Reading 1001 discussion

Each month a selection of one to four books will be posted. You may read and review one of them each month as a part of this challenge. You may not read a book you’ve already read in 2016. If there is only one book posted, you have to read that one, unless you can’t, in which case you get to take that month off.

If a book read as part of the Monthly Calendar is later selected as a BOTM, you may get 1 point for participating in the BOTM discussion.

Scoring
This challenge will employ progressive scoring. The first consecutive book you read is worth 1 point, the second consecutive is worth 2, the third, 3, etc. If you skip a month, the next book you read is again a “first consecutive book” and is worth 1 point.

So if you read a book in January it is worth 1 point, then you read one in February and it is worth 2 points, then you read one in March and it is worth 3 points. If you take April off, but read the challenge book in May – it is worth 1 point; if you read one in June it will be worth 2. Each time you take a month off, you start over at 1 point. If you don’t take any months off, your December book will be worth 12 points.

You may only score in this challenge if you read a challenge book in the appropriate month. I will try to post the challenge books for a month 5 – 7 days before the beginning of the month so you have time to track them down. I have checked to see that these books are readily available in the US (i.e., available for a reasonable price on Amazon), but haven’t checked Amazon elsewhere or libraries anywhere, but these books are hopefully readily available.

This is a calendar challenge - Do not begin reading a challenge book before the beginning of the month. You must also finish the book and post your review before the end of the challenge month to count that book in the challenge.

JANe eyre, by Charlotte Brontë
hangover sqUARe, by Patrick Hamilton
complicitY, by Iain Banks

like liFE, by Lorrie Moore
BRave new world, by Aldous Huxley
qUARtet in autumn, by Barbara Pym
saturdaY, by Ian McEwan

the radetzky MARCH, by Joseph Roth

broken APRIL, by Ismail Kadare

that they MAY face the rising sun, by John McGahern

the JUNglE, by Upton Sinclair

JULY's people, by Nadine Gordimer

AUGUST is a wicked month, by Edna O'Brien

the last SEPTEMBER, by Elizabeth Bowen

the island of dOCTOr moreau, by H.G. Wells
goodbye to BERlin, by Christopher Isherwood

threepenny NOVel, by Bertolt Brecht
EMBERs, by Sándor Márai

DECline and fall, by Evelyn Waugh
remEMBERing babylon, by David Malouf

Standings:

Book Worm - 78
Cafe Mom - 78
John - 78
Kristel - 78
Patrick - 78
Pip - 78

Beverly - 66




The Other Diane - 21
Sashinka - 15
Sushicat - 15
Eadie B - 10
Anna - 7
Jen - 7
Tracy - 6
AJ - 3
Sally S - 3
Shuva - 3
ZombieKitten - 3
Judith - 1
MaryAnn -


As always - keep me honest if I miss your update.

A note about the Threads. I have moved over what seemed to be your primary post with your results from the other thread. You can update that by adding a post in the same thread and asking me to delete my original thread - that should then leave you with your thread, entirely within your control, but already linked to the standings. Hopefully that will work.

I think I got everything moved and posted. Hopefully this will be easier to track. Boy, do I miss the Shelfari nesting threads. :-(

John wrote: "The April Monthly Calendar Book has been posted. Sorry Patrick."

Thanks John, it could have been worse if this group had been run in French: two of the Kadare books have the month of April in the title (Broken April: Avril brisé; Spring Flowers, Spring Frost: Froides fleurs d'avril). And I read both... I have a work trip to Manila in April anyway; this should fit within a 7-hour flight...

Patrick wrote: "John wrote: "The April Monthly Calendar Book has been posted. Sorry Patrick."

Thanks John, it could have been worse if this group had been run in French: two of the Kadare books have the month of ..."

On the other hand, for the "better lucky than good" file, I did a little thrift store shopping this morning and ran into a copy of Broken April in excellent condition. I canceled my library request.

I thought Broken April was fantastic. The question is do I want to read it again or just start over from one point next month? I just read it last year.

Jen wrote: "I thought Broken April was fantastic. The question is do I want to read it again or just start over from one point next month? I just read it last year."

Ahhh, the subtle (or not so subtle) pressure of points. :-) We've got a book coming up that I didn't like much and I was thinking about re-reading it anyway, for the points. But I am so far behind in my reading it seems unlikely.

I have been swamped, but will try to make sure to update scores this weekend.

Hi John, I have read all 3 books in their months so should be at 6 points :)

John wrote: "Jen wrote: "I thought Broken April was fantastic. The question is do I want to read it again or just start over from one point next month? I just read it last year."

Ahhh, the subtle (or not so su..."

I have been much better at not getting pulled in this year to the scramble for points. not participating in the challenge this year has let me take it easy and enjoy my books more. So, I will be passing on reading Broken April since I just read it late last year. I hope others enjoy it though. I thought it was great

Aaaaargh!!! I just read this in March! It was really good, though. McGahern is a quiet writer, with place descriptions that put you in Ireland.

I am looking forward to reading it.

UUggh, read this awhile back and while the first part of book was good, I definitely did not like the preaching in the end and am not looking forward to a reread.

I enjoyed this, or at least found it provocative when it was part of a course of American Literature I studied in the seventies. I remember the shudder as I passed the cattle pens near Chicago years and years later. It will be worth a re-read for six points!

And I have an Audible copy all ready to go on my flight to Sydney in early June.

Pip wrote: "And I have an Audible copy all ready to go on my flight to Sydney in early June."
Audio sounds like a good idea but first I better get May finished.

July's book has been posted - hopefully an easier read than June.

August's book has been posted. I have already read this and am simply not a fan. I was tempted to pick a book by August Strindberg to avoid this, but that would have been cheating.

John wrote: "August's book has been posted. I have already read this and am simply not a fan. I was tempted to pick a book by August Strindberg to avoid this, but that would have been cheating."

I am also not a fan. I do know some people who really loved it but I did not care for it. Since I've been kind of sporadically reading these challenge books, I will pass on the August book.

John, What is our September read?

Diane wrote: "John, What is our September read?"

Good question - and my apologies - I got busy the end of last week and have been traveling since Friday. mia culpa, mia culpa, mia maxima culpa

October choices are up - You may read either book for your October points.

John, could you add me to the list please?

The November choices are posted.

I will try to update the scoring by the end of the day.

I read over half the book and wasn't impressed. Just couldn't force myself to finish it ... so no points for me this month. (oct)
I don't have either one of November's, so I will wait for Dec. choice/s

The December choices have been posted. Enjoy.

I just want to thank you, John, for a challenge I really enjoyed. It was doable, to just have one extra book each month. It was more urgent to get one's choice read each month than the BOTM, so I missed a few of those I would have otherwise read, but I really liked this challenge. Thanks again.

Ditto!

Thanks. The scoring created the urgency I was expecting for those who read each month, but I think also a greater disincentive to rejoin than I expected if someone missed a month. I suspect future challenges will use a simpler scoring mechanism.