Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

For those of you who are focusing on reading books you own, this is the topic for you. Whether it's a physical book or an ebook hiding in your kindle, if you've had it at least a year, then you can read it this week.

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Suggestions:
Browse your physical bookshelf, your kindle or your Audible account for physical books, ebooks or audiobooks that have been gathering dust for a while.

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Optional Questions:
- What are you reading for this category?
- How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?

Haha, ALL of them. For decades. I hoard them. I own duplicates I didn't know I had because I forgot I bought them and then bought them again. I can't even answer the question how many I own. A few more than I care to admit?? A few hundreds more than I care to admit. More than I will ever get around to in this lifetime, especially if I keep finding bright shiny new books.

Yea so that being said, instead of going back to the beginning and picking something I've owned forever, I picked one that I've had for literally a year.....Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir. Because really, I just want to read all my graphic novels this year.

I also have a lot but hope to read the 3rd book in the Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell, Mountolive.

I am in the "not a planner" group, so I haven't settled on a read for this prompt. I have more than a few but well less than hundreds of unread books. I buy the books my book club reads... and read the books so I can be part of the discussion. The rest of my books come from the library. Years ago my answer would have been different, but several moves of dozens of boxes of books and a great library have cut down on the purchases.

This is a big of a freebie for me, because my main goal for 2019 is to read every book that I own. Most of my books (other than some of Book of the Month club picks) have been on my shelf for longer than a year, so I have a longgggg list to choose from.

This prompt is further down on the list, so I'll probably eliminate quite a few of the books through using them for the other prompts. Hopefully. Because how would I choose otherwise?

I plan to read “Wool” by Hugh Howey. I’ve had it on Audible for probably 2-3 years but have never finished it! This seems like a good time to do so.

I own an embarrassing number of books that I have not yet read. The front runner for this prompt is The Commitments by Roddy Doyle. I've owned it for more than a decade now.

WVrambler wrote: "I plan to read “Wool” by Hugh Howey. I’ve had it on Audible for probably 2-3 years but have never finished it! This seems like a good time to do so."

I love Wool! I hope you enjoy it, too. I'd like to get around to Shift this year, but it's been so long since I read Wool I've forgotten details and might need to find an online re-cap.

WVrambler- I’ve had Wool Omnibus on my Nook (free Nook Book) for several years. I’m still hoping to finish it this year! I’ve heard good things about it.

Angie- I’ll have to look for The Commitments. That’s one of my all-time favorite movies! I had no idea it was based on a book.

I agree with Edie in that the amount of books I own has gotten lower over the years due to moving. Books are very very heavy. I moved this past summer, and lifting those boxes was brutal. I still have several bookshelves of books, though, as well as books on both my Kindle and my Nook. Probably 75% of my books have been with me for over a year and are also unread. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit that.

Sarah wrote: "I agree with Edie in that the amount of books I own has gotten lower over the years due to moving. Books are very very heavy. I moved this past summer, and lifting those boxes was brutal. ..."

My brothers used to curse me out every time I moved because of boxes of books. It just doesn't matter how small a box or how light you try to pack. They weigh a ton, and I have so many.

I have just a few of these because I make it a point that if I own a book I have to read it. But there are a couple that have been waiting for a while. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald has been sitting on my nightstand at like 50 pages in for about 6 months now. If I don't finish it in the next six months, I might just get rid of it.

I have serious TBR issues. I have about 380 books in my house, and 143 of them are unread, according to GR. I gave myself a serious talking to a few years ago, and have greatly reduced the number of books I buy. It's hard though, as I mainly buy second hand and my town has a ton of charity shops including a dedicated book which sells paperbacks for £1 (other charity shops are usually between £2-4). When you can spend less than a coffee and come home with at least two books, it's too tempting!

For this I'm going for Arlington Park. GR says I shelved it in 2013, but it was published in 2006 when I was working in Waterstones, and it looks pretty new so I think it was a staff discount purchase over ten years ago!

Tracy wrote: "Haha, ALL of them. For decades. I hoard them. I own duplicates I didn't know I had because I forgot I bought them and then bought them again. I can't even answer the question how many I own. A few ..."

Snap! I thought my days of dupes was over after cutting down on my purchases (and using GR to get organised), but I just realised I've managed to buy two copies of Elizabeth Is Missing this year...urgh.

I will be reading Renegades by Marisa Meyer for this task.

I've had the book and audio book for years now. It's time to read

Mom2triplets04 wrote: "I've had the book and audio book for years now. It's time to read "

One of my all time favorites! I only own the second one because the first and third were available at the library, but I didn't want to wait for the second one to come off of hold so I bought it! Haha! I asked for the other two for Christmas.

Sarah wrote: "Snap! I thought my days of dupes was over after cutting down on my purchases (and using GR to get organised), but I just realised I've managed to buy two copies of Elizabeth Is Missing this year...urgh."

Haha! I really enjoyed Elizabeth is Missing.....hope you do also (no matter which of your two copies you choose to read).

What are you reading for this category?
Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough

How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?
2 shelves full of books to read, hopefully this challenge and Popsugar challenge will help to put a dent in them...but i can't seem to stop collecting more. :)

My pick for this one is : Trafalgar: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sea Battle in History by Nicholas Best
Was supposed to read this and review it for Netgalley last year but I ended up getting sick two times and never got to it ,

I did The Last Song which has been on my actual bookshelf for at least a couple of years. No idea why I didn't read it sooner.

I'm reading Washington Dekretet by Jussi Adler-Olsen. I bought the book 5-6 years ago, so it definitely qualifies for this prompt :-D
Jussi Adler-Olsen is a Danish author, who is more known for his Nordic Noir novels about Department Q, but I found out that this book also has been translated into English and some other languages.

I have a few dusty books at home but I think it's less than 10. We don't have enough shelves, so some of my books are hidden behind the others. Once in a while I find a book back there I've completely forgotten about, but I try to read the books I buy.

I am reading Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee, a book I have had for several years but just not got around to reading. Enjoying it so far.

How many do I have? LOL. Well, including my professional books, my poetry books (I am a composer, so I have hundreds of those), and my TBR fiction and non-fiction pile...... WELL over a thousand! *cough* I'd better get off goodreads, and go read!!! :) I honestly, have NO idea which books I'm going to pick for this one, but I have plenty from which to choose. :)

What are you reading for this category?
I just finished City of Ashes

How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?
Tons, mostly because I bought so many from Book Outlet last year, but many of those are on my TBR for this year.

- What are you reading for this category?
One of my other GR groups is reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman this month soooo I decided to pick it back up and try to finish it! I started it in May 2017 and DNF'd it.

- How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?
Last time I counted I had 400. I'm trying to make a dent this year!

What are you reading for this category?

Any Human Heart

How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?

I have 74 books I haven't read.

- What are you reading for this category?
I read Railhead by Philip Reeve
- How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?
Somewhere between a few hundred and too many to keep track of (would rather read a book than categorize those on the shelves that are TBR, tbh).

What are you reading for this category?
I finally read Chestnut Street by Maeve Binchy which I've owned since shortly after she died - my excuse is that I was "saving" it, since she's no longer alive, I wouldn't get any more Maeve Binchy's after this. That reasoning doesn't work with most of my other owned-but-unread books, however!

How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?
My owned-but-unread books are in double digits (I think 30ish), but I realise this is relatively good (when discussing with other Goodreaders!). However, I'm making getting some of these books read this year a priority, and I'm up to 8 so far of my physical books. Now I need to start working on reading the ebooks on my iPad!

I'm reading Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It by Gabriel Wyner, which reached the one-year ownership mark on my iBook shelf just days ago. As a language lover, this was calling my name; I'm happy to finally be getting around to reading it. So glad this prompt was selected.

My ebook inventory is definitely under 20. And I live in a small apartment, so the amount of physical books I own but haven't read is pretty limited. Not by choice, but by necessity.

What are you reading for this category?
The Swarm. Or at least I will try. I tried twice or three times already over the last two years and read about half. I hope I will finally finish it this time...

How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?
None. Literally. I don't own any books. I borrow them. The one above is the only one I started and didn't finish.

I read Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year for this topic. I now don't know why it sat in my TBR pile (more accurately, mountain range) for so long. I was in a state of horrified fascination for the whole time.

On the number of books I own but haven't yet read: I daren't count!

For this week I read Wolf in Shadow. Pretty interesting book.

As far as how many books I own but haven't....too many to count and still adding.

What are you reading for this category? Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit? About 80

What are you reading for this category? The Kitchen House
How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit? A few, most of the books I want to read live at the library.

- What are you reading for this category?
Sliding Past Vertical
- How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?
Kindle-Unread 546 (and growing daily)
Book-Shelf-Unread 77 (and still growing)

For this prompt, I read The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht. It is one of my unread print books. I believe that I have close to 50 of those on hand. I lost several ebooks when my Surface died but still have about five on my Kindle.

- What are you reading for this category? The Murder Game
- How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit? very few - maybe 10 and of those some were gifts that I never intend to read, just keeping for sentimental reasons.

For this prompt I read The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

I have owned at least three copies of this over the years but whenever I'd downsize my books it would always go in the "get rid of" pile. O my g, why did I wait so long to read this?!? It was absolutely brilliant and just completely mesmerizing. Totally worthy of all the raves it receives. I loved it!

What are you reading for this category?
- How many books do you own that you haven't read: Very few, actually - due to the fact that I own very few books. "Isn't that what libraries are for?" asked the librarian. I tend only to own "reference-type" books, such as gardening or crafting, etc. or those few books I pick up at library book sales.

- What are you reading for this category?
I read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

- How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?
I have 10 books that I own that are unread, but a lot of audio books and eBooks.

Alvin Fernald, Superweasel I picked this one up used at some point because I loved Alvin's Secret Code as a kid, but never had access to the rest of the series back then.

I have 288 books shelved on goodreads that I own and want to read. Technically there are more that I own and haven't read, but those are the ones that I don't particularly care about reading (a lot of them are my husbands, some are 'just in case' reference and that sort of thing).

I've knocked out 25-30 owned TBR books this year, but also added a number of free/cheap kindle books, so it's a losing battle...

Edit: I just counted and I knocked 34 books off my owned TBR this year--it was higher than I thought because some were short stories and single issue comics that I didn't feel like counted as 'books' for challenge prompts.

I read Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo.

Looking at my GR shelves, I've got just under 500 books, which is a scary number, considering I only read about 60 a year!

What are you reading for this category?
I read Fugitive Pieces a book I had promised myself to read even long before I actually acquired a copy. So, long overdue!

- How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?
Sadly, over 200 books sitting on my physical shelves or languishing on my Kindle. I keep promising not to buy another book until they are all read, but I don't seem able to keep to the promise.

What are you reading for this category? Arlington Park, by Rachel Cusk
How many books do you own that you haven't read? According to my GR shelves, I have 133 books on my shelves and 60 on my Kindle...but I think there are more that I haven't logged!

I am always interested in books about the motherhood experience, and now that I'm in my mid-30's I do sometimes seek out stories which speak to my point in life. This book did that...though not in an entirely comfortable way. I loved that this was made up of snapshots from a group of women who live in the same suburb. I did struggle a little to distinguish some of them though, and I did feel that there wasn't a lot of diversity in either their lifestyles or their approach to their lives. I think my favourites were Solly with her lodgers, and Juliet with her school book group, and I wished there had been more to their strands through the book. I've read a few of Cusk's books now, and I absolutely love her writing and the way she can capture and put into words a feeling or sense that was previously intangible. But I do struggle with a certain coldness to her approach, which at times verges on remoteness and detachment. This is the first of her fiction books I've read, and that coolness creates a barrier around the characters. I struggled to feel anything for most of them due to that (and the fact that I have a bit of issue with privilege problems, which this book is rammed with). I wanted more from this book, but it just never quite lost the chill for me.

What are you reading for this category?
Hotel Babylon: Inside the Extravagance and Mayhem of a Luxury Five-Star Hotel It was a fun read, but definitely deserved its position as a "meh, I'll read it if I ever come across it" read.

How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?
Physical copies, not many. I've moved around a lot and I only buy books that I really want to read so they don't stay unread for long. Even this book went immediately to the little library around the corner. Almost all of my books come from the (actual) library.

That said, I have a long TBR list on goodreads and the oldest are listed as Look-for. I use prompts like this as an excuse to go ahead and buy the oldest book on my list to help clear it out.

- What are you reading for this category? The Hanging Tree
- How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit? I refuse to answer on the grounds that I may incriminate myself

What are you reading for this category?
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner.
I have had this book FOREVER in my TBR pile.

How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?
I don't actually own very many. I usually get my books from the library to read on my Kindle. My 'Want to Read' list is long though!

- What are you reading for this category?
The book I started earlier in the year, American Gods, I wound up DNF'ing for the 2nd time. I finally started reading Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey. It was one of the first ebooks I downloaded years ago, back when B&N offered Free NookBook Fridays.

- How many books do you own that you haven't read: none, a few, a few hundred, more than you care to admit?
~400 physical books & ~50 e-books. I donated and sold a bunch but then I've picked up more. I really need to downsize my library. I now have a stack of books on my floor in the closet, which is not acceptable. Another purge is coming soon!

I read It. I do have a lot of books that I own and have not read. I have physical books and e-books. Not sure how many of each, but a lot.