a quill and vellum

15 Reading Resolutions for 2015

Happy New Year, my bookish friends!!!!!  I had a fantastic reading year in 2014 and I am looking forward to even greater reading opporunties in 2015!  To that end, I have 15 reading resolutions for 2015 which will help guide me into a rich and diverse reading year.

1.  Read locally.  Currently, I have 80 physical books populating my TBR Shelves as well as an equal amount of eBooks, yet to be read.  In 2015, I am going to use my local library and my local used book store (CD and Book Hut) when at all possible as my source for reading materials, as well as my TBR shelves.  I will use Amazon in a pinch, but I must exhaust local sources first.

2.  Continue reading diversely.  In 2014, I discovered the immense joy of reading diversely and it greatly enriched my reading experience.  I am going to continue reading diversely in 2015 and I am looking forward to reading authors such as Dinaw Mengestu, Zadie Smith, James Baldwin, Maaza Mengista, Neel Mukherjee, and Salman Rushdie.

3.  Goodreads' goal of 75 books.  In 2015, I want to reduce my television viewing and web surfing so that I can dedicate more of my time to my true passion of reading.  75 books is a lofty goal, but I am determined to read it this year.

4.  Read publically. To encourage others to pick of the love of reading, I will be doing much more reading in public this year. 

5.  Read geographically.  In 2014, seventy-five percent of the authors I read lived in North America and this is not an acceptable percentage for me.  In 2015, I will be using a "Read Geographically" jar to help increase my reading from other countries.  My "Read Geographically" Jar will contain names of countries from which I shall draw at random to fulfill this goal.

6.  Purge my personal library.  My library is filled with books I no longer have a desire to read nor to reread.  In 2015, I will be culling my collection down to only the books I truly wish to own. 

7.  Read one classic each month.  My reading history is sorely lacking in the area of classical literature.  In 2015, I will purchase one Penguin or Vintage classic each month to be read.   

8.  Read one Stephen King novel.  My reading friend, Jo Lisa Way (RetiredBookNerd) simply adores Stephen King and I have never read one of his books.  In 2015, I will read one of Stephen King's novels so I can share in Jo's passion.  Any ideas on where to start???

9.  Establich a strong presence in the BookTube community.  I have watched BookTube videos for several years and have made a couple of videos myself, but in 2015 I wish to establlish a strong presence in the BookTube community.  I so enjoy watching everyone's content and there is no reason I should not be making content as well to establish a source to discuss my passion.

10.  Read Chinue Achebe's complete fiction bibliogrpahy. In 2014, I discovered the beautiful writing of Chinua Achebe when I read Things Fall Apart.  From one book I am enthralled by his writing and story telling and must read his entire fiction.

11.  Read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's complete fiction bibliography.  In 2014, I read Purple Hibiscus and I fell completely in love with Adichie.  She writes beautifully and honestly and I am now a devoted reader of this amazing and talented Nigerian writer.

12.  Leave more of a footprint within BookTube and the Bookosphere.  I thoroughly enjoy watching content on BookTube and reading posts on book blogs but I find that I seldom, if ever, give feedback.  To encourage book bloggers and book vloggers to continue creating quality content I need to start encouraging them and establishing a dialogue with those who I admire.  I also resolve to write letters of encouragement to authors who I read.

13.  Successfully complete Book Riot's 2015 Read Harder Challenge (#readharder).  In my desire to continue to read more diversely, I will be participating in the 2015 Read Harder Challenge designed by the good folks at Book Riot. 

14.  Increase my reading in the genre of Science Fiction and Fantasy.  In 2014, my reading year was only composed of 17 percent in the genre of SFF and this is dissapointing since this is a genre which I truly love.  In 2015, I would like to continue within the Ice and Fire Series, as well as beginning the Mistborn series, The Kingkiller Chronicles, and the Wheel of Time series.

15.  Fully utilize GoodReads.  GoodReads is a wondeful reading community but I feel that I am not utilizing it to its fullest potentential.  Currently, I am using it to list books I have read and books I want to read.  In 2015, I would like to explore using GoodReads to its fullest potential.

Happy Reading,
Joseph

 

 

 

Top 5 Wednesday for 31 December 2014

The Top 5 Wednesday for 31 December 2014 asks that we list the top five books that we have read this year. 

#5 - The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

#4 - Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

#3 - The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

#2 - Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

#1 - Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Happy Reading,
Joseph

2014, a year in review

When 2014 began, I was not happy with my reading life because it seemed as if I was reading the same thing over and over again.  In examining my reading life, I determined my reading was not varied and I made a conscious effort to read more diversely in 2014.  Now, reading diversely is the new dialogue within the reading world, but I am glad to say I got on the bandwagon of reading diversely before the wagon started moving.  I am pretty pleased with my reading activity, with the exception of not making my GoodReads goal.  Here is a run down of the reading I did in 2014:

Number of Books Read:  24

GoodReads Goal:  24 of 60, 40 percent

Number of Unique Authors:  18 or 75 percent

Fiction:  19 or 79 percent

Nonfiction:  5 or 21 percent

Authors of Color:  10 or 42 percent

Male Authors:  15 or 63 percent

Female Authors:  10 or 41 percent

Physical Books:  11 or 46 percent

eBooks:  13 or 54 percent

Books Owned:  14 or 58 percent

Books Borrowed from the Library:  10 or 42 percent

Number of Pages:  7,130

Literary Fiction:  9 or 38 percent

Religious:  4 or 17 percent

Science Fiction and Fantasy:  4 or 17 percent

Mystery/Police Proceedural:  1 or 4 percent

Young Adult:  1 or 4 percent

Classic:  2 or 8 percent

Comic/Graphic Novel:  1 or 4 percent

Magical Realism:  3 or 13 percent

Memoir:  5 or 21 percent

Writers from North America:  18 or 75 percent

Writers from Europe:  1 or 4 percent

Writers from Africa:  3 or 13 percent

Writers from Asia:  2 or 8 percent

Based upon my 2014 reading data, in 2015 I would like to read more female authors, read more geographically and meet my 2015 GoodReads goal of 75 books.

Sanctuary by Faye Kellerman, a review

Book:  Sanctuary (Book 7, Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus Novels)

Author:  Faye Kellerman

Published:  1994

Publisher:  HarperCollins

Date Read:  22 December 2014

Format: eBook

Source:  personal ecopy on Kindle app

First Line:  "The call was a surprise; the reason behind it even more so."

Genre/Rating:  Police Procedural/Mystery/4

GoodReads Rating:  3.96

Awards: None

Other Books by Author: The Ritual Bath, Sacred and Profane, Milk and Honey, Day of Atonement, False Prophet, Grievous Sin, Justice, Prayers for the Dead, Serpent's Tooth, Jupiter's Bones, Stalker, The Forgotten, Stone Kiss, Street Dreams, The Burnt House, The Mercedes Coffin aka Cold Case, Blindman's Bluff, Hangman, Gun Games aka Blood Games, The Beast, Murder 101

Review:  It has been about a year and a half since I read the sixth book in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus mystery series.  Even though I thoroughly enjoy Kellerman's writing, Grievous Sin was the weakest book in the series so far and it prohibited me from picking up Sanctuary.  The plot of Grievous Sin did not resonate with me and the solution came through deus ex machina, which is not something I enjoy at all.  

This month, I found myself missing Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus so I finally picked up Sanctuary and am I ever glad I made that decision.  Sanctuary is Kellerman writing at her very best with a very tight and intricate plot, well-researched narrative, fully-developed characters, and an amazing solution.   Sanctuary may well be my most favorite book in the series which I have read so far. 

Within the pages of Sanctuary we find that Peter Decker has moved to a new precinct and is now in homicide.  His partner, Marge, has transferred with him and has been promoted to detective.  Their first case within the new precinct is a report of a missing family of four.  When Peter and Marge respond they find a home in perfect condition with no sign of struggle but a mismatched set of porcelein figurines and a mezzuzah mounted in a wrong fashion start Decker's mind to working.  This grandscale mystery involves a double homicide, a second homicide, the world diamond industry, a trip to Israel and acts of terrorism.

Not only do I highly recommend this book, but the entire series as well.      

#ReadHarder Challenge Accepted

I challenged my friend, Jo from RetiredBookNerd, to do The 2015 Book Riot #ReadHarder Challenge and she has accepted that challenge and published her list of books.

 

The Book Riot 2015 Read Harder Challenge

Book Riot has just released information regarding The 2015 Read Harder Challenge (#readharder), in which I will be actively participating.  The premise of the challenge is to encourage readers to read more diversely in the new year by offering 24 reading challenges.  The challenges are amazing and I am looking forward to my participation.  There is even a Reading Harder group at GoodReads. Following are the challenges issued by Book Riot and the books which I will be reading to meet these challenges.  

1.  A book writtten by someone when they were under the age of 25.  White Teeth by Zadie Smith

2.  A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65.  The Lawgiver by Herman Wouk

3.  A collection of short stories (either by one person or an anthology by many people).  Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout

4.  A book published by an indie press.  The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock by Lucy Worsley, Pegasus Books

5.  A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ.  The Color Purple by Alice Walker

6.  A book by a person whose gender is different from your own.  Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

7.  A book that takes place in Asia.  The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

8.  A book by an author from Africa.  No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe

9.  A book that is by or about somone from an inigenous culture.  Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

10.  A microhistory.  Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas

11.  A young adult novel.  Legend by Marie Lu

12.  A sci-fi novel.  Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert

13.  A romance novel.  Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

14. A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize, or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade.  The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

15.  A book that is a retelling of a classic story.  Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde

16.  An audiobook.  Nora Webster by Colm Toibin

17.  A collection of poetry.  Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins

18.  A book that someone else recmmended to you.  The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (recommended by Jo Lisa Way, RetiredBookNerd)

19. A book that was originally published in another language.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

20.  A graphic novel, a graphic memoir, or a collection of comics of any kind.  Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman

21.  A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure.  Bookplate Special by Lorna Barrett

22.  A book published before 1850.  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

23.  A book published in 2015.  The Porcelein Thief  by Huan Hsu

24.  A self-improvement book.   Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

Top 5 Wednesday for 17 December 2014

The Top 5 Wednesday for 17 December 2014 focuses on historical fiction and asks that we list our top five historical books.  This is a genre that I very much enjoy, so this list was easily contructed.

My first two selections are series written by husband/wife team, Brock and Bodie Thoene.  The Zion Covenant Series is a set nine books chronicling the lilves of individuals living through the horrors of World War II.  The Zion Chronicles series is a set of five books populated with characters from the first series as they try to make a homeland in the new Israeli state.

 

1. The Zion Covenant Series by Brock and Bodie Thoene
• Vienna Prelude
• Prague Counterpoint
• Munich Signature
• Jerusalem Interlude
• Danzig Passage
• Warsaw Requiem
• London Refrain
• Paris Encore
• Dunkirk Crescendo
2. The Zion Chronicles by Brock and Bodie Thoene
• The Gates of Zion
• A Daughter of Zion
• The Return to Zion
• A Light in Zion
• The Key to Zion
3. Shogun by James Clavell (feudal Japan)
4. The Hope and The Glory by Herman Wouk (Israel, 1948-1967)
5. Exodus (Israeli Statehood) and Mila 18 (Warsaw Ghetto) by Leon Uris

Happy Reading!