The Reading Challenge Group discussion

Has a month really gone past that quickly? This year is speeding ahead. August means good and bad things for me - exam results, but also my birthday! Lets hope everyone has a really good month reading. I know a few of us have been finding it tough to break through the dreaded 'readers block'.

August will hopefully mean time sat out in the sun enjoying a good book. Or perhaps a Crime or Mystery if you're interested in our months genre. Or perhaps one of our group reads? Participation has been running low recently... Shameless advertising there!

So, what will everyone be reading this month?

I'd like to read:
The Hammer of Thor
Minnie
and some others.

happy early bday holly! :)

Happy early birthday Holly! A birthday month is always fun.

I've been working crazy hours for the last few weeks so my reading has taken a hit. Luckily I got quite a bit done on my vacation to make up for it but it means my August pile of books is a lot of July's leftovers!

Here's the plan:
The Dinner
The High Road
No Relation
Sorry You're Lost (GR giveaway)
A Darkness More Than Night
The Guardian
The Kite Runner
Everything Changes
The Book of Joe

Thanks Kassandra. Results day is two days before, and basically determines the next 3 years of my life. So depending on whether that will go well or not determines if I'll have a good birthday!

I have 2 weeks holiday in the sun during August, which basically for my family means '2 weeks of mad reading while getting a tan'. Plus with trying to catch up with the horrific 4 weeks I had where I didn't read at all, my plan is to make August quite ambitious.

So, the plan:

Genre Challenge Reads:
The Silence of the Lambs
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Murder at the Vicarage

Classic Reads:
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Dracula
Hamlet
Antony and Cleopatra
The Winter's Tale
Notes from Underground
Emma
The Pilgrim's Progress

Plays/Poetry
Medea
Selected Poems of Byron

And one of the group reads. I'm hoping to add more to that list later on. I'm also tempted to start War and Peace, but it's size is just so daunting that it's freaking me out.

oh wow it is that time already?

I remember that time Holly, it's really stressful! Best of luck, I have every confidence in you. Enjoy your blissful 2 weeks of reading binge in the sun - that sounds like the best holiday EVER!!

I enjoyed Medea, I hope you like it.

I Am Pilgrim
The Final Silence
When It's A Jar
Beauty

I'm having a vacation next month where there will be a lot of flight & then time to myself, so I think August will be a good month for me:

Sharp Objects
Dark Places
Looking for Alaska
Outlander Read in July
Shadow of Night
X-It - Read in July
Vaclav and Lena
Chasing Fire

There's some really great lists here!

Already? Well, if I manage to finish what I had planned for this month, I'll go for:
1984
The War of the Worlds
The Divine Comedy
Lolita
Ghost Story

It's back to college for me in August, so not as many for this month :(

If I ever get through A Clash of Kings and Under the Dome I will start with:

Mansfield Park
Love, Rosie
Between Shades of Gray

and something for the genre challenge. Maybe Dark Places?? not really sure yet

Well, this is what it looks like so far. I'll undoubtedly have to make changes once I've gotten to the end of July, which started well, then stalled. Hoping for a second wind, but we'll see. :)

Genre Challenge: Mystery
-Lady Audley's Secret (maybe)
-Bleak House (Dickens)-finish
-The Eustace Diamonds (Trollope)-finish
-Whose Body? (Sayers)-reread**
-Call for the Dead (LeCarre)**
-A Murder of Quality (LeCarré)**

American Mysteries:
-The Black Dahlia (Ellroy)**
-Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard
-The Postman Always Rings Twice (Cain)
-Naked In Death (JD Robb)
-V is for Vengeance (Grafton)**
-The Blessing Way (Hillerman)**
-Dance Hall of the Dead (Hillerman)

YA Challenge
- The Name of the Star**
- The Madness Underneath
- The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie**
- The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
- Splintered (2013)
- Fangirl (2013)

NonFiction Challenge
- The Glass Castle (finish)
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

LGBT
- And The Band Played On (finish)

CLASSICS:
- The Red Pony by Steinbeck
- The Pearl by Steinbeck
- Uncle Tom's Cabin by Stowe

Chunksters:
- Don Quixote (continue)
- Outlander (finish)
- Children of Dune
- 1Q84 (Book Three)

Plus anything from July that I can squeeze in.

I'd love to read the last books I bought, which are:
- The Beginning of Everything
- Looking for Alaska
- Choke

Also I'm italian and I bought the first two books in english, so I'm looking forward to read them and see how fast I can go, if I find some difficulties etc, it's like a challenge with myself ;)

I am so looking forward to August! I finish my one-year library apprenticeship on the 1st and then I'll have the whole month off til I start Uni in September. Time to get ahead of my widget for once!

My list so far looks like this:

Needful Things
Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You
The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium
The Little Stranger - DONE
Chocky - DONE

Fingers crossed for everyone this month. :)

I can't believe it is almost August. I plan on reading a few books:

finish War and Peace. I am currently something like 62% done. It certainly is a chunkster and Holly, I hope one day you can read it, but whatever you do, have fun on your vacation!
The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind—and Almost Found Myself—on the Pacific Crest Trail (I like travel books)
A Study in Scarlet
Murder on the Orient Express
Paging God: Religion in the Halls of Medicine (work related)
Great Expectations (or at least I hope to get to this one)

Another group is starting Bleak House tomorrow, so I hope to read that. Plus Pot-Bouille if I can get to The Conquest of Plassans this coming week. If not, I'll read them both next month. I don't know what else I'll be reading.

Classics and the Western Canon. Here is the discussion schedule: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

You're welcome, Sandy. The discussion started on the 23rd, but I haven't read any of it yet.

I'm almost done with my July reads which are Minnie, finished hammer of thor too so I'll be reading The Exquisite and Immaculate Grace of Carmen Espinozafor my book club's first buddy read next month.

I'm still a bit behind with my reads, but hoping to get the following finished:

A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold by George R.R. Martin
The Gathering of The U'Narai by Yvonne Carsley

I also want to get started on some new reads:

Dracula by Bram Stoker (Classic)
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (for this month's Genre read)
The Woodcutter by Kate Danley (YA read)
Victorian Pharmacy: Rediscovering Home Remedies and Recipes by Jane Eastoe (Non-fiction read).

White Fang
The Secret Agent
Colonel Roosevelt
Fathers and Sons
The Prince and the Pauper
Selected Works of Cicero
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
The Man in the Iron Mask
Waiting for Godot
Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World's Greatest Chocolate Makers

That's a really interesting collection of books, Faye. Your August reading is going to be fascinating!

Renee wrote: "That's a really interesting collection of books, Faye. Your August reading is going to be fascinating!"

I had a library binge, haha! Picked up anything that appealed to me. :D

Ah, the Library Binge! Good times! :D

I'm hoping to keep puttering through Anna Karenina, I want to finish Storm of Swords, a book of frosts poetry and Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Also would like to start I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings at the end of the month.

Laura-
I read Julia Child's My Life in France recently. It was divine! So very interesting and funny. Much of the book is devoted to the creation of Mastering the Art if French Cooking.

Renee - Life in France sounds like a wonderful read. I've always wanted to be able to cook French cuisine but it's not my best result. If only her books had come with in-person sessions when she was alive - then I would have stood a chance!!!

I wonder if there are DVDs of her tv show from the 60s. I remember watching it but don't have any idea what she cooked... But it might be French stuff. :) Also, Jaques Pepin is immensely watchable.

Jacques Papin? That's a new name for me. Thanks for the recommendation Renee!

Sandy wrote: "A very optimistic plan for August, but then a person needs to have a goal!

Genre Challenge (August - Crime/Mystery)
Maisie Dobbs
A Study in Scarlet
[book:Whose Body?|19..."


I love your plan Sandy! I'll be rooting (not sure that's the right spelling) for you, Girl!!!

I'm afraid of a plan, since both June and July were a bust, so I will keep attacking my mystery/crime stack and be reading whatever you all keep throwing my way.
I'm in the middle of The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy and I do want to read the two group genre books, A Study in Scarlet and Love Letters to the Dead. Oh, for sure one more, Whose Body?. And then....

I have the same problem as you Melissa, the plan is a bust every month! It sounds like you have a really interesting plan so far for August. I hope you enjoy them all (and any others that may creep in)!

Kassandra wrote: "I have the same problem as you Melissa, the plan is a bust every month! It sounds like you have a really interesting plan so far for August. I hope you enjoy them all (and any others that may creep..."

Sandy wrote: "Melissa wrote: "I'm afraid of a plan, since both June and July were a bust, so I will keep attacking my mystery/crime stack and be reading whatever you all keep throwing my way.
I'm in the middle ..."

Kassandra, it's usually the ones that creep in there that are the ones that I enjoy the most. I guess that is me learning to keep an open mind. :)

Sandy, I generally like to make plans too, but after June and July being such terrible reading months, I almost feel ashamed to put it out there. I do have it written down in my Reading Journal though for a guideline.