You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Slick's Slugs - 1 - 6 books

1. Gone 559 pages, completed in January

CONNECTION: SERIES

2. Hunger 590 pages, completed in February

CONNECTION: SERIES

3. a) Lies 447 pages, completed in February

CONNECTION: SERIES

3. b) Plague 494 pages, completed in February

CONNECTION: SERIES

4. Fear 549 pages, completed in March

CONNECTION: SERIES

5. a) Light 411 pages, completed in March

CONNECTION: BOTH ARE FINAL BOOKS IN THE SERIES

5. b) Sever 371 pages, completed in March

CONNECTION: THE TITLE IS A SINGLE WORD

6. Ash 693 pages, completed in April

Mickey Mouse's Marchers - 7 - 12 books

CONNECTION: BOTH TAKE PLACE IN THE UK

7. a) Shadows of the Workhouse 304 pages, completed in April

CONNECTION: FEMALE AUTHOR

7. b) The Van Alen Legacy 369 pages, completed in May

CONNECTION: TAKES PLACE IN THE U.S.

8. Wool Omnibus 542 pages, completed in May

CONNECTION: GOODREADS AUTHOR

9. a) Ultraviolet 410 pages, completed in May

CONNECTION: FEMALE AUTHOR

9. b) Where the God of Love Hangs Out 201 pages, completed in May

CONNECTION: SHORT STORIES

10. a) The New Weird 403 pages, completed in May

CONNECTION: SHORT STORIES

10. b) Shoggoths in Bloom and other stories 336 pages, completed in June

CONNECTION: SCIENCE FICTION

11. The Mammoth Book Of Extreme Science Fiction 562 pages, completed in June

CONNECTION: TITLE STARTS WITH "THE"

12. a) The Devil Colony 496 pages, completed in May

CONNECTION: UNEARTHLY BEING IN TITLE

12. b) Misguided Angel 265 pages, completed in May

Roadrunner's Racers - 13 - 18 books

CONNECTION: TAKES PLACE (PARTLY) IN NEW YORK

13. a) The Overton Window 457 pages, completed in June

CONNECTION: AUTHOR'S SURNAME STARTS WITH B AND IS FOUR LETTERS LONG

13. b) The Coldest Girl in Coldtown 419 pages, completed in July

CONNECTION: AUTHOR'S SURNAME STARTS WITH B AND IS FOUR LETTERS LONG

14. a) The Bone Yard 375 pages, completed in June

CONNECTION: BONE IN TITLE

14. b) Bones of the Earth 383 pages, completed in July

CONNECTION: BOTH HAVE A CHARACTER NAMED RICHARD

15. The Abominable 663 pages, completed in August

CONNECTION: PUBLISHED IN 2013

16. a) Stormbird 492 pages, completed in June

CONNECTION: PUBLISHED IN 2013

16. b) Kuun pimeä puoli 352 pages, completed in July

CONNECTION: PUBLISHED IN 2013

17. a) Omens 486 pages, completed in July

CONNECTION: PUBLISHED IN 2013

17. b) House of Small Shadows 374 pages, completed in July

CONNECTION: NAME "HOWARD" (PREVIOUS HAS A CHARACTER NAMED HOWARD, NEXT HAS HOWARD IN AUTHOR'S NAME)

18. a) World Made by Hand 317 pages, completed in July

CONNECTION: AUTHOR HAS THREE NAMES

18. b) Private Screening 441 pages, completed in August

Tasmanian Devil's Trouncers - 19 - 24 books

CONNECTION: TAKES PLACE IN THE U.S.

19. The Book of the Dead 635 pages, completed in August

CONNECTION: SAME AUTHORS

20. The Cabinet of Curiosities 653 pages, completed in August

CONNECTION: AUTHORS ARE BROTHERS

21.a) The Cobra Event 412 pages, completed in August

CONNECTION: AUTHOR BORN IN THE U.S.

21.b) The Wall 370 pages, completed in September

CONNECTION: MALE AUTHOR

22.a) Shades of Grey 434 pages, completed in September

CONNECTION: YA

22.b) Lost In Time 342 pages, completed in August

CONNECTION: VAMPIRES

23.a) A Girl's Guide to Vampires 374 pages, completed in August

CONNECTION: FANTASY

23.b) Awaken 348 pages, completed in September

CONNECTION: FANTASY

24.a) Hämäränpartio 369 pages, completed in September

CONNECTION: MALE AUTHOR

24.b) What The Night Knows. Dean Koontz 442 pages, completed in September

Buzz Lightyear's Bombers - 25 - "To infinity and beyond"

CONNECTION: MALE AUTHOR

25. A Tap on the window 512 pages, completed in October

CONNECTION: MALE AUTHOR

26. American Gods 592 pages, completed in October

CONNECTION: GOODREADS AUTHOR

27. Riptide 508 pages, completed in October

CONNECTION: GOODREADS AUTHOR

28. a) Dark Life 310 pages, completed in October

CONNECTION: WORD "DARK" IN TITLE

28. b) Games to Keep the Dark Away 215 pages, completed in September

CONNECTION: MYSTERY/THRILLER

29. a) Suojattomat 298 pages, completed in September

CONNECTION: MYSTERY/THRILLER

29. b) Paahtavan taivaan alla 378 pages, completed in November

CONNECTION: MYSTERY/THRILLER

30. a) Kunnes vihasi asettuu 282 pages, completed in November

CONNECTION: MYSTERY/THRILLER

30. b) Pahan kädenjälki 255 pages, completed in November

CONNECTION: FINNISH AUTHOR

31. a) Herra Rehtori 278 pages, completed in November

CONNECTION: AUTHOR'S LAST NAME STARTS WITH K

31. b) Mirage 480 pages, completed in October

CONNECTION: SINGLE WORD TITLE

32. a) Weirdo 407 pages, completed in November

CONNECTION: SINGLE WORD TITLE

32. b) Lockdown 292 pages, completed in November

CONNECTION: YA

33. Battle Royale 617 pages, completed in December

CONNECTION: TWO WORD TITLE

34. a) Ladies' Night 464 pages, completed in October

CONNECTION: TWO WORD TITLE

34. b) Hyvä naapuri 219 pages, completed in November

CONNECTION: TWO WORD TITLE

35. a) Meren hiljaisuudessa 366 pages, completed in November

CONNECTION: TWO WORD TITLE

35. b) Menneisyyden varjot 202 pages, completed in November

CONNECTION: TWO WORD TITLE

36. a) Spirit Bound 479 pages, completed in November

CONNECTION: TWO WORD TITLE

36. b) Hex Hall 323 pages, completed in October

CONNECTION: TWO WORD TITLE

37. Veljensä vartija 620 pages, completed in December

CONNECTION: TWO WORD TITLE

38. a) Kummisedän hautajaiset, 213 pages, completed in November

CONNECTION: CRIME

38. b) Hyvät pahat pojat 309 pages, completed in December


I'm done!

Welcome Camilla. Glad to see that you are jumping right in.

You are off to a good start!☺

Thank you for the welcome! I read a fair amount (have set the GR reading challenge to 200 books this year), so I don't think I will have trouble completing this. But it's fun trying to think about how to connect the various books. I'm not going to plan beforehand what books to include here, will just tie suitable books together as I go along.

Welcome Camilla! I came to check out your books. They are new titles for me so it will be fun to read more about them.

I like the idea of not planning out your books but I have so much fun making lists that I always do.

Looking forward to talking about books with you and congratulations on completing Slick's.

Thank you Marnie! Well, I generally like lists too, but as I never know what I will pick up at the library or in a bookshop, I'll just swing this. Not to mention the several dozens of books that are hiding in my TBR closet... And I'm seriously considering getting a Kindle, which would make my reading life so much easier (so many books that I would like to read are not available in Finland; getting fed up with paying for postage when ordering from Amazon).

Duh, so much for me not making a list of this... I went through the books that I currently have from the library and noticed that I can easily complete the Mickey level with them. Now they are stacked on my bedside table in the correct order. There were many left for the next level, just need to figure out how to tie them together. And I didn't even touch my owned books closet yet, but I know there are a couple of chunksters like Doctor Sleep that are calling my name from the closet darkness.

But I need to tackle my animal read for the May challenge first before continuing with this.

I would recommend answering the closet call, especially if it means reading Doctor Sleep sooner - I absolutely loved it!

LOL Sarah, yes I can hear the closet call loud and clear! The problem is that I have currently so many books from the library that I just need to get many of them read and returned before our librarian starts to give me evil looks! I just popped by the library yesterday to return one book and came out with two new ones (The Cabinet of Curiosities and The Cobra Event). How on earth did that happen, I just wonder... Well, I will try to use the former for this challenge, so no real harm done, right?

Oh, Sarah, forgot to ask you: did you read The Shining just before you read Doctor Sleep or do you think it's easy to read the latter when it's been something like 30 years since I read the former?

Camilla wrote: "Oh, Sarah, forgot to ask you: did you read The Shining just before you read Doctor Sleep or do you think it's easy to read the latter when it's been something like 30 y..."

I read The Shining (for the first time) about two months before I read Doctor Sleep. I think you could read the latter without having read the first one but I don't think you'll get as much out of it - I'd read the shining first but I don't think it matters about time between them.

I know that feeling about coming home from the library with too many books. I have to not look around when I return my books at the moment as I have too many of my own books that need reading without bringing a load home as well. I have on occasions taken books back unread too!

Okay, thanks, Sarah. Will have to think about what to do. Somehow I'm tempted to read The Shining again, as it is such a long time ago that I read it. I remember being definitely spooked by it as a teenager, so it would be interesting to see how I would feel about it now. I remember being disappointed when I saw the film, as it didn't follow the book exactly.

Haven't read the book, but watched the movie last year. It is appalling.

Yes the movie is very different to the book.

I re-read The Shining just before I read Doctor Sleep and it was a great adventure. You wouldn't have to re-read The Shining first, but for me it just reminded me of all the intricacies of the story, and that just added to Doctor Sleep.

I recently finished Cabinet of Curiosities and really enjoyed it.

That's a dilemma for sure - closet calling, or librarian with evil eyes.

My Mum was a Librarian as her first career when she was in her 20s (way before me). I mentioned this to a farmer friend of mine from Uni, who had somehow gotten on the wrong side of my mum. He was convinced that he could win my Mum back over. One night he turned up on my doorstep with a crate full of turnips, as he had annoyed his librarian in College (yr 11&12) and won her over with turnips, so he reasoned as my Mum had been a librarian once, she may like turnips. She didn't, and couldn't work out why this friend of mine was on her doorstep forcing turnips upon her.

Funny thing is, they are both involved in a whole heap of voluntary work together and are good friends now, 10 years on. He and I have no contact though, just due to life. Also, she went back to being a librarian in her post retirement job for 4 years.

POINT IS. You could always try winning nasty librarians over with turnips... Or just return your books. Whatever.

@Rusalka LOL about the turnips! I have many kinds of veggies in my garden, unfortunately no turnips though. Maybe carrots would work?

But now I feel a bit bad, since our librarians are all really nice, I haven't seen any evil eyes yet. Maybe it's just my conscience scolding me for keeping books so long.

Yes, I agree the film was most scary and disturbing. But Jack Nicholson did an amazing acting job in it, have to admit that.

@Janice: I am looking forward to reading The Cabinet of Curiosities, it just looks so alluring somehow. Also The Abominable is wating for a suitable spot.

If someone turned up to my work with a bunch of homegrown carrots for me, all would be forgiven lol ;) Not a fan of turnips either.

Camilla wrote: "But now I feel a bit bad, since our librarians are all really nice, I haven't seen any evil eyes yet. Maybe it's just my conscience scolding me for keeping books so long."

Doesn't that make the best type of librarian though? I'll guilt you through my niceness!!

Rusalka wrote: "Doesn't that make the best type of librarian though? I'll guilt you through my niceness!!"

Oh, I hadn't thought about that at all, you are absolutely right! I also feel bad because I order a lot of books from other libraries in the area (as our rural small library has very limited choices in English books) and they have to sort them out when they are delivered to our library, inform me (that's easy, I just receive an e-mail that a book has arrived, I think it's quite automated, but anyway) and then again sort them to be sent back once I have returned them. Hmm, it seems I wallow in my guilt this evening...

Wine. Wine will help with that :P

Rusalka wrote: "Wine. Wine will help with that :P"

LOL, I actually had two glasses of a fairly nice Chilean red at lunch. Maybe I should have a couple more...

I don't know about your library system Camilla but I do the same thing with my little local one and they love me because the more books that flow through, the better their budget gets!
If yours works the same way? Maybe you won't have to feel guilty either?? :)

@Dawn: I've never thought of that! I know they have their yearly budget from the municipality, but I have absolutely no idea if there are any factors affecting the sum (other than how much money our municipality graciously decides to allocate for them). I know all libraries in our country keep tabs on how many customers and how many loans they have yearly. I really have to ask them. Thank you Dawn, I feel much less guilty now!

I imagine even if the amount of books doesn't affect an increase in budget at least it would help keep the budget from being cut, because after all, if we didn't use the library's then they would have to close them!

And if your librarians are as nice as mine, they just want everyone to read, no matter the work for them!

Camilla wrote: @Janice: I am looking forward to reading The Cabinet of Curiosities, it just looks so alluring somehow. Also The Abominable is wating for a suitable spot. "

I have yet to read any of Simmon's books, but I have a couple of them on my bookshelf. The hardcover edition of Drood looks to be about 3" thick, yet it's only (HA!) 775 pages.

Thanks Janice, you just made me add another chunkster to my TBR shelf!

Hehehe... soon your TBR will be bulging just like all the rest of ours.

Buahhahahhaaa... It will not bulge, it will explode!! Im starting to seriously wonder whether GR has an upper limit for books shelved on the TBR shelf...

Duh, I noticed yesterday that my copy of Doctor Sleep is just under 500 pages and not over (had the wrong hardcover version marked here on GR), so I'll have to combine it with something else... Maybe Joyland (same author)...

Rusalka wrote: "My Mum was a Librarian as her first career when she was in her 20s (way before me). I mentioned this to a farmer friend of mine from Uni, who had somehow gotten on the wrong side of my mum. He was ..." Hi Rusalka, I am a librarian and I don't like turnips but maybe that is just me, what did your mum do after she was a librarian ?

That happened to me too Camilla - combining it with Joyland though will do the job as that's nice and short. I really enjoyed it too.

Charmian wrote: "Hi Rusalka, I am a librarian and I don't like turnips but maybe that is just me, what did your mum do after she was a librarian?"

Hi Charmian. Not just you, mum and me also :D Never ever had a good turnip.

Ummm she went a did heaps of odd things. Librarian, then became a naval officer, then studied to be a tailor and a dressmaker and ran her own business in that for a few years, then interviewed people for our government statistical agency (collecting data), then worked in data communications for many years, then went right back to being a librarian in a International Student Centre at one of our unis. She finally, properly, retired last year.

She always used to tell me as a teenager I needed to decide what I wanted to do, as I would do it for the rest of my life. My response was always, "like you huh?". She'd usually be quiet after that :P

Camilla wrote: "Duh, I noticed yesterday that my copy of Doctor Sleep is just under 500 pages and not over (had the wrong hardcover version marked here on GR), so I'll have to combine it with somet..."

You'd think that mean moderator who dreams up these challenges could be less rigid. Hehhehe!

Janice, I can live with it, no problem! My bad, as I did not check earlier that the version that I own is the same as the one I had marked here on GR. And I think - at least for me - that the idea of the challenges is just that: to be challenging. It would not be a challenge if I could just pick up a random book and read it; what would be the fun in that?

... I like this woman.

Rusalka wrote: "... I like this woman."

Me too! Music to a moderator's ears!

Janice wrote: "Rusalka wrote: "... I like this woman."

Me too! Music to a moderator's ears!"

*feeling flattered*

But seriously, thank you all moderators for making this group such a great one and coming up with all these great challenges! Although I've been here only a short while, I can feel there is a very nice vibe in this group.

WOHOO, finally completed Mickey's! I wasn't able to include any of my chunksters in the toppler and have been reading other books outside the toppler as well, so haven't had much to devote to this. But there are several books in my Roadrunner's section that I'm very much looking forward to!

I'm totally stuck with The Abominable, it's such a slooow read... I'm only about a third into it and I already feel I know more about mountain climbing in the 1920's than I ever cared to know. Can't manage more than about 30 pages per day, after that I'm totally fed up with all the crampons, ropes and ice axes! I hope it will eventually turn more arresting.

I think I'll pass on The Abominable then. I just finished The Terror, and it was rather a slog too.

Janice wrote: "I think I'll pass on The Abominable then. I just finished The Terror, and it was rather a slog too."

I have also The Terror on my TBR list, but I'll surely not read it in the near future. This hasn't turned me away from Dan Simmons's books, rather to keep in mind that I need something lighter on read on the side.

I quite like Simmon's writing. You can visualize and feel the scenes he describes. It just took a long time to get to the meat of the story. I have Drood in hardcover to read. It may find it's way to my chunkster list. But oh my aching wrists! LOL!

I found Drood to be a dragger too. I enjoyed it at times but at others I felt it just dragged along.

Bummer! :(

Yay, only one book that I need to finish before completing Tasmanians! The highlight of this lot has definitely been Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron (even though I am still reading it)!

OMG. Camilla, you are a reading machine!