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Janet's Log - Stardate 2018


Janet

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Books read In 2006 - 20
Books read In 2007 - 30
Books read In 2008 - 40
Books read In 2009 - 65
Books read In 2010 - 45
Books read In 2011 - 60
Books read In 2012 - 76
Books read in 2013 - 63
Books read in 2014 - 57
Books read in 2015 - 69
Books read in 2016 - 86

Books read in 2017 - 74

 

I am simplifying things in 2018.  I was focussing too much on spreadsheets etc, and forgetting about the main purpose of reading - enjoyment.  Therefore this year I am not going to record purchases of Kindle books (after all, I can see those on Amazon any time I want) or Library Books.  I am going to keep a list of books read, acquired and books on my 'to read' pile acquired prior to 2018. 

 

I am going to continue with the English Counties Challenge (and therefore that spreadsheet).  I think I'm the last to complete this challenge, but I'm not going to stress about it - I'll finish it eventually, if not this year.  I *think* I have about 12 books out of 48 left to read.

 

I'm not sure what else 2018 will hold.  I really loved the idea of the Round Robin challenge (I think that's what it's called) but I think that will just be more pressure.

 

I am doing an offline challenge - very, very long-term - a quest to visit, and blog, every branch of Waterstones!  It started off after a comment from @chaliepud (whom I don't think I've ever thanked - so thanks! :)  ) as a bit of a joke between Peter and myself, but then we decided to do it! We love the UK and this quest has made us visit towns we would never have otherwise visited.  We're on 57/281 so far! Wish us luck!

 

I think that's it for this post.  I will reserve a few before working out exactly my plans for 2018 and then open the thread.  I aim to post more this year - I slipped away in June last year and got so far behind that I found it difficult to come back.  Hopefully simplifying things in 2018 will help.  :)

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BOOKS READ IN 2018

 

Key:

English Counties Challenge (EC) - total 30/48

World Challenge (W) - total 51/223

Classics (C)

Library (L)

Kindle (K) Nook (N)

Book club (real or online) (BC)

Audiobook (A)

 

FICTION / CLASSICS (#006600) / CHILDREN'S/YOUNG ADULT / NON-FICTION (#0000cc) / SHORT STORY (#ff3399) / PLAYS  / POETRY

 

1. Father Christmas and Me (2017) by Matt Haig - 01.01.18 - 3/5

2. The Keeper of Lost Things (2017) by Ruth Hogan - ( K ) - 02.01.18 - 3/5

3. Village Christmas: And Other Notes on the English Year (2015) by Laurie Lee - 07.01.18 - 4/5

4. A Redbird Christmas (2004) by Fannie Flagg - 13.1.17 - 4/5

5. England, England (1998) by Julian Barnes -  23.01.18 - 3/5

6. Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864) by Jules Verne - 29.01.18 - 5/5

7. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (2017) by Gail Honeyman - 02.02.18 - 4/5

8. The Bette Davis Club (2015) by Jane Lotter - ( K ) - 14.02.18 - 3/5

9. Caravel (2017) by Stephanie Garber - ( BC ) - 22.02.18 - 4/5

10. A Vicarage Family (1963) by Noel Streatfeild - 23.02.18 - 4/5

11. Career of Evil (2015) by Robert Galbraith - ( K ) - 27.02.18 - 4/5

12. The Word is Murder (2017) by Anthony Horowitz - ( K ) - 03.03.17 - 4/5

13. Wives and Daughters (1866) by Elizabeth Gaskell - ( K ) - 16.03.17 - 5/5

14. Aberystwyth Mon Amour (2001) by Malcolm Pryce - ( BC ) - 20.03.18 - 4/5

15. The New Mrs Clifton (2016) by Elizabeth Buchan - ( K ) - 26.03.18 - 4/5

16. Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) by Jean Rhys - 28.03.18 - 4/5

17. Parliament of Rooks: Haunting Brontë Country (2017) by Karen Perkins ( K ) - 30.03.18 - 3/5

18. Sky Chasers (2017) by Emma Carroll - 31.03.18 - 4/5

19. Our Man in Havana (1958) by Graham Greene - 04.04.18 - 4/5

20. A Time to Change (2017) by Callie Langridge ( K ) - 07.04.18 - 4/5

21. The Pickwick Papers (1837) by Charles Dickens - 17.04.18 - 3/5

22. The Couple Next Door (2016) by Shari Lapena - 20.04.18 - 3/5

23. The Silent Companions (2017) by Laura Purcell - 28.04.18 - 4/5

24. How to Stop Time (2017) by Matt Haig - ( BC ) - 07.05.18 - 4/5

25. Reservoir 13 (2017) by Jon McGregor - 16.05.18 - 4/5

26. My Family and Other Animals (1956) by Gerald Durrell - 31.05.18 - 5/5

27. The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1963) by John le Carré - ( A ) - 03.06.18 - 4/5

28. Birds, Beasts and Relatives (1969) by Gerald Durrell - 06.06.18 - 4/5 

29. The Tattooist of Auschwitz (2018) by Helen Morris - ( K ) - 11.06.18 - 4/5

30. The Walworth Beauty (2018) by Roberts, Michèle – 21.06.18 – 4/5

31. Less (2017) by Sean Andrew Greer - (K) - 06.07.18 - 3/5

33. Knots and Crosses (Rebus #1) (1987) by Ian Rankin - ( A ) - 11.07.18 - 4/5

34. The New Woman (2015) by Charity Norman - ( K ) - 11.07.18 - 3/5

35. A Lesson in Dying (Inspector Ramsay #1) (1990) by Ann Cleeves - ( A ) - 15.07.18 - 3/5

36. Alice (Alice Chronicles#1) (2015) by Christina Henry - ( K ) - 22.07.18 - 4/5

37. The Stormkeeper's Island ( 2018 ) by Catherine Doyle - 26.07.18 - 4/5

38. Hide and Seek (Rebus #2) (1991)  by Ian Rankin ( A ) - 29.07.18 - 4/5

39. Tooth and Nail (Rebus #3) (1992) by Ian Rankin ( A ) - 07.08.18 - 4/5

40. Heartburn (1983) by Nora Ephron ( BC ) - 08.08.18 - 3/5

41. The Grand Babylon Hotel (1902) by Arnold Bennett ( K / C ) - 16.08.18 - 3/4

42. Secrets of a Sun King (2018) by Emma Carroll - 18.08.18 - 4/5 

 

5/5 - I loved it

4/5 - I really liked it

3/5 - I liked it

2/5 - It was okay

1/5 - I hated it

 

(or variations!)

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BOOKS ACQUIRED IN 2018 (TITLES READ IN RED!)

 

1. High Rising - Angela Thirkell - given to me by my Mum - 12.01.18 - £0

2. Dickens' London (Folio Edition) - Charles Dickens - Oxfam, Wells - 19.01.18 - £2.99

3. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman - 22.01.18 - £0 - finished 02.02.18

4. Caravel - Stephanie Garber - 22.01.18 - £0 - finished 22.02.18

5. George Orwell Diaries - George Orwell - 03.02.18 - £0

6. A Vicarage Family - Noel Streatfeild - 03.02.18 - £1.00 - finished 23.02.18

7. How to Stop Time - Matt Haig - 14.04.18 - £4.00

 

Total new books acquired in 2018: 7
Number of these read: 3
Total cost* of books acquired: £3.99

Books abandoned: 0

* Taking into account money off/vouchers/gift cards etc - so price paid, not necessarily cover price

 

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Last year my '2016 and earlier' list stood at 102 and I decreased it by 11.  I've added in 2017's unread books so as at 1st January it stood at 110.  I hope to make some inroads to it in 2018!  :)

 

3 read so far in 2018

 

TOTAL TO READ PILE 2017 and before (total left = 107/110)

 

2017 (30) #000066

Ackroyd, Peter - First Light

Allingham, Philip - Cheapjack

Barnes, Julian - England, England - finished 23.01.18

Bates, H E - Through the Woods

Benedictus, David - Return to the Hundred Acre Wood

Betjeman, John (selected by Hugo Williams - John Betjeman Poems

Bryson, Bill - The Road to Little Dribbling

Calvino, Italo - If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

Carroll, Emma - The Sky Chasers - finished 31.03.18

Collins, Wilkie - The Haunted Hotel

Dickens, Charles - Dickens at Christmas

Flagg, Fannie - A Redbird Christmas - finished 13.01.18

Gaiman, Neil - Fortunately the Milk

Gibbons, Stella - Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm

Greene, Graham - Our Man in Havana - finished 04.04.18

Highsmith, Patricia - Strangers on a Train

Hill, Susan - Jacob's Room is Full of Books

Høeg, Peter - Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow

Holman-Hunt, Diana - My Grandmothers and I

Lee, Laurie - Village Christmas and Other Notes on the English Year - finished 02.01.18

Lingdren, Astrid - Pippi Longstocking

Nimmo, Jenny - The Snow Spider

Rae, Simon - The Faber Book of Christmas

Ransome, Arthur - Winter Holiday

Russell, Willy - Educating Rita

Somerset Maugham, W - Christmas Holiday

Various - Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls

Various - The Best Bear in the World

Von Armin, Elizabeth - Elizabeth and her German Garden

Wyndham, John - Chocky

Wyndham, John - Consider Her Ways and others

Wyndham, John - The Seeds of Time

 

2016 (13) #990000

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi - Purple Hibiscus

Bunzl, Peter - Cogheart

Carr, J L - The Harpole Report

Du Maurier, Daphne - Frenchman's Creek

Faqir Fadia - Willow Trees Don't Weep

Ferrante, Elena - My Brilliant Friend

Gaiman, Neil - Anansi Boys

McGrath, Alister - Deep Magic, Dragons & Mice

Postgate, Oliver - Seeing Things

Rodriguez, Deborah - The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul

Various - Puffin Book of Christmas Stories

Wells, H G - Ann Veronica

Willis, Connie - To Say Nothing of the Dog

 

2015 (0)

 

2014 (4) #990066

Birch, Carol - Jamrach's Menagerie

Lehman, Rosamund - The Weather in the Streets

Milne, A A - Now We are Six

Milne, A A - When We Were Very Young

 

2013 (18) #009966

Carr, J L - The Battle of Pollocks Crossing

Delafield, E M - Diary of a Provincial Lady

Dickens, Charles - Barnaby Rudge

Dickens, Charles - Bleak House

Dickens, Charles - David Copperfield

Dickens, Charles - Dombey and Son

Dickens, Charles - Little Dorrit

Dickens, Charles - Martin Chuzzlewit

Dickens, Charles - Our Mutual Friend

Dickens, Charles - The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Dickens, Charles - The Old Curiosity Shop

Dickens, Charles - The Pickwick Papers - finished 18.04.18

Hosseini, Khaled - And the Mountains Echoed

Keats, John - Everyman's Poetry

Orwell, George - A Life in Letters

Townsend, Sue - Adrian Mole - From Major to Minor

Usher, Shaun - Letters of Note

Wyndham, John - Web

 

2012 (3) #ff6600

Priestley, J B - English Journey

Shakespeare, William - The Merchant of Venice (Cambridge School Shakespeare)

Wayne, Jenifer - The Day the Ceiling Fell Down

 

2011 (17) #006600

Allende, Isabel - The House of the Spirits

Blue, Lionel - Hitchhiking to Heaven

Christie, Agatha - Sparkling Cyanide

Cronin, A J - A Song of Sixpence

Cronin, A J - The Green Years

Cronin, A J - The Minstrel Boy

Cronin, A J - The Northern Lights

Fry, Stephen - The Fry Chronicles

García Márquez, Gabriel - Love in the Time of Cholera

Gee, Sue - The Mysteries of Glass

Greer, Germain - Shakespeare's Wife

Larsson, Steig - The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest

Magnusson, Sally - Family Life

Maugham, W Somerset - The Magician

Maugham, W Somerset - The Travel Books of W Somerset Maugham

Shakespeare, William - The Life and Death of King John

Skinner, John (Rev'd) - Journals of a Somerset Rector (1803 to 1834)

 

2010 (5) #000099

Byatt, A S - The Children's Book

Milne, A A - The Red House Mystery

Shakespeare, William - Cambridge School Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Shakespeare, William - Cambridge School Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors

Wallington, Mark - Boogie up the River

 

Pre-2010 (18) #ff0000

Bryson, Bill - A Short History of Nearly Everything

Chesterton, G K - The Man Who Was Thursday

Faulks, Sebastian - On Green Dolphin Street

Golding, William - The Lord of the Flies

Greene, Graham - The Third Man/The Fallen Idol

Haggard, H. Rider - King Soloman's Mines

Jerome, Jerome K - Three Men on the Bummel

Orwell, George - Inside the Whale

Orwell, George - The Decline of the English Murder and other Essays

Osbourne, Frances -The Bolter

Phinn, Gervase - Head Over Heels in the Dales

Rees, Celia - Witch Child

Shakespeare, William - Hamlet (Cambridge School Shakespeare)

Shakespeare, William - Romeo and Juliet (Cambridge School Shakespeare

Shakespeare, William - The Merry Wives of Windsor (Cambridge School Shakespeare)

Shakespeare, William - Twelfth Night (Cambridge School Shakespeare)

Streatfeild, Noel - Ballet Shoes

Woolf, Virginia - The Common Reader

 

I have lost a George Orwell book - Shooting an Elephant.  Hopefully it will turn up.  :/

 

 

Total read 4
Abandoned 0
Given Away 0

 

 

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ENGLISH COUNTIES CHALLENGE - (TITLES READ IN RED) PROGRESS = 39/48

 

01. My Uncle Silas by H. E. Bates (Bedfordshire) – 5/5

02. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (Berkshire) – 4/5

03. The Misses Mallett by E. H. Young (Bristol) - 4/5

04. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper (Buckinghamshire) - 5/5

05. The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers (Cambridgeshire) - 4½/5

06. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (Cheshire) - 5/5

07. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (City of London) 5/5 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (City of London) - 5/5

08. Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier (Cornwall) - 5/5

09. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome 3½/5 The Maid of Buttermere by Melvyn Bragg (Cumbria)

10. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (Derbyshire) – 5/5 - I have already read this so may look for an alternative

11. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (Devon) - 5/5

12. Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (Dorset) - 5/5

13. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens (Durham) – 5/5

14. South Riding by Winifred Holtby (East Riding of Yorkshire) - 5/5

15. Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne (East Sussex) – 5/5

16. Flambards by K M Peyton – 4/5 / The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

17. A Child in the Forest by Winifed Foley - 4/5

18. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Greater London) - 4/5

19. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (Greater Manchester) - 5/5

20. Watership Down by Richard Adams (Hampshire) – 4/5 - have read this before so may look for an alternative

21. On The Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin (Herefordshire) – 4/5

22. Howards End by E M Forster (Hertfordshire) - 3/5 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Hertfordshire) – 5/5

23. England, England by Julian Barnes (Isle of Wight) - 3/5

24. The Darling Buds of May by HE Bates (Kent) – 5/5

25. Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson – /5 - have read this before so may look for an alternative (alt) Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill (Lancashire) - suggested alternative from Willoyd

26. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend (Leicestershire) – 5/5

27. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (Lincolnshire) - 3/5

28. An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge (Merseyside) – 3/5 - have read this before so may look for an alternative

29. The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley (Norfolk) - 4/5

30. All Creatures Great and Small by James Heriott (North Yorkshire) - 5/5

31. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (Northamptonshire)

32. The Stars Look Down by A. J. Cronin (Northumberland) - 4/5

33. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence (Nottinghamshire) - 2/5

34. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (Oxfordshire) - 5/5

35. Set In Stone by Robert Goddard (Rutland) – 4/5

36. Summer Lightning by P. G. Wodehouse (Shropshire) – 3/5

37. Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore (Somerset) - 3/5

38. A Kestrel For A Knave by Barry Hines (South Yorkshire) – 4/5 - have read this before so may look for an alternative

39. The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett (Staffordshire) - 3/5

40. The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald (Suffolk) - 3/5

41. Emma by Jane Austen (Surrey) – 5/5 - have read this before so may look for an alternative

42. Another World by Pat Barker (Tyne and Wear) - 3/5

43. Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes (Warwickshire)

44. Middlemarch by George Eliot (West Midlands) - 4/5

45. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (West Sussex) – 4/5

46. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (West Yorkshire)

47. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope (Wiltshire)

48. The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (Worcestershire) - 3/5

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Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility (1811) - finished 10.01.16
Pride and Prejudice (1813) - finished 20.08.08

Mansfield Park (1814) -
Emma (1815) - finished 04.10.13
Northanger Abbey (1817) - 30.06.13

Persuasion (1817) -

Jane Austen's Unfinished Novels (I'm not sure if I'm going to read these)
Lady Susan (1871)
The Watsons (1871)
Sanditon (1925)
Lesley Castle (2009)

 

 

The Brontë Sisters

 

Anne

Agnes Grey (1847) - finished 22.02.17

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) - finished 08.02.13

 

Charlotte

Jane Eyre (1847) - finished 23.09.10

Shirley (1849)

Villette (1853)

The Professor  (1857) - finished 01.05.17

 

There is also:

Emma Brown (2003) (with Clare Boylan) - but I'm undecided about this

 

Emily

Wuthering Heights (1847) - finished 22.07.15

 

 

Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes' novels

1. A Study in Scarlet (1887) finished 03.03.16
 

2. The Sign of the Four (1890) finished 14.05.16
 

3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) finished 13.02.16

  • 'A Scandal in Bohemia'
  • 'The Red-headed League'
  • 'A Case of Identity'
  • 'The Boscombe Valley Mystery'
  • 'The Five Orange Pips'
  • 'The Man with the Twisted Lip'
  • 'The Blue Carbuncle'
  • 'The Speckled Band'
  • 'The Engineer’s Thumb'
  • 'The Noble Bachelor'
  • 'The Beryl Coronet'
  • 'The Copper Beeches'

4. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) finished 14.07.16

  • 'Silver Blaze'
  • 'The Yellow Face'
  • 'The Stock-broker’s Clerk'
  • 'The ‘Gloria Scott'
  • 'The Musgrave Ritual'
  • 'The Reigate Squires'
  • 'The Crooked Man'
  • 'The Resident Patient'
  • 'The Greek Interpreter'
  • 'The Naval Treaty'
  • 'The Final Problem'

 

5. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) finished 30.03.17
 
6. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) finished 19.09.16

  • 'The Empty House'
  • 'The Norwood Builder'
  • 'The Dancing Men'
  • 'The Solitary Cyclist'
  • 'The Priory School'
  • 'Black Peter'
  • 'Charles Augustus Milverton'
  • 'The Six Napoleons'
  • 'The Three Students'
  • 'The Golden Pince-Nez'
  • 'The Missing Three-Quarter'
  • 'The Abbey Grange'
  • 'The Second Stain'

 

7. The Valley of Fear (1915)
 
8. His Last Bow (1917)

  • 'Wisteria Lodge'
  • 'The Cardboard Box'
  • 'The Red Circle'
  • 'The Bruce-Partington Plans'
  • 'The Dying Detective'
  • 'Lady Frances Carfax'
  • 'The Devil’s Foot'
  • 'His Last Bow'

 

9. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

  • 'The Illustrious Client'
  • 'The Blanched Soldier'
  • 'The Mazarin Stone'
  • 'The Three Gables'
  • 'The Sussex Vampire'
  • 'The Three Garridebs'
  • 'Thor Bridge'
  • 'The Creeping Man'
  • 'The Lion’s Mane'
  • 'The Veiled Lodger'
  • 'Shoscombe Old Place'
  • 'The Retired Colourman'

 

6/9

 

Charles Dickens
1. The Pickwick Papers (1837) finished 18.04.18
2. Oliver Twist (1839) finished 09.06.13
3. Nicholas Nickleby (1839) finished 21.12.14
4. The Old Curiosity Shop (1841)
5. Barnaby Rudge (1841)
6. A Christmas Carol (1843) first finished 29.12.07
7. Martin Chuzzlewit (1844)
8. Dombey and Son (1848)
9. David Copperfield (1850)
10. Bleak House (1853)
11. Hard Times (1854) finished 09.02.16
12. Little Dorrit (1857
13. A Tale of Two Cities (1859) finished 17.11.15
14. Great Expectations (1861) finished 05.11.16
15. Our Mutual Friend (1865)
16. The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870)

7/16
 
Thomas Hardy
(From Wikipedia:)
 
Hardy divided his novels and collected short stories into three classes:
 
Novels of Character and Environment
 
The Poor Man and the Lady (1867, unpublished and lost)
 
Readable
1. Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School (1872) - finished 13.10.16
2. Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) finished 20.09.15
3. The Return of the Native (1878)
4. The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character (1886) finished 26.09.11
5. The Woodlanders (1887)
6. Wessex Tales (1888, a collection of short stories)
7. Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented (1891) finished 07.0113
8. Life's Little Ironies (1894, a collection of short stories)
9. Jude the Obscure (1895)
 
Romances and Fantasies
 
10. A Pair of Blue Eyes: A Novel (1873)
11. The Trumpet-Major (1880)
12. Two on a Tower: A Romance (1882)
13. A Group of Noble Dames (1891, a collection of short stories)
14. The Well-Beloved: A Sketch of a Temperament (1897) (first published as a serial from 1892) finished 10.08.15
 
Novels of Ingenuity
 
15. Desperate Remedies: A Novel (1871)
16. The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters (1876)
17. A Laodicean: A Story of To-day (1881)
 
5/17

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Happy 2018 Janet! 

 

I think ink it’s a great idea to simply spreadsheets if it’s all getting too much. I have a few now but (other than the round robin challenge) I’m not setting targets to get them done, just ticking them off as and when. 

 

I think I read one (maybe 2?) of the Round the World one last year so I’m definitely not on course to complete it before I die! :giggle2: 

 

I’ve been doing really well with the 1001 list recently but largely by accident because so many of the English counties books are on it. 

 

But I think removing them all entirely is a great thing to do and I hope you have a great year as a result. 

 

I absolutely love the Waterstones challenge!! It’s definitely a long term one but sound like a fantastic way to see much more of the UK beyond the usual tourist spots :) 

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19 hours ago, Lara said:

Happy reading! I love the way your thread is organized. 

Thanks. You too. :)   It's a bit tidier this year, so hopefully I can stay on top of it. 

 

14 hours ago, Lau_Lou said:

Happy Reading for 2018 :)

You have some great books listed. 

Thanks.  :)  You too. 

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12 hours ago, Nollaig said:

Happy reading! The Waterstones challenge is really interesting, and a great way to visit lots of new places :)

Thanks, Noll.  You too.  :)

 

We've already visited a few places we'd otherwise probably have never been to (Abergavenny in Wales and Loughborough, to name but two.  We need to do a trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland at some stage! :)

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12 hours ago, Alexi said:

Happy 2018 Janet! 

 

I think ink it’s a great idea to simply spreadsheets if it’s all getting too much. I have a few now but (other than the round robin challenge) I’m not setting targets to get them done, just ticking them off as and when. 

 

I think I read one (maybe 2?) of the Round the World one last year so I’m definitely not on course to complete it before I die! :giggle2: 

 

I’ve been doing really well with the 1001 list recently but largely by accident because so many of the English counties books are on it. 

 

But I think removing them all entirely is a great thing to do and I hope you have a great year as a result. 

 

I absolutely love the Waterstones challenge!! It’s definitely a long term one but sound like a fantastic way to see much more of the UK beyond the usual tourist spots :) 

Thanks, Alex.  And to you too. :)

 

I'm not likely to complete the World Challenge before I die either  :giggle:   No setting targets is a good thing, I think.

 

I can't remember if I've cross matched the Counties Challenge and the 1001 one.  Although I'm not actively pursuing the latter, I might have a look anyway.

 

The Waterstones challenge is definitely going to be fun.  It's very, very, very long term, as we have to go as far North as Elgin, and as far West as Cork!  Oh, and Amsterdam to the East and Jersey South!  :giggle:

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8 hours ago, Athena said:

I wish you a great reading year in 2018, Janet :)!

Thank, Gaia.  :) You too.

 

52 minutes ago, Hayley said:

I love your Waterstones quest, what a great idea! Which has been your favourite so far?

 

Hope you have a great reading year too :)

Oooh, that's tricky!  Possibly Bradford in Yorkshire for the building - it's in an old Wool Exchange building and is stunning.  :)  Swansea is lovely too - it's in an old cinema.  Reading is in an old chapel (but I haven't done that as part of this quest so will have to go back.  :) ).

 

 

Bradford 09.07.17 (11).JPG

Bradford 09.07.17 (14).JPG

Bradford 09.07.17 (16).JPG

 

Edit - sorry, pressed 'post' too soon - I hope you have a good year too, @Hayley

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Wow, those pictures are stunning Janet - a great place to have a Waterstone's! The only shop similar to that I can think of, is Dominicanen in Maastricht, which is situated in an old church. I didn't take any pictures when I was there though, I'm always kind of hesistant about whether the shop personell will appreciate someone taking pictures in their shop, even if so many people online seem to be taking pictures. I wish you luck with the challenge, a book shop is a great reason to visit a town, in my opinion!

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On 02/01/2018 at 12:29 PM, Janet said:

I am going to continue with the English Counties Challenge (and therefore that spreadsheet).  I think I'm the last to complete this challenge, but I'm not going to stress about it - I'll finish it eventually, if not this year.  I *think* I have about 12 books out of 48 left to read.

 

Well, only Claire and I have finished it so far (as far as I know).  I don't know who else is doing it (Alex for one), but that list is there for anybody to have a go at - so I can't see how, with 3/4 of the books read, you can be last; some future participants may not have even started yet! It's not a race anyway.

 

Waterstones Bradford is lovely, isn't it.  That building is a cracker, true Victorian resplendence. It's one of my locals, and comfortably my favourite shop in the city.  Nice coffee shop upstairs too!

 

 

Edited by willoyd
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3 hours ago, Athena said:

Wow, those pictures are stunning Janet - a great place to have a Waterstone's! The only shop similar to that I can think of, is Dominicanen in Maastricht, which is situated in an old church. I didn't take any pictures when I was there though, I'm always kind of hesistant about whether the shop personell will appreciate someone taking pictures in their shop, even if so many people online seem to be taking pictures.

I'm always half expecting someone to ask what I'm doing!  Luckily nobody has... yet.

 

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I wish you luck with the challenge, a book shop is a great reason to visit a town, in my opinion!

Thanks  :)

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Hi Janet, the Amsterdam one is ok but not amazing and please don’t get excited about the Woking one! If you come to the Camberley one let me know and I’ll take you for coffee! Likewise the Windsor or Guildford ones, neither are too far from me. Woking is pretty close too but I don’t go there out of choice! :D

Oh, and I think Bracknell may have one in their new shopping centre too! :) 

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