Damiella is focusing on simpler times

2023 (and let’s be honest most years since the mid 90s) was a definite bust as far as me chipping away at my TBR list (I may have become entangled in the fanfiction forest - still trying to extract myself). However it didn’t stop me acquiring more books and I really do need to try to make some headway in 2024.

Thinking about it, while I was studying it was a much simpler time. I went to uni and to work but when I was at home I didn’t worry overly about things I had no control over. This was also the time when I immersed myself in a lot of anime (something which I miss as I don’t have a VCR player any longer, although I have just sucumbed to a Cruchyroll subscription). So I’m going to try going old school in 2024 and keep things as simple as possible. I’ll be starting my year on 31 December (I’m secretly hoping I can pull an all-night reading binge to start the year off well)

I’m tweaking my previous guidelines (honestly, I’m going to acquire books one way or another so trying to convince myself that I’ll be able to control my book acquisition habit in 2024 is ludicrous) and I’ve trimmed my previous categories down.

General guidelines (and a sneaky goal)

1. A book should take me at least an hour to read to be counted
2. Re-reads are fine but I'll mark them as such
3. I’d like to try some new authors in 2024 (or at least time dip into genres I don’t regularly visit)
4. I have until the beginning of October to finish/gift/otherwise deal with all books from my 2023 Advent calendar book boxes (4 x 24 = 96…although I did manage to lose one somewhere in my house so it’s really 95). Otherwise, I can’t repeat the purchase ( admitting that I’ll likely get at least one regardless., but no more than that without dealing with the ones I’ve got). There’s a fair few that I suspect will be “first chapter only” before I decide to abandon, as they really don’t seem to be something I’ll enjoy.

I’ll be trying to squeeze in books for CATs and KITs as I go but (at this stage) don’t plan to specifically track these but instead will take them up as the mood strikes.

I’m also going to record the fanfiction I read (as I suspect I may be reading some of my favourites monthly… I want to throw a bit of visibility on the situation… at the very least it’ll mean I’ll be interacting with my thread regularly so I’m more likely to record any books read). I’ll record the listed word count for these as it’s easy to get retroactively if I forget and it may be interesting to see the ranges I fall into.

Running stats
Books finished (all): 47
Books finished (new): 40
Books finished (rereads): 7

Books DNF 2

Fanfictions finished (all): 162

Books from my Master TBR list.

I’ve looked at my master TBR list in one of my spreadsheets (definitely not definitive as I’ve got a number of others in various places that I’ll consolidate when I get the time (whenever that actually happens)) and have chosen 30 books using a RNG and another 15 books manually (fill out a couple of series and add some things I particularly want to read soon).
I strongly suspect some of these are rereads but as I’m not 100% I’ve left them in as it would have been a while anyway.

Not started

1. House Atreides- Anderson, Kevin J. & Herbert, Brian
   
2. The Wasp Factory- Banks, Iain
   
3. The Player of Games- Banks, Iain M. (o)
   
4. Expatria- Brooke, Keith
   
5. A Clockwork Orange- Burgess, Anthony
   
6. Dusklands- Coetzee, J.M.
   
7. Madame Curie- Curie, Eve
   
8. The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order- Donaldson, Stephen R.
   
9. The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises- Donaldson, Stephen R.
   
10. The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge- Donaldson, Stephen R.
    
11. The Gap into Ruin: This Day all Gods Die- Donaldson, Stephen R.
    
12. Effi Briest- Fontane, Theodore
    
13. Right Behind You- Giles, Gail
    
14. Dead Souls- Gogol, Nikolai
    
15. The Third Man- Greene, Graham
    
16. Success! The Need to Succeed is in Your Genes, the Way to Success is in this Book- Hall, Richard (l)
    
17. Jude the Obscure- Hardy, Thomas (ap)
    
18. Starship Troopers- Heinlein, Robert
    
19. Aithiopika- Heliodorus
    
20. Antic Hay- Huxley, Aldous
    
21. Ignorance- Kundera, Milan
    
22. Quicksand- Larsen, Nella
    
23. The Rainbow- Lawrence, D.H. (l)
    
24. Unicorn Dilema- Lee, John
    
25. Andy Warhol's Dracula- Newman, Kim
    
26. Blue Mars- Robinson, Kim Stanley
    
27. Green Mars- Robinson, Kim Stanley
    
28. Red Mars- Robinson, Kim Stanley
    
29. Love's Work- Rose, Gillian
    
30. The God of Small Things- Roy, Arundhati (l)
    
31. Complete Poems- Sandburg, Carl
    
32. An Obedient Father- Sharma, Akhil
    
33. Lord Prestimion- Silverberg, Robert
    
34. Legacies- Sinclair, Alison
    
35. My Life and Hard Times - Thurber, James
    
36. Adventures of Tom Sawyer- Twain, Mark (o)
    
37. Oracle- Watson, Ian
    

Currently reading

1. Alias Grace- Atwood, Margaret (e)
   
2. The Marble Faun- Hawthorne, Nathaniel (e)
   
3. The Tale of Genji- Murasaki, Shikibu (o) - IN TIME-OUT
   
4. Ulyssess (o)
   

Finished - onto the shelves you go

1. Othello- Shakespeare, William
   
2. Paris in the Twentieth Century- Verne, Jules
   

Finished - eBooks

1. The Land that Time Forgot
   
2. The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story- Donaldson, Stephen R.
   

Finished - now out the door

Decided to focus my reading time elsewhere for now (DNF)

2023 Advent Calendar Books

This is where I’ll be trying to focus the majority of my reading on for at least the first half of the year. I did read some from this set in late 2023 so those won’t be recorded below. As a general note, I already can't fit all my books on my shelves. Something will need to work really hard for me to keep them (it's not a comment on the quality of the book)

Remaining: https://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?tag=2024_read-or-gift&view=Damiella

Finished - onto the shelves you go

Finished - now out the door
The Two of Swords
The Ministry of Truth
The Husbands
Mantel Pieces
Letters from the Veldt
Fossil Men
Between Five Eyes

Yeah…not for me (DNF)
Count the Ways
Hitler's Third Reich in 100 objects

Fanfiction reads

I’m going to try to list everything I finish in order (so yes I anticipate there will be repeats). This’ll be the easiest for me to track as I tend to drift from one to the next as the mood takes me.

1. Who is Harry Potter? (163,402 words)
   
2. Bolt Fashion (19,496 words)
   
3. How Harry Turned Hogwarts Around (23,210 words)
   
4. Muggleborn Teacher (100,308 words)
   
5. Weasels in Grimmauld Place (35,730 words)
   
6. A List of Names (24,296 words)
   
7. Lucius Malfoy, Would-Be Murderer (80,429 words)
   
8. I'm the What Now? (60,944 words)
   
9. Like a Phoenix rising from the Ashes (46,038 words)
   
10. Saving Severus Snape (65,119 words)
    
11. Petrichor (126,478 words)
    
12. Harry's 40th Birthday (164,982 words)
    
13. All was not well (26,271 words)
    
14. The Unexpected Family of Harry Potter (109,656 words)
    
15. Massacre in the Dungeons (39,097 words)
    
16. The Fall of the house of Potter (42,606 words)
    
17. The Potter Family Grimoire (19,722 words)
    
18. Harry's Enemies List (137,736 words)
    
19. Damn Wizards (29,310 words)
    
20. Harry Potter and the Baggage of Doom (10,476 words)
    
21. With knowledge came help (
    
22. Digging for the Bones (203,178 words)
    
23. Poison Pen (74,506 words)
    
24. The Day Albus Dumbledore Never Remembers (17,059 words)
    
25. Home (83,236 words)
    
26. Harry on Adventure (23,268 words)
    
27. Coming Home (47,603 words)
    
28. Not Needed (23,270 words)
    
29. Snapped (19,478 words)
    
30. The Child of the Tardis (27,510 words)
    
31. Second Chances (110,457 words)
    
32. Grimly Familiar (42,802 words)
    
33. King's Cross Redux (50,676 words)
    
34. When Harry Met Regulus (in the past) (112,412 words)
    
35. Lions vs Snakes (47,039 words)
    
36. Freaks (55,562 words)
    
37. Lily's Journal (68,201 words)
    
38. When Death Intervenes (57,014 words)
    
39. An Oath of Truth (73,579 words)
    
40. The Heart in the Tree (343,060 words)
    
41. Ohana (21,328 words)
    
42. Heru Levant and the Journey Home (85,948 words)
    
43. Vortex (50,852 words)
    
44. The Dogfather (71,575 words)
    
45. Bindings, Bindings (64,647 words)
    
46. In Between Ley Lines (68,891 words)
    
47. Ring around the wrong neck (43,547 words)
    
48. The Speaker and His Wraiths (198,736 words)
    
49. Ex nihlio (162,217 words)
    
50. Conspiracy (41,618 words)
    
51. Harry Snape (183,632 words)
    
52. Secrets of Fire Island (57,311 words)
    
53. Breaking Free (72,192 words)
    
54. Not Needed (23,270 words)
    
55. The Price is Right (48,48 words)
    
56. Glowy Green Slime (22,750 words)
    
57. The Aftermath (45,167 words)
    
58. When Death Intervenes (57,014 words)
    
59. This Lord Business (112,396 words)
    
60. The Strength to Start Over (4,980 words)
    
61. Of Handshakes and Things that could have been (84,482 words)
    
62. Harry's Twin (5,902 words)
    
63. Transcendent Souls (201,786 words)
    
64. Petunia's Atonement 10,246 words)
    
65. It's for the best (60,190 words)
    
66. Dumbledore's Mistake: Year One (34,253 words)
    
67. Petunia takes a stand (19,649 words)
    
68. Mischief (35,610 words)
    
69. Angry, Overpowered Harry Potter (111,589 words)
    
70. Saving Severus Snape (67,361 words)
    
71. Why it's bad to get Harry mad (50,478 words)
    
72. The Moonlit River (121,481 words)
    
73. Harry Potter and the Spirits within (67,816 words)
    
74. Someone Finally Noticed (13,748 words)
    
75. The House of Potter Rebuilt (140,932 words)
    
76. Zumba (4,200 words)
    
77. Her Sister's Child (30,858 words)
    
78. Harrison Potter Stephens (18,122 words)
    
79. Harry Potter and the Elder Sect (59,287 words)
    
80. Harry Potter and the Muggle Mess (13,963 words)
    
81. In my dreams I am happy (67,063 words)
    
82. The Demon King's Elf (90,458 words)
    
83. Sacrifice (20,533 words)
    
84. Bone of the Father (18,985 words)
    
85. A Measured Response (23,175 words)
    
86. Chances (19,084 words)
    
87. There are more important things than magic (103,794 words)
    
88. Human Stupidity has no limits
    
89. Harry Potter and the Spirits within (67,816 words)
    
90. Massacre in the Dungeons
    
91. The Fury Within
    
92. Trust is a relative thing.
    
93. Hidden Serpent
    
94. Another Chance
    
95. Sophistry & Dialectic
    
96. Death's Mistress
    
97. The Boy who lived and the Boy who broke (105,725 words)
    
98. Searching for something you can't have
    
99. Escape
    
100. Double Back
     
101. A Safe Place
     
102. Remain in Light
     
103. Time Lost soon found
     
104. The World without me
     
105. Harry's Two Mums
     
106. Surviving the Dursleys
     
107. The Funeral
     
108. Head Start
     
109. The Potter Cartouche
     
110. Birdshot
     
111. The Abyss Between
     
112. Invisible Fire
     
113. The Undiluted Truth
     
114. Snapped
     
115. It could only happen at Hogwarts
     
116. Stolen Child
     
117. Searching for Something you can't reach
     
118. Potter-Weasley
     
119. Demon-Bane's Heir
     
120. A Chosen Beginning
     
121. Elves
     
122. Harry's Dragon
     
123. History Retold
     
124. The One True Heir of Slytherin
     
125. Delusional
     
126. Runaway Wizard
     
127. Rules of Storytelling
     
128. Hidden in Plain Sight
     
129. Wind Shear
     
130. Never give me a Marriage Law Challenge
     
131. Inseparable
     
132. Won the Battle Lost the War
     
133. Kiss of Life
     
134. Capable Cedric
     
135. The Many Deaths of Harry Potter
     
136. Harry Potter and the Revenge of the Goblet of Fire
     
137. Embers and Ashes
     
138. Irish Home
     
139. When Harry doesn't know
     
140. Weary Wizard
     
141. Don't mess with Harry Potter Sir
     
142. Mute
     
143. Nothing to Lose
     
144. The Boy who never knew
     
145. Love potions are illegal, especially if you're on a Horcrux Hunt
     
146. Chickens are coming home to roost
     
147. Dan Granger
     
148. Harry Potter and the Four Heirs
     
149. Time Stands Still
     
150. Conspiracy (41,618 words)
     
151. Alien Taskforce (28,495 words)
     
152. Dial up Dementors and Purebloods
     
153. Fantasy Containment (9,348 words)
     
154. Unholy Trio (17,605 words)
     
155. Princeps (73,695 words)
     
156. Kino's solution to Everyday Death Tournaments (19,193 words)
     
157. The Auror's Boys (86,594 words)
     
158. Hagrid saves the world (73,801 words)
     
159. Strange Reflections (138,885 words)
     
160. Harry Potter and the Spirits within (67,816 words)
     
161. Back Again? Siriusly? (90,709 words)
     
162. Death and Taxis (93,080 words)
     

Science Fiction / Fantasy (not included above)

Finished - onto the shelves you go

1. The Girl from the Other Side: Volume 1
   
2. The Girl from the Other Side: Volume 2
   
3. The Girl from the Other Side: Volume 3
   
4. The Girl from the Other Side: Volume 4
   
5. Magelord: The Awakening
   
6. Magelord: The Time of Madness
   
7. Magelord: The House of Bairn
   
8. Rivers of London
   
9. Dune
   

Finished - now out the door

1. War of the Worlds (got another version I prefer)
   

Finished - eBooks

1. Of Blood and Fire
   
2. The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde
   

Popular Science / History

Finished - onto the shelves you go

1. 
   

Finished - now out the door

1. The Book of Roads and Kingdoms
   

Finished - undecided re whether to keep

1. Unflattening
   

Anything else

Finished - onto the shelves you go

1. Horseman
   
2. Griffin & Sabine
   

Finished - now out the door

1. Barbarian Days
   
2. When I was Ten
   
3. Slow Productivity
   
4. Tribe
   
5. How to be Remembered
   

Finished - decision to keep pending

1. The Lottery and Other Stories
   

Finished - eBooks

1. Music of the Night
   
2. Legend of Sleepy Hollow
   
3. Dungeon Crawler Carl
   
4. Carl's Doomsday Scenario
   
5. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
   
6. The Gate of the Feral Gods
   

Bingo Dog

And I just couldn't exclude one of my favourite anime.

1. featuring Twins:
   
2. epistolary or diary: Griffin & Sabine
   
3. featuring water:
   
4. written in another cultural tradition:
   
5. current or recent bestseller:
   
6. topic about which you have specific knowledge:
   
7. person's name in title:
   
8. ugly cover:
   
9. less than 100 copies on LT: Letters from the Veldt (may replace if I find another that fits which I prefer)
   
10. 'big' or 'little' in title
    
11. paper-based item in plot:
    
12. food or cooking:
    
13. read a CAT:
    
14. author 65 or older: Between Five Eyes
    
15. short story collection:
    
16. POC author:
    
17. three-word title:
    
18. book from LT 'similar library':
    
19. set in a city:
    
20. warriors or mercenaries:
    
21. reread a favourite book: The Magelord Triology - Thomas K. Martin
    
22. about friendship:
    
23. set in multiple countries:
    
24. only title and author on cover:
    
25. publication year ending in -24:
    

Planned reads for June

And I ended up finishing one of my planned reads in May. Still, that's progress from previous months! I'm thinking I'll got for a mix in June (I'm needing to do a couple of work trips so I may be able to squeeze in several hours while in the air)

I've got this information on a couple of spreadsheets but it'll be good to have it all in one place in case I switch reading moods. i don't have all of these to hand and my Kindle's in a mood lately so there'll likely be movement.

War of the Worlds
The Massacre of Mankind
Digger
Declare
The City we became

---

Gardens of the Moon
Deadhouse Gates
Player of Games
Birds of Paradise
Alias Grace
The Player of Games
Effi Briest
The God of Small Things
The Last Cuentista
Blue Monday
Temper
Babel
The Bad-ass Librarians of Timbuktu
My grandmother asked me to tell you she's sorry
A Deadly Education
Lonely Castle in the Mirror
Fortunes of Jaded Women
A Clockwork Orange
We
The Husbands
The Book of Doors
Cinnamon and Gunpowder
The invisible life of Addie Larue

I'm not sure if my "library" resembles more >1 Damiella: or >2 Damiella: or something in-between!

Anyway, you have an ambitious TBR and I can say that I have enjoyed:
Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood, although it's due for a re-read. It's based on a real even in Canadian history.
Quicksand, by Nella Larsen; it's short and I enjoyed it because it's set in turn-of-the-20th c. Chicago, about the time & place where my grandparents were growing up.
The God of Small Things, by A. Roy blew me away, but I think I enjoyed it because it was a buddy-read and we discussed as the book went along. Intense.
Othello is even more intense, to say the least, but worth it.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was way better and funnier than I expected. But remember the era it was written, too.

I have both Dead Souls and The Marble Faun on my massive TBR. I hope to get to at least one of them next year.

Good luck with all of your challenges!

That's a very interesting mix in your list in >2 Damiella:! Looking forward to your comments. Happy reading.

Good luck with the challenges, and working on that TBR .

>11 kac522: - thank you for the hints re what you enjoyed. I think my own "library" tends towards the second configuration too frequently for my comfort. If I get through all of my list I'll be very happy with myself, but even if I only attempt everything on my list that's also not a bad thing.

>12 MissWatson: - thank you, yes the RNG made some interesting choices to say the least. I'm going to try to focus on what I already own or can get from the library first and then see how I go getting hold of the others.

>13 majkia: - Thank you!

Best of luck with your 2024 reading goals! That library in >4 Damiella: is my dream.

Enjoy your reading in 2024. Looks like the image at >2 Damiella: will fill a year or maybe two!

Oh that Verne novel sounds good! I love reading older sci-fi that predicts a future that we've already gone through. Best of luck with your challenges!

>8 Damiella: Intimidating dogs! Happy reading in 2024.

Great anime pics. Good luck with your 2024 reading.

Good luck with your 2024 reading!

>15 christina_reads: - Thank you! (and agree that thinking of having a massive library for oneself would be awesome)

>16 VivienneR: - Thank you! Yes, the issue is trying not to make the pile larger

>17 rabbitprincess: -Thank you! I love reading older science fiction about current or recent past as well (even if the quality of writing is poor).

>18 pamelad: - well I may have pulled a bit of a long bow with calling them dogs, common ancestor anyway (somewhere I'm sure). Thank you!

>19 lowelibrary: >20 Tess_W: - Thank you!

and because I neglected to say it yesterday, good luck with 2024 reading as well for everyone upthread

Enjoy your 2024 reading and the Category Challenge!

>22 DeltaQueen50: Thank you! The same to you.

I think it's a great idea to include and record fan fiction - it is reading after all! Although I don't do it anymore, there was a time when I read a lot (and also wrote some myself) and enjoyed it immensely.

And lots of interesting books in >2 Damiella:! I read Effi Briest about fifteen years ago and loved it, I hope to reread it one day.

>24 MissBrangwen: Agree, the main reason I keep reading fanfiction is that some of them are just amazing (there's an awful lot of substandard work to wade through though). It's also an awfully economic way to supply myself with reading material.

Love your eclectic reading list. Mine is also a strange mix of everything.
Princess Mononoke is one of my favourites as well. :)

>26 JayneCM: I was watching a booktuber yesterday evening and they were saying they believe one of the reasons they never fall into a reading slump was that they keep changing genres. It definitely doesn't hurt. If I feel like stabbing the next Mary Sue farmgirl I come across I can always move to something hard-boiled.

And yes, I love Princess Mononoke soo much - it was the first Ghibli I watched, at a Saturday matinee show were you could buy a small cup of Jaffas to roll down the aisle if you wanted (I always ate mine). Good times for certain.

>27 Damiella: Hang on a sec, if you are rolling Jaffas down the aisle, then you must be an Aussie or a Kiwi! I'm an Aussie - from country Victoria.
I always wondered where that tradition started. Why would you not want to eat them? I love Jaffas!

>28 JayneCM: Yep, I'm an Aussie, born in Brisbane, grew up in Sydney, now settled in Melbourne. I think that means I need to retire somewhere in Tasmania.

I always suspected the rolling down the aisle thing started with an accident...someone dropped a packet, made a lot of noise rolling down to the front of the cinema, others thought 'that's a good idea' and then people just kept jumping on the bandwagon (although most people I knew preferred to eat them instead - especially if we were paying for them ourselves as 'poor' uni students)

>29 Damiella: I would LOVE to live in Tassie - always wanted to. Especially now that Hamilton is getting too hot and dry. I grew up in Sydney as well - went to high school there. Always good to find some fellow Aussies - there are a couple of us in this group.

I 100% agree - I would not be 'wasting' my Jaffas like that!

And it's New Year's eve so I'm starting to count my reads.

I started off with a fanfiction reread Who is Harry Potter which is definitely a comfort read. It's most definitely an OP Harry Potter (not the most over-the-top compared to some others I've read) but I enjoy the take on getting rid of Voldemort really easily before he starts Hogwarts (he doesn't even realise he's done it) so the focus is on relationships. It's only complete up to between first and second year. Still got a couple of very interesting threads if it's ever returned to.

I also did a couple of shorter rereads: Bolt Fashion and How Harry Turned Hogwarts Around. Both of them are common tropes (Harry wants to get rich / Harry goes back in time) and I just enjoy them.

1. My main read this week was Othello. I purchased a pretty edition in a Kickstarter campaign this year (2023) which has been sitting on my shelves so it was past time to read it. In preparation I watched the 1990 film on YouTube yesterday - Ian McKellen as Iago was magnificent and the timbre of Willard White's voice as Othello was electrifying. To be honest, I've long believed that plays by their very nature are best watched rather than read. Although the reading of them does enhance enjoyment of the live version (as you have time to pick up some of the nuances in the test), watching a play will always be my preference. I suspect I'm also influenced by the recollection of those high school years in which we had to regurgitate the teacher approved meanings of the prescribed text.

So, now for the play itself. Its themes of love and betrayal (both actual and imagined), of jealousy and racism, of ambition and violence, are all still very much valid in this day and age. We have Iago who has been granted a position of trust but it's not what he thinks he deserves so he uses the power he has to undermine those around him. One of my most common plaints is that Office Politics is a game I very much prefer not to involve myself in as I have encountered so very viscous players in my time. Othello has achieved so much but still harbors self-doubt that Desdemona really wants just him. There was only the smallest sprout of a doubt initially, but there was enough for rumour to cause it to sprout and spread. He forms his beliefs on what he is told and how he perceives what he sees (and that's for certain still happening).

But the volume itself is beautiful. The illustrations were gorgeous and the weight of the pages enforced that this edition was special.

Not my favourite Shakespeare play by any means, and I would likely prefer to watch performances of it in the future (but I'm also thinking it could be fun to watch the 1990 film while reading the text)

This week was one of much fanfiction. Being honest, I anticipated it to be the case for most of January, just because it's one of my peak times at work and I tend to want to mentally relax rather than challenge myself.

Several standouts were:
• Petrichor which is a smart Harry Potter done well (i.e. he needs to work at things). He sets himself a goal to work towards and that what he does. He does experiments that don't always work the way he planned. Dumbledore is semi-helpful (but still annoyingly obstructionist in some ways) It's another fic that's not finished that I really hope will be returned to.
• The Unexpected Family of Harry Potter which is a Harry Potter / Fruits Basket cross-over ( I keep thinking I've read another but can't find it). It's sweet.
• Harry Potter and the Baggage of Doom. After his name comes out of the Goblet of Fire, Harry's trunk is destroyed so he gets a new one, which just so happens to be The Luggage, the sapient pearwood one. it's one of my quick moodlifters.
• Digging for the Bones. A nice bit of Severitus based drama to round off the week.

With regard to other books I've started about 5 this week but only finished one (I just can't help myself in some ways).

2. I truthfully wasn't that enamoured with The Two of Swords, based on reviews I was wondering if I'd missed something. Yes it expresses the futulity of a war that no-one really knows the reason for. Yes, the story switches viewpoints frequently so the reader's not limited by any character's preconceptions. But I found myself not caring if anyone was killed or just went off screen and never came back. Perhaps it's was a super-clever device that I'm just not seeing but it really wasn't for me. If I see the other books I'll likely still read them as I have been wanting to try K J Parker for a while and maybe this just wasn't the right one for me.

I'm really hoping that the upcoming week will be more satisfying so I'm thinking it may be a good time to flip genres to reset.

So another week and as mentioned I decided to do a reset and read some manga

3-6. I read the collected 4 volumes of The Girl from the Other side and I'm really glad I did. It's a really sweet story. The art style is relatively simplistic but the subtleties make it worth reading closely. I really likely how the story looped back at the end and rounded off the story nicely without bashing me over the head with it. I really glad I took this recommendation onboard as it's definitely going to be a keeper.

7. The next book I finished (and started, ignoring my WIPs once again) was Every Word is a Bird we teach to sing. I have no idea where I picked this book up from, it was in one of my piles and I just started it at random. This was something I really enjoyed and it was the perfect to dip into at the end of the work day while I waited for my dinner to cook. It is blatantly obvious that the author loves language (and I must say that he has a really easy writing style as well). There was a wide range of topics covered but one of my favourite chapters was about Les Murray, a poet who I really should read more of (my reading plans are being diverted again - it'll depend on whether there's any volumes in the library when I make my way there). I'm using this one for January RandomKIT (Early Birds).

8. In the spirit of some quick reads I finished my first eBook of the year, A Sampling of Sleuths. There's a couple of authors I think I may try for their longer works, but there's also a couple I think would become very annoying after a time (a bit cutesy for my taste). I'm using this one for January MysteryKIT

9 & 10. I finished a re-read of 1984 to go with The Ministry of Truth (which was one of the books in my Advent boxes). It was really interesting to read this again as I think I was in high school when I first did so (it wasn't one of the books I needed to study - something which I think frequently spoils rather than enhances the book, especially in teenagers when they don't have an inherent interest in the book in question). I'm coming around to think that I should do a reread of some of the classic dystopias I read in my late teens/ early twenties as I suspect that the passage of time will have made a difference in what I get out of them. I know I've got We on my shelves somewhere but suspect the others have been be passed on over time. Then again, doing a whole run of them could get just a tad depressing.

11. I've been hearing good things about Of Blood and Fire so picked it up for reading myself to sleep (another eBook - I usually read fanfics in bed but I'm trying to expand my options). I found it a fun, easy read. The story was easy to follow and has sufficient open threads to keep me interested in reading further, but not so many that I'll put it off. Let's be honest, an easy to read fantasy series that doesn't contain anything I find personally offensive doesn't need to work terrifically hard to make it's way onto my TBR. I'm using this for January SFFKIT.

12 - 14. Magelord: The Awakening, Magelord: The Time of Madness, Magelord: The House of Bairn. This was a re-read of a favourite series (mainly for use in BingoDog - also because the bookshelf it lives on is right outside my kitchen so it caught my eye). It is unabashedly an easy read fantasy trilogy, containing all the usual tropes (an evil wizard, good wizards who are feared, a number of rulers, 'fantasy land' setting, a dragon, war, etc). Now I'm older I can see the faults but I still very much enjoy these books.

So onto the fanfics I read this past week. I didn't read as much as the previous week (so there is that). I did read and enjoy Poison Pen which is another smart Harry Potter fic but in this case he keeps it on the down-low so he can write what he wants in the paper (under his pen name) without the reaction to his words being shaded by what people 'know' about him.

And it registered with me this week that to stay on track with reading down my Advent box books by early Nov I need to aim for at least 10 a month. As it's approaching mid-month I'm going to try to know off several next week (I'll also try to make decisions re any DNF's - I've already got 2-3 that I've started that aren't grabbing me - the decision will need to be made soonish). And also try to finish some of the books I've got on the go (looking to my left I can see ?8 plus several eBooks)

I didn't realise how hard it would be to put my hands on a copy of Paris in the Twentieth Century. I have Jules Verne: The Collection (touchstones don't want to link) on my kindle which looked pretty comprehensive and even if it wasn't included I thought getting the eBook wouldn't be hard. Apparently it is though! I could buy the printed copy but I'm trying to cut back on that where I can (and $30+ for a paperback?). I'll try to get it from the library but looking at their online category I don't hold much hope. I'm thinking perhaps I'll need to go to the State Library one weekend (and see how far I can get through it)

Are you in Melbourne? I looked up WorldCAT and there's a copy in Booroondara. Better than the State Library because you can take it home.

Inter-library loan?

Good idea - for some reason that didn't come up in my search (kept on coming up with Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum - which I suspected wouldn't let me borrow it either). It's actually only a hour on PT so not that bad. But yes, inter-library loan is likely easier

>34 Damiella: I’m taking a BB for Every Word Is a Bird We Teach to Sing. I love books about language—one of the few sorts of nonfiction I liek to read—and the author’s perspective as someone with autism and a linguistic savant sounds especially interesting.

>38 Charon07:: It really is a very good book. I hope you enjoy it.

15. I forced my way through The Husbands, it was ok but not really my type of book. It was classed as 'feminist' fiction but this felt a bit too heavy-handed and focused on revenge rather than equality. It also telegraphed things too obviously for me. Not a keeper.

16. I polished off another eBook with Music of the Night. This is by no means my favourite book by Suzy McKee Charnas but it was still enjoyable. I personally think the best story was 'Boobs' where a teenage girl is so repelled by the thought of puberty and menses that she mentally changes it into her becoming a werewolf (or then again seeing Hilda was her stepmother, perhaps it was in her blood). I remember how cruel teenagers could be (although going to an all-girls school I didn't get the interaction of the sexes, young girls thrown together in close quarters can be quite vicious to those they turn on). This felt good to me and I liked the open endedness of it.

A. I'm going to DNF and donate Count the Ways. I'll freely admit that I likely haven't given it much of a chance but after 30 pages I can say that I just don't like it. I've got many other options that I'd prefer to be allocating my reading time to. It's going to make my second book I'll be donating this week (which will keep me on track with that particular target).

B. I'm also going to donate Hitler's Third Reich in 100 objects. This was one of the books included in one of my advent calendar boxes and although the reviews say it's a good history of the Third Reich and that author treats the subject responsibly. I just have no interest in reading this. In addition to this book in the non-fiction box, there were three fiction books with a setting of WWII. I'm just getting to the stage where I just feel that particular era is a bit overloaded with books at present (i.e. I'd like the popular focus to maybe change to a different era or conflict for a while at least)

Now the fanfics I read this past week. Looking at my list in post there were quite a few (of variable length). Most come from me doing a search for Smart Harry Potter fics I hadn't read (well it's a trope I like - even outside fanfic I love watching / hearing about competent people - the problem is when it tips over into Mary Sue/Gary Stu territory)

One of the short fan-fics I came across this week was Harry on Adventure. A six-year old Harry Potter runs away to sea which was cute and all but... at the end of the story he starts his new school...

The bus driver was a young woman in a colourful dress. She had kind eyes, long, frizzy red hair, and a bright green, horned lizard on her shoulder. She smiled at Harry.

I thought this was a perfect place for Harry to go pre-Hogwarts (with Neville!!!)

The other fanfic I'm highlighting is one that is a bit of a fave When Harry Met Regulus (in the past). Harry creating absolute chaos while strolling serenely through it. (it's definitely a crack fic though)

17. I completed a re-read of Barbarian Days in preparation for donating it. At present I'm trying to donate 2-3 books every week to one of my local little libraries. I really need to at the very least ensure I can fit all my books on my shelves. (At present I can't play my piano due to the 98 (I just counted) books sitting on the keyboard cover - let alone those on my sideboard, dining table, and other assorted pieces of furniture). I enjoyed this read and got drawn into the tale of his constant search for the perfect wave. It's saving grace is it isn't solely about surfing, but also about his observations of the people and places he encounters. A good read but being realistic I'm unlikely to take the time to re-read it again. I'm using this for January PrizeCAT.

18. I've been picking away at Mantel Pieces for a bit. It's collection of some of Hilary Mantel's pieces from the London Review of Books. As I wasn't really enamoured with the the concept of reading twenty essays back-to-back (as they don't build on each other they tend to get a bit muddled for me) I've been reading 2-3 a day (which I think helped me appreciate them more). I'll say that I enjoyed them and some of them definitely made me think, but I feel this would have been better as a library book (yes, this was another from my Book Advent Calendars) as it's not really something that lends itself to frequent re-reading. Another one I'll be donating.

19. I finally finished On a Night of a Thousand Stars. This was a bit of a odd one to read, as at first I couldn't get into it at all then suddenly I devoured it over the last few days. This is (yet another) dual timeline historical fiction, this time focusing on the Argentinian "Dirty War". The timeline in the 70's focuses on the relationship between Santiago & Valentina (they were together but then not). The timeline in the late 90's focuses on Santiago's daughter Paloma (who truthfully I found a bit of a brat at first - hence my initial reluctance to pick it up in preference to other options). I'm going to put it aside and consider for a reread in several months or so before I decide whether it'll be a gift or donate. I'm using this for January AlphaKIT & History CAT.

And once again I've been indulging in fanfiction of an evening. I think my favourite this week was The Heart in the Tree which is another HP work where he actually gets some useful help from adults. It's another one that's ongoing so if I fall behind in keeping up with chapter updates again it'll possibly appear (if I'm only reading the latest chapter I'm not bothering to record it, only if I re-read a significant portion of the work)

My 'shorter' fanfic choice from this week was Ohana which is a Peter Pettigrew redemption fic (there's only a couple I like but this one's sweet)

Ooooo, gotta get those books moved so you can tinkle the ivories. Just 1-2 books out per week will total very quickly. It's taken me 13 years, but I cleared out 1100 books; most of them by reading! I really thought I was going to grieve their loss, but in reality, I haven't missed one of them, yet!

20-21. I felt like something I bit light-hearted (and nostalgic) so read The Land that Time Forgot and The People that Time Forgot. Edgar Rice Burroughs definitely has a recognisable writing style and it was fun to dip into it again. There is no way these books can be taken seriously but they are still a fun read.

22. In the spirit of reading through my advent calendar books I picked up Letters from the Veldt. This book was purported to be letters from a commander in the Boer war. There was a lot of background information (which was appreciated as I really know very little about this time) but Edward Hutton made no pretense in that he was writing to provide a record of the war from his POV, there was a lot that was very dry. I got more of a sense of his personality from the background information (personally I don't think I'd have liked him if we met). I noticed my copy is currently the only one on LT so I'll use it to fill a Bingo square at least. This will be out the door this week, definitely not a keeper for me.

23. My final 'serious' book this week was Fossil Men. This was mainly focused around the work of Tim White who certainly is a character (whether a good or bad one is left to the reader). I actually found it a quite interesting read as I didn't really 'get' how many danger some of the people of on the digs had to deal with. I mean I knew that these early skeletons were found in Ethiopia, and I knew that there there were travel warnings for that part of the world but I just hadn't consciously married the facts together. There is definitely a flavour (rightfully so) of we need to think about whether the countries (such as Ethiopia) where these discoveries are being made are being treated right. I'm glad I picked up this book this week.

And now my fan-fiction overview for the week. I think my highlight was Ring around the wrong neck which is a Yu-gi-oh / HP crossover. Definitely a bit of a romp.

I also dipped into a lot of shorter fics (that I haven't recorded) such as Spanish and Salvation which is another light option.

24. For some reason I never read The Wind in the Willows when I was younger (no, not even the classic comic version). I got my hands on a quite nice edition last year (really nice illustrations imo) so it felt to me that the time was right. This was a really sweet book and I can imagine it would be perfect to read a chapter as a bedtime story. I purchased this to keep so it'll go back up on the shelves. I'm going to use this for Feb SFFKit.

25. Between Five Eyes is so dry. This was one of my Advent box books but I was inclined to give it a good try as I've been aware of Five Eyes for a while so was interested in another viewpoint. However each and every page of this book left me feeling as though I'd been pummeled by a flurry of facts (If I'd been doing research in the topic it would have been perfect). I had to break it up with a couple of re-reads but I did manage to finish. Dr Wells was born in 1943 so I'm using this for my authors over 65 Bingo square. (but definitely not a keeper for me - I'm sure there's others out there who definitely fit the target audience profile more closely than I so I'll release into the wild and hope they find each other)

26. True Jaguar purports to be based on Mayan mythology but I have no idea of the accuracy of this claim. Still, it made for a nice break from some of the heavier books I'm reading at present.

27. Ella Minnow Pea is a favourite I was so glad to have a reason to dip back into. I love the way it plays with language (as well as being an excellent example of how things taken too far can become truly ridiculous)

So fanfic highlights (which I'm actually enjoying as it makes me think about what I am actually enjoying rather than reading because it's there). The first that comes to mind is The Price is right. The image of a new Hogwarts student falling through a secret passage then wandering all over the castle trying to get out... through an obstacle course (which is dangerous) and finally making there way into the Great Hall very late for breakfast. Surely it had to happen at least once (well the falling into a secret passage and not knowing how to get out anyway).

Not ten minutes after leaving Ravenclaw Tower, he had tripped over nothing and fell through what he previously thought was a stone wall....
The following two hours could only be described as an adventure. And Harry hated adventures....
...some of the locked doors he had tried had frightening noises coming from behind them... he swore one of the doors was actually breathing....
...there had been fireman poles, sand pits, rock walls, and even giant swinging blades....

For some strange reasons he's a tad paranoid after the experience.

>44 Damiella: I remember really liking Ella Minnow Pea! Perhaps it's time for a reread.

Well it's definitely been a couple of those weeks so all I managed to finish were some fanfics

My favourite 'short and sweet was Harry's Twin. A combo WBWL & Time-Travel fix it. Nice to read in bed one evening.

Transendent Souls was a re-read. It lends itself nicely due to the varying lengths of the stories within (and that although they all have the same foundation, they're not interdependent).

Well onto the week ahead.

>44 Damiella: I've never read Wind in the Willows, either. I've not added it to my WL

Finally work's slackened off (my peak lasted a bit longer than usual and was also a bit more time-consuming this year) so I can get back into reading properly (as well as pick a couple of hobbies back up... maybe even cut-back on ready meals).

Anyway, here I go. I haven't had much time to get through much but I've finished some.

28. Legend of Sleepy Hollow
29. Horseman
I've been wanting to try some Christina Henry for a little while now so when I signed up to a book subscription I included her as an author I'd like to read if possible. And I got one in my first box! (even if I promised myself I'd have to finish all my advent calendar books before subscribing I just felt I needed to take the plunge for my sanity if nothing else). I actually quite enjoyed it so I'll keep her on my list.

30. When I was Ten
This was ok. A pretty typical thriller (which fortunately I was in the mood for). I enjoyed it but it's not a keeper imo.

And my favourite fanfic this week was most definitely The Boy-who-lived and the Boy-who-broke. This is a HP & NGE cross-over and I just love. It's not finished yet but I'm willing to be patient (and just re-read it when I'm in the right mood).

Catching up on recording what I've read in the last (eep) six weeks - it's mainly been fan fiction as I needed the mental break.

The below is out of reading order as I can't recall when exactly I was reading each and I got out of the habit of reviewing before putting it back.

31. Slow Productivity
This was a good read, not great but good. I've read so many productivity books over the years it has to be something spectacular for me to gush over. There were some very good ideas in this book, some of which I already have a tendency towards but it's always good to get a reminder (especially with my tendency to multitask which I know is often counterproductive). I'll be passing it on.

32. Tribe
This was supposed to be a quick read from my Wild Book Box but ended up being anything but. It's less than 150 pages but there's a lot of food for thought. This is a book about identify, about how the current isolationist social structure is anything but conducive to healing. I picked it up and down as I was dipping into other books that reminded me of it's themes (Alone together and The Revenants - and I'm planning to slot in proper re-reads of them as soon as I can so this book was worth reading for the opportunity to revisit them alone). My view on this particular book is that it's more of a starting point than an end. Another one I'll be passing on.

33. How to be Remembered
Personally I find the whole concept of memory and the loss of it fascinating so I tend to pick up books where it's included as a theme. I can't remember the name of the first such book I read (a dual time that actually worked iirc - about early onset Alzheimers). Anyway, this book was probably included in one of the podcasts I listen to (it's where I pick up a lot of my recommendations) so I looked out for it. The concept was interesting, every year on his birthday Tommy Llewellyn is forgotten by everyone and all evidence of his existence disappears. And yes, it starts on his 1st birthday - his parents wake up and call the police saying that someone abandoned a child in their house. Over time he works out loopholes so he can actually function as a member of society (of a sort). I'm glad I read this one and rather than directly discarding I think it's going to start the family lending circuit.

34. The Book of Roads & Kingdoms
As I've said many times, I do love a good popular history book. This was good but not great (I'm obviously feeling a bit fussy these days). There was a heap in this book and the paragraphs read well but for some reason the sections just didn't gel as well. This is actually the first book I've read by Richard Fidler and that may be the issue here. I've heard him talked up so much I was expecting something astounding, something that in truth few books could achieve. I'm still planning on reading Saga Land when I get the chance so I'm hoping I'll be in the mood for it at the time. This was purchased as a gift for my father so it'll be passed on.

It's hard to pick a particular fanfic fave this week/fortnight/month as I've read a heap of them.

Anyway. Back to the books!

I started off the week dipping into some LitRPG.

35. Dungeon Crawler Carl
36. Carl's Doomsday Scenario
37. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
38. The Gate of the Feral Gods

These are just pure fun (it is legitimately schlock). Totally a needed brain break. It's been many, many years since I played a D&D game (so there are likely many references I'm missing) but even so, the humour hits hard with these. There's 2 more (I think) that have been released so I'll likely knock them off in the coming week.

39. Paris in the Twentieth Century

Well it's read (confession, I can sort of understand why it wasn't published during his lifetime. His more commonly known books are a heap more to my taste). The basic premise is in the future industry is all (and the arts are much neglected... ). I just felt that the focus was a tad heavy-handed (but then again perhaps I've just enamoured with the romance of Paris). I recently listened to a podcast about chambre de bonne and so I 'saw' Quinsonnas residing in such.

I've been coasting through shorter fanfics this week (so not meeting my 1 hour minimum criteria- hence not recorded). One of the ones I did dip into that I very much enjoyed was Mischief Managed and the linked Mischief Mastered Harry meets Loki (who has just started teaching at Hogwarts) when he first goes to Diagon Alley.

This has been a week of many starts and only one finish (I've been dipping into the number of books that arrived over the last couple of weeks).

40. Rivers of London
This came as part of my subscription box (only two months in but feeling as though it was a good choice all up) I did already have this (according to LT) but never read it (it's likely on my dining room table - it seems the common site for lost items).

This is the story of a police inspector who gets pulled into the less known side of policing in London (echoes of magic, revenants, anthromorphism) instead of being stuck doing paperwork. I felt a bit stupid when I realised that the cover contained hints to some of the underlying twists but I just wanted to dive in. This tickles at my brain as being similar to something else I read some time ago but I can't identify what it was (hoping it'll come to me sooner or later - otherwise I'll just have to do a dive into rereading)

I really enjoyed this and am glad there's more to come in the series. A keeper (well one copy anyway)

As far as fanfics are concerned I'm still in the oneshot mood (apart from reading updates on stories I'm following)

I love the Rivers of London series too! Peter's a fun protagonist, and I like the blend of the magical and the mundane.

Several weeks ago I was letting youtube autoplay and I came across the term ergodic literature (tell me more I said! so I let it play - it actually reminded me of a Kickstarter campaign I saw but couldn't justify supporting). One of the examples they gave was Ella Minnow Pea which I love so I decided to try some more. I've managed to get my hands on a couple so far (and will definitely be looking out for more - some of the prices of the titles that were suggested were definitely hmmmm though)

41. The first of these that I read this week was Unflattening. I've read a lot of graphic novels of various kinds in my time. If I understand his afterward correctly he submitted this as part of working towards his doctorate. The idea of philosophy in a comic book is definitely an idea to stretch the brain and I did enjoy it but I think my background in this particular field of study is a bit sparse to really appreciate it fully. The bibliography does look interesting though (although I suspect that like many sources there'll be only small parts that 'speak' to me). This will be a 'keep for now' but I may revisit my decision later this year.

I've started another couple but haven't finished as yet.

42. I also did a reread of A Dark and Hungry God Arises. I worked out that it's been at least 30 years (possibly even 35) since I read it so I'm counting it as a new read as I really couldn't remember much of it. I must confess though, I found it a slog. I did decide to include the series in my master list for the year so I will at least need to make a stab at the rest of the series (all ebooks though, can't justify adding it to my shelves...yet)

I enjoyed the fanfics I read this week but nothing really worth noting (although I do enjoy Hagrid Saves the World imo it could be better)

>53 Damiella: Thanks for sharing about ergodic literature -- I learned something new today! :) I also really liked Ella Minnow Pea...probably time for a reread!

43. My mind turned to making progress again through my select TBR list (my 2023 Advent Calendar books are pretty much a lost cause by now - I've Buckley's of getting them finished by October - still, lesson learned and I'll gradually make decisions about them). As one of the Dune prequels is on there (and as there's been so much 'noise' about them lately) I decided to read through the main series. So this week I finished Dune, I think I may have started it in the 80's but I don't recall anything so I'm going to count this as a new read. I loved it. So much intrigue, the weight of events forcing the future, people who have long term plans that are hijacked by other forces (that aren't really known). SO exciting!

44. Several years ago I was trying to remember the name of a particular short-story and got help through the Name that book group to identify it as 'The Ersatz Ego' by Norman Spinrad (they even linked a collection it was in). I finally got around to reading The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde in it's entirety. I'd forgotten how 'chilling' the story I was thinking of was (good though). There were a couple that I feel as though I've read before (in other publications), 'Outward Bound', 'The Age of Invention', and 'Deathwatch'. I did enjoy reading them again and it's hard to pick a favourite from what was included but I did really like 'The Rules of the Road', 'Deathwatch', and 'A Child of Mind'.

45. Another book I've been picking away at and finished this week was The Lottery and other stories by Shirley Jackson. I'd only read Life among the Savages by her before and this was completely different. I will say I'm not quite sure how I feel about all of the stories e.g. I liked 'The Lottery' but (imo) it did not compare to 'It Could be You' by Frank Roberts (perhaps it's a comment on myself that I prefer something wide ranging). The story that stuck in my mind the most was 'Seven Types of Ambiguity', I could just imagine how the boy would feel the next time he visited, the underlying resentment of the man causing him to buy that particular book, the pragmatism of Mr Harris knowing that as a bookseller he was in the business of selling books and that this was a sale. I'm almost tempted to say it's worth keeping for that alone.

46. Still working my way through selected 'ergodic literature' (trying cement the term in my head so I'll likely keep using it for a couple of weeks yet). I picked up Griffin & Sabine (that I confess I'd actually never heard of previously so it was an unexpected pleasure. I loved poring over each image, finding each little thing that made the whole. The trend of both the images and text over the course of the year covered by this correspondence. I definitely liked it. This will be a keeper. I'll also be using this one for BingoDOG.

47. I've also been looking through some of my piles of books that I haven't touched for one reason or another and came across The Massacre of Mankind. I've not been overly impressed with non-original author sequels in the past but I'm going to give it a chance (so at the least I can get it out of the house). As a result I did a re-read of The War of the Worlds this week. I just can't help myself - everytime I read it I need to play my CD of the War of the Worlds musical. It was actually my first exposure to the story (one of my Saturday chore soundtracks) so it's irrevocably linked in my mind.

>55 Damiella: Jackson's The Lottery is probably my fav short story!

>55 Damiella: I agree with >56 Tess_W: The Lottery is one of my favorite short stories.

>56 Tess_W: and >57 lowelibrary: - isn't it great there's so much fantastic writing around - I liked the Lottery but prefer the other (mainly on the basis that I read it first in the late 70s but I still remember it so it obviously made an impression)