much is the truth? Very creepy and short little read.

90. Collected Stories Finished April 11th. I started this way back in the beginning of March and read roughly a story a day. I have such mixed feelings about it: there were a few stories I genuinely loved (“Two Soldiers,” “Hair,” “A Courtship,” “Crevasse,” “Golden Land,” “Beyond,” “The Leg,” and “Carcassonne”) but many I found boring or downright disliked. There’s just a LOT of racism and sexism that I found it hard to overlook even if it was just part of the time when he wrote. Also a lot of war/”the glory of the South” stuff that’s just not for me. I am happy that I read it, but very few felt worth the high effort you have to put into untangling these stories.

91. The Islanders Finished April 12th. This book is compared to Murakami and David Mitchell, but I think it’s more Invisible Cities meets Abarat. It’s a blurry line between magical realism and fantasy and this book walks it finely. It’s about a group of islands (a HUGE group of islands) and the different people and cities that populate it. Each island that we focus on gets its own chapter, some short and some very long, with a few overlapping characters who appear on many of them. There’s many plot elements: a murder mystery, the history of a famous author, etc. But it’s not a plot-driven book. It’s about the evocative descriptions and the magical quality of the islands. If you liked Invisible Cities I think you’ll love this too.

92. Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow Finished April 13th. I read this “in preparation” for another book but I love crows so I probably would have read it anyway. Everything in here is just amazing, I was highlighting practically every line. There’s just so much: grief, pain, and sorrow mixed with mythology and folktales about my second-favorite animal, the crow. And what a character Crow is. In turns devious, coy, vicious, tricky, and sweet, Crow is really just wonderful to read about (if a little painful). You can feel Hughes’ grief soaking off the pages. It’s funny: I’m not usually into poetry but when I find something I love I’m pretty passionate about it.

93. Grief Is the Thing with Feathers Finished April 13th. This is the book that I read Crow for! It’s about a Hughes scholar whose wife dies, and Crow comes to take care of him and his two sons. No joke. It’s… it’s just amazing. Crow is SO accurate to the poems, and his chapters were so perfect and amazing. This book is like evil magical realism: it’s so dark and twisty and grief-laden, a rough read at points but suffused with enough magic to not make it a real downer. Highly, highly recommended–but read Crow first.

94. The Vegetarian Finished April 15th. So, I dnf’d this book last month because I found a section of it really triggering–something I don’t usually experience with books. But it made the Man Booker International shortlist and no other book I attempted did, so I felt obliged to pick it up again. And, um, I’m not super happy I did. Once you get over the rape sections, it’s just… I don’t even know. Trying SO hard to be ~bizarre~ and ~weird~ and ~whimsical~ and ~dark.~ I mean, the writing was good so I can’t knock it down too far, but the plot went nowhere I was expecting (in a bad way) and while I did enjoy the second section, the first was horrible for me and the third was weirdly dull.

95. Look to Windward Finished April 17th. After the incredibly disappointing Inversions, I was hesitant to pick up the next Culture book. I shouldn’t have been, because this is by far my favorite of the series (yes, more than Excession!). It shouts out to the first book, which I enjoyed because there’s barely any overlap between the series, and takes us to so many places: a strange caste-based society, one of the Culture’s magical orbitals, and a very, very unique and strange world where a scientist lives on a giant blimp-like sentient beast. It tackles some really serious questions about war and humanity while giving us a really engaging plotline. It also has probably my favorite Culture character: Kabe, the philosophical alien who plots along through the book and gives us some truly hilarious scenes. This was everything I want in science fiction.

96. Ship of Destiny Finished April 20th. The last Liveship Traders book stabbed me right in the heart. I laughed, I cried, I cried some more and cursed Hobb for making me feel such feelings. Most of all, I was shocked about how neatly all the disparate threads were drawn together. Her craftsmanship is masterful: like Peter Hamilton, there is a LOT going on in this series and you think “hmm, there’s no way this will all be nice and neat at the end.” But it is! All the threads, from the strange serpent chapters to Malta’s unexpected transformation (a character I started out loathing and ended up loving) come together brilliantly. But this book is a rough read: harder even than some of the most brutal moments of Farseer. My heart may never recover.

These next two were arcs from Netgalley.

97. The Last One: A Novel Finished April 21st. Survivor x The Hunger Games x The Stand. A brutal survival reality show that takes place during the apocalypse! Only the contestants think it's part of the show. This is everything I love. I'm a really passionate Survivor fan so this really spoke to my soul.

98. I'm Thinking of Ending Things Finished April 22nd. This is technically a thriller but it really reads as almost straight horror. There's such a sense of dread, a creeping feeling that something is very very wrong. Bizarre things start happening, things that you think can never make sense, but then they do. This book is just really freaking clever (and spooky). Loved it!

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed The Mad Ship. I loved Ship of Magic!

Cassandra wrote: "I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed The Mad Ship. I loved Ship of Magic!"

The whole series is so amazing! I had heard so much hype going into Robin Hobb's books that I thought there was no way they'd live up to it, but every book from her is pure magic.

Wow, I am SO behind on updating this! 40 books behind!! I will get to mini-reviews for all of them, but for right now I've (finally) updated my challenge goal progress.

Also, at this point I doubt I will get through all of my big books this year--might change it to just Infinite Jest.

Once again I've fallen behind! I need to start doing weekly updates, it gets to be such a big pile and I get intimidated. I updated all my states though! Highlights from the last few months:

Read all the Man Booker longlist. My favorites are Hot Milk, The Sellout, and Do Not Say We Have Nothing (I also really enjoyed Hystopia and The Many).

Finished the Tawny Man trilogy! Oh my feels. Right in the damn heart, every book. Definitely my favorite trilogy so far of the Elderling books. I'm also halfway through the Rain Wilds ones!

I read The Summer that Melted Everything and it's my favorite book of the year so far. Just... so, so good. Everything about it was perfect. I laughed, I cried, I questioned my life choices. Good times all around.

I've been reading a lot more poetry! It didn't start out as a conscious decision, but I really like breaking up novels with short stories/snippets of poetry every day.

The hype around All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is a lie. Squicky, gross, not a love story. Who is responsible for this marketing??

I'm also thinking of cutting the Dark Tower books from my series challenge. I think 3 massively long series was a smidge ambitious, since I still have 4 Elderling and 2 Culture books left. I might substitute the Bill Hodge trilogy instead.

Almost at the last month of the year! And, for the most part, I'm happy with my challenge progress. Definitely was too ambitious with my Big Books challenge: I didn't even get 300 pages into Infinite Jest! I think I need to keep those books casual, it's just so intimidating knowing I "have to" finish them by the end of the year and it puts me off.

I've read a lot of books off my TBR but I feel like my progress slowed down significantly in the second half of the year--probably going to bump it to 75 for 2017.

And for my final challenge, the series one, I'm basically done! I didn't get to the Dark Tower because I'm going to be buddy reading it in 2017, but I think 2 huge series is a great accomplishment. I do have one Culture book I've saved for December and I might add in the book of Elderling short stories, but there's no chance I won't wrap that one up.