Kylie's Literary Adventures in 2014

[Kylie]

I have finished setting up my reading list now...well, more or less. I haven't added most of the books I bought in 2013 to my TBR lists yet. I really need to work harder to keep my lists up to date during the year!

[Devi]

I have finished setting up my reading list now...well, more or less. I haven't added most of the books I bought in 2013 to my TBR lists yet. I really need to work harder to keep my lists up to date during the year!

Same here, i really neglected mine last year. I have started fixing it the last couple of days.

 

Good luck and happy reading in 2014! Look forward to keeping up to date with your thread

[Marie H]

Oh... my... goodness.., I have just looked at your TBR lists, it was like being in Aladdins cave!!   I was suddenly found the Room of Requirements at Hogwarts, for the most wonderful books  . Happy reading Kylie   . There were some great Oulipo books there, I found some of Perec's works last year, and have some TBRs of Borges and Calvino too. Great stuff 

[Karsa Orlong]

Happy reading, Kylie! 

[poppyshake]

Happy New Year Gorgeous and Happy Reading! 

 

You are the Queen of lists   they are just phenomenal   I am already scribbling down titles   

[bobblybear]

Happy reading, Kylie! I haven't looked at your lists properly yet, but when I get more time I'll do so and comment a bit more.

[Alexi]

Good God Kylie your TBR would make a decent village library. I'm quite envious Happy 2014!

[Kidsmum]

Wow Kylie!!!..... i couldn't even begin to read all your TBR lists but i was happy to spot your S A Wakefields & i'm green with envy 

 

Hope you have a great 2014  Happy Reading 

[julie]

Kylie

 I'll echo everyone else and say WOW what a list of books ! Holy Moses , I was copying and pasting to print it off to put in a notebook for reference and am now at 49 pages !    I think I need to get some more printer paper ... and maybe some ink !

 

 Best wishes for 2014  ~~

[Kylie]

Aw, thanks everyone. My lists were a bit out of date when I posted them, so I've been slowly updating them. In the process of copying my 2013 lists over, I somehow deleted nearly all of my H-J TBR books. I've had to dig out my 2012 list, and it will need to be updated a fair bit. And I still have the dreaded task of counting up all of my unread books.
 
I've also changed one of my 'reserved' posts to include a list of the books that I *must* read this year—these are the books that I've had the longest and wanted to read the most, but I somehow haven't gotten around to them. If I can read these 6 books, I will consider this year to be very successful!

Augusten Burroughs Running with Scissors
Philip K Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Daphne du Maurier Rebecca
Stephen King The Stand
Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman Good Omens
Hunter S Thompson Hell's Angels
 

[chesilbeach]

Well, Running With Scissors and Rebecca were both page turners for me, so hopefully you'll find them the same and won't be able to put them down, and getting at least part way to your goal.

[Ben]

Ah, Rebecca at last, I'm so pleased.

 

Happy 2014 to you Kylie - I wish you all the best in your reading and whatever you do in life. I hope it's a great twelve months.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Ben

[bobblybear]

Oooh, I'm so happy to see The Stand on your list of books to read this year!

[frankie]

This is one of the reading logs I've been waiting for the most... Sonovagun!!
 
And each year I think, I know Kylie has a helluva lot of books, I cannot be astounded by her new log anymore, and each year I think, holy mother fudge making machine...
 
Comments on your TBR piles.
 
Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London #1: Rivers of London
Maybe we could try reading this together, you giving me the copy as a pressie!

Douglas Adams Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Douglas Adams The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
I really need to read the former soon... I loved the latter! I think you will like these!

Muriel Barbery The Elegance of the Hedgehog
This was surprisingly good... I liked it! It's one of the things (books) that made me interested in French contemporary literature. I'm really regretting having given my beautiful copy away!!!

Alan Bennett The Uncommon Reader
This is a darling little book. I've read it twice... Didn't appreciate it very much the first time, but then when I read it after having been on this forum for a while, I thought, I could so relate to the queen, and one cannot say that very often! =D And it's a book that inspires you to get to your TBR, full combat style!

John Boyne Crippen
Oh what a great novel. Full of suspence. And based on a true crime case, too!

Louis de Bernieres Red Dog
Hella jealous!! =D

EL Doctorow Ragtime
I've been wanting to re-read this for a while... I think Books do furnish a room did a review on it some time ago (or someone...) and ever since then I've wanted to revisit the book. When I do, I'll come by and harass you into reading it with me

Jeff Lindsay Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Jeff Lindsay Dearly Devoted Dexter
Jeff Lindsay Dexter in the Dark
Jeff Lindsay Dexter by Design
Jeff Lindsay Dexter is Delicious
Oh, I wish I could read this for the first time... Sigh!

 LM Montgomery Emily #1: Emily of New Moon
LM Montgomery Emily #2: Emily Climbs
LM Montgomery Emily #3: Emily's Quest
I'd forgotten you had these... I really hope you enjoy them!!
 
Dai Sijie Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
I loved this. And it's really odd how such a short book could be so captivating...

Steve Toltz A Fraction of the Whole
Wohoo! I hope we shall love the book!

John Kennedy Toole The Neon Bible
I really hope you like this one!
 

[frankie]

^ And that was only the fiction section...
 
Beach | Sylvia Beach Shakespeare & Company
I have a feeling you will like this one

Burroughs | Augusten Burroughs Running with Scissors
I will not say anything, but you will know what I want to say... =D
 
Hey. I will make a deal with you. If you read this book this year, I will read Phantom Tollbooth. Aye? =D  (No pressure though!! I swear.)
 
Dewey | Vicki Myron Dewey
You will love this!

---- comment in between: going through your TBR is making me want to read read read -----  And buy books!! -----

Oh. I love your non-fiction list even more than your fiction list... If that's possible! You have so many books I would love to have and read...


 

Books That I *Must* Read in 2014!
 
These are the books I've had on the top of my TBR pile for the longest time. I *will* read them this year!
 
Augusten Burroughs Running with Scissors
Philip K Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Daphne du Maurier Rebecca
Stephen King The Stand
Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman Good Omens
Hunter S Thompson Hell's Angels
 
And if I get through those, I'd love to read these as well:
 
Vincent Bugliosi Helter Skelter
Alain de Botton Essays in Love
Arthur Conan Doyle The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Kerry Greenwood Phryne Fisher #1: Cocaine Blues
Frank Herbert Dune
Christopher Hitchens God is Not Great

Ursula Le Guin The Earthsea Cycle #1: A Wizard of Earthsea
Mary McCarthy The Group

Dorothy Parker The Penguin Dorothy Parker
Beatrix Potter The Complete Tales

Good choices

I hope you have the best reading year in years! You deserve it if anyone. I hope you achieve your goals, find some amazing reads, and can keep up with the lists

[Athena]

Kylie, I hope you have a wonderful reading year in 2014 !

[poppyshake]

Augusten Burroughs Running with Scissors

Philip K Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Daphne du Maurier Rebecca

Stephen King The Stand

Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman Good Omens

Hunter S Thompson Hell's Angels

All pleasure to be had here I think .. well as far as Rebecca and Running with Scissors are concerned anyway (and surely the Pratchett/Gaiman collab has to be brilliant? ) Good luck with your challenge Kylie! ... it's always a relief to cross off the books that have remained long on the TBR .. they're the ones that nag at you the most   

[Kidsmum]

Rebecca & Running With Scissors get my vote as well. I read The Stand when i was much younger & remembered liking it at the time, not sure if i'd feel the same about it now that i'm older though. Also read The Dorothy Parker Collection & i can still remember some of the stories so i hope you enjoy that one 

[Kylie]

Well, Running With Scissors and Rebecca were both page turners for me, so hopefully you'll find them the same and won't be able to put them down, and getting at least part way to your goal.

 

Great! I have a feeling I'll enjoy them both very much, so hopefully the pages will turn themselves (so to speak!)

 

Ah, Rebecca at last, I'm so pleased.

 

Happy 2014 to you Kylie - I wish you all the best in your reading and whatever you do in life. I hope it's a great twelve months.

 

Thanks Ben! I hope you have a great year too. 

 

Oooh, I'm so happy to see The Stand on your list of books to read this year!

 

The Stand has been hovering around the top of my TBR pile for a few years now (I'm ashamed to say). I simply can't go another year without reading it!

[Kylie]

Frankie
Kylie
 
And each year I think, I know Kylie has a helluva lot of books, I cannot be astounded by her new log anymore, and each year I think, holy mother fudge making machine...
Haha. I'm seriously going to cut down on book buying this year (yeah, yeah, I know I say that every year). I have been improving every year though, so there is hope for me yet.
 
Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London #1: Rivers of London
Maybe we could try reading this together, you giving me the copy as a pressie!
Sounds good!

Douglas Adams Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Douglas Adams The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
I really need to read the former soon... I loved the latter! I think you will like these!
Does that mean you read the second one first?

Muriel Barbery The Elegance of the Hedgehog
This was surprisingly good... I liked it! It's one of the things (books) that made me interested in French contemporary literature. I'm really regretting having given my beautiful copy away!!!
This one is still scaring me. Wasn't this the reading circle book that a few people didn't like?

Alan Bennett The Uncommon Reader
This is a darling little book. I've read it twice... Didn't appreciate it very much the first time, but then when I read it after having been on this forum for a while, I thought, I could so relate to the queen, and one cannot say that very often! =D And it's a book that inspires you to get to your TBR, full combat style!
Hmm, I think I'll start reading this in the next few days (it's nice and short ).

John Boyne Crippen
Oh what a great novel. Full of suspence. And based on a true crime case, too!
Louis de Bernieres Red Dog
Hella jealous!! =D
Ah yes, I knew you would want me to read these two, especially the former.

EL Doctorow Ragtime
I've been wanting to re-read this for a while... I think Books do furnish a room did a review on it some time ago (or someone...) and ever since then I've wanted to revisit the book. When I do, I'll come by and harass you into reading it with me.
Does that mean you enjoyed it a lot the first time you read it? It sounds like a great read.

Jeff Lindsay Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Jeff Lindsay Dearly Devoted Dexter
Jeff Lindsay Dexter in the Dark
Jeff Lindsay Dexter by Design
Jeff Lindsay Dexter is Delicious
Oh, I wish I could read this for the first time... Sigh!
I should add the first Dexter book to my list (or perhaps secondary list) of 'must reads' for the year. It is ridiculous that I haven't read one yet.

LM Montgomery Emily #1: Emily of New Moon
LM Montgomery Emily #2: Emily Climbs
LM Montgomery Emily #3: Emily's Quest
I'd forgotten you had these... I really hope you enjoy them!!
Well, they came highly recommended by someone who has very good taste in books.
 
Dai Sijie Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
I loved this. And it's really odd how such a short book could be so captivating...
I should really bump this up too. Would you say it was a page turner?

Steve Toltz A Fraction of the Whole
Wohoo! I hope we shall love the book!
Ha. Have you ever noticed that I always get you books that I would like (or already have) myself.   

John Kennedy Toole The Neon Bible
I really hope you like this one!
I'll blame you if I don't! Another short one. Maybe I should make this a year of short reads.
 
Beach | Sylvia Beach Shakespeare & Company
I have a feeling you will like this one
I hope I do! Not least because I have other Shakespeare & Co/Sylvia Beach books on my TBR pile.

 

Burroughs | Augusten Burroughs Running with Scissors
I will not say anything, but you will know what I want to say... =D

I *promise* I will read it this year!

Hey. I will make a deal with you. If you read this book this year, I will read Phantom Tollbooth. Aye? =D  (No pressure though!! I swear.)
It's a deal!!

 
Dewey | Vicki Myron Dewey
You will love this!
Kitty!

 

 

---- comment in between: going through your TBR is making me want to read read read -----  And buy books!! -----
Well, what are you waiting for?! Go for it, woman!

 

Oh. I love your non-fiction list even more than your fiction list... If that's possible! You have so many books I would love to have and read...
If you come and visit me again, you can read anything you want <shameless bribery>

I hope you have the best reading year in years! You deserve it if anyone. I hope you achieve your goals, find some amazing reads, and can keep up with the lists.

Aww, thank you, lovely!

[Kylie]

Kylie, I hope you have a wonderful reading year in 2014 !

 

Thanks Athena!

 

All pleasure to be had here I think .. well as far as Rebecca and Running with Scissors are concerned anyway (and surely the Pratchett/Gaiman collab has to be brilliant? ) Good luck with your challenge Kylie! ... it's always a relief to cross off the books that have remained long on the TBR .. they're the ones that nag at you the most   

 

Thanks Poppyshake. You weren't thinking of Carters Beats the Devil when you wrote that last sentence, were you?

 

Rebecca & Running With Scissors get my vote as well. I read The Stand when i was much younger & remembered liking it at the time, not sure if i'd feel the same about it now that i'm older though. Also read The Dorothy Parker Collection & i can still remember some of the stories so i hope you enjoy that one 

 

Thanks, Kidsmum! I'm planning on dipping in and out of Dorothy Parker, so it will probably take a while to get through, but hopefully that will help the stories/poems to stick in my mind a bit better!

[Kylie]

I received my first book of the year this week, but it counts as a 2013 purchase because I ordered it last year.

 

So, on Poppyshake's recommendation, I bought David Garnett's Lady into Fox. Poppyshake, I can't remember if your review mentioned this, but is it Kafka-esque? The blurb certainly makes it sound that way.

 

In reading news, despite a heavy workload, I have been engrossed in The Secret History. I read around 130 pages today, which makes me very happy—both because my mojo is hanging around and because it's a great read! I'm now behind in my work though, so I'll have less chance to read in the next couple of days (although something tells me I will be *making* time to read!) I find it very difficult to put it down once I've picked it up!

[poppyshake]

So, on Poppyshake's recommendation, I bought David Garnett's Lady into Fox. Poppyshake, I can't remember if your review mentioned this, but is it Kafka-esque? The blurb certainly makes it sound that way.

Sort of yes and there's a definite connection between the two obviously. I don't want to say too much more as it would spoil the plot. But Gregor had very good reasons to wish to be something other than himself .. and I'm not sure that Silvia could have had any as she was a new bride. Having said that, her maiden name was Fox .. so perhaps she wanted to be a free spirit again

Hope you enjoy it Kylie .. it's very quirky and also very lovely to look at

In reading news, despite a heavy workload, I have been engrossed in The Secret History. I read around 130 pages today, which makes me very happy—both because my mojo is hanging around and because it's a great read! I'm now behind in my work though, so I'll have less chance to read in the next couple of days (although something tells me I will be *making* time to read!) I find it very difficult to put it down once I've picked it up!

Yay!! All you needed was a good book .. and some more time  

[poppyshake]

Thanks Poppyshake. You weren't thinking of Carters Beats the Devil when you wrote that last sentence, were you?

No .. it will stay on there for all time  

[Kylie]

I've had a good couple of reading days. I finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt yesterday and then started and finished The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett.

 

I thought The Secret History was wonderful, and I rate it 9/10. It's an excellent book, but I'm not sure that I would ever re-read it now that I know how it all happened. Oddly, for such a slow-paced book, it was also a gripping page-turner. I'll post more thoughts in the reading circle thread later.

 

The Uncommon Reader was a sweet little book. A good read, but not great. I had a hard time believing that the queen would talk in such a way, and the style of writing really irked me. The lack of punctuation and weird sentence structures kept confusing me and I often had to re-read sentences to try and work out what the author was saying. 6/10

 

I've also acquired a book recently, but it counts as a 2013 acquisition. I bought my partner a paperback copy of The Good Book by AC Grayling for Christmas, but when it arrived I decided I should have bought a hardback (he doesn't treat books very well, so a paperback wouldn't last too long). I gave him the paperback, but when the hardback arrived last week, we swapped it over (he had already dog-eared two of 'my' pages!). It worked out well because I've been wanting a copy of the book myself for a while. It's a sort-of bible for non-religious folks. Here's the synopsis from the Book Depository:

 

'The Good Book is a book of insight, inspiration, wisdom, solace and commentary on the human condition drawn from the great humanist traditions of thought and literature of the world. Its princi-pal concern is how life - the good life - should be lived. Stimulating, thoughtful, rational and rewarding, it is now published in a compact edition. The Good Book is an alternative, non-religious Bible and has been made in just the same way as the Judaeo-Christian Bible was made: by redaction, editing, paraphrasing, interpolation, arrangement and rewriting of texts from the last three thousand years of the great secular traditions. The Bible was made over many years by many hands; hundreds of authors and more than a thousand texts lie behind the fourteen books created by A. C. Grayling, who has distilled their teachings, their insights, their wit, their advice, their human stories, their tragedies, their yearnings, their love, their sorrow and their consolations into one humanist Bible. For a secular age in which many find that religion no longer speaks to them, this is a book of life and practice, focusing the light of great minds of the past on to the perennial challenge of being human.'

 

(For such a long time, I've been unable to use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+B to make my titles bold, but all of a sudden it works again! Happy days!)