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the grand 2015 reading challenge thread

how many books do you anticipate reading in 2015?


  • Total voters
    65
1.. "A Colder War" - Charles Cumming
2. "Sleepyhead" - Mark Billingham
3. "Lamentation"- CJ Samson
4. " The Child Thief " - Dan Smith
5. "The Murder Bag" - Tony Parsons
6. "Stolen Souls" - Stuart Neville
7. "NOS 4R2" - Joe Hill
8. "Storm Front" - Jim Butcher
9. "Scaredy Cat" - Mark Billingham

10. "Rush of Blood" - Mark Billingham. Okay though I guessed the ending
 
1/30 Inferno by Dan Brown
2/30 Saga by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
3/30 Tales of the city by Armistead Maupin
4/30 Rapture by Jd Robb
5/30 Saga Vol 2 by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
6/30 Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory
7/30 Kick-ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr
8/30 The Godfather by Mario Puzo
9/30 The Sicilian by Mario Puzo
10/30 The Last Don by Mario Puzo
11/30 Saga Vol 3 by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
12/30 Omerta by Mario Puzo
13/30 Saga Vol 4 by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
14/30 Fools Die by Mario Puzo
15/30 Sex Criminals Vol 1 by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
16/30 COWL Vol 1 by Kyle Higgins et al
17/30 Chew Vol 2 by John Layman and Rob Guillory
 
1/30 Roger Hewitt - White Talk Black Talk: Inter-racial friendship and communication amongst adolescents
2/30 Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
3/30 Ambalavaner Sivanandan - Catching History on the Wing: Race, Culture and Globalisation
4/30 Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber
5/30 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels - The German Ideology (students edition)
6/30 Roger Mais - The Hills Were Joyful Together
7/30 Isaac Julien - Riot
8/30 Michael Morpurgo - Kaspar: Prince of Cats*
 
1/60 - JM Barrie - Peter Pan*
2/60 - Joe Hill - NOS4R2
3/60 - Arthur Ransome - Swallows and Amazons*
4/60 - Belinda Bauer - Rubbernecker
5/60 - Roddy Doyle - The Guts
6/60 - Phillipa Pearce - Tom's Midnight Garden*
7/60 - Mildred D Taylor - Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry*
8/60 - Denise Mina - Exile
9/60 - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Americanah
10/60 - Jon Ronson - Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries
11/60 - Iain McEwan - The Children Act
12/60 - Denise Mina - Resolution
13/60 - Neil Gaiman - Stardust
14/60 - Karen Joy Fowler - We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves
15/60 - Shirley Jackson - We Have Always Lived in the Castle
16/60 - Ian Rankin - The Complaints
17/60 - Annie Proulx - Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and other stories
18/60 - Willy Vlautin - Lean on Pete
19/60 - Stephen King - Cell
20/60 - Philip Reeve - Mortal Engines*
21/60 - William McIlvanney - Laidlaw

22/60 - Melvin Burgess - Junk*
 
'Mirror to Damascus' Colin Thubron (1/24)
'The Death and Life of Great American Cities' Jane Jacobs (2/24)
'The Story of the Victoria Line' John R. Day (3/24)
 
1/31 - Ken Wishnia - 23 Shades of Black
2/31 - Richard Ayoade - Ayoade On Ayoade: a cinematic odyssey
3/31 - Iain Banks - The Quarry
4/31 - Raymond Chandler - The High Window
5/31 - Raymond Chandler - The Lady in the Lake
6/31 - Ric Rawlins - Rise of the Super Furry Animals
7/31 - Heiner Flassbeck & Costas Lapavitsas - Against the Troika: Crisis and Austerity in the Eurozone
8/31 - Kim Gordon - Girl In A Band.
9/31 - Henry James - Washington Square.
10/31 - Tim McLoughlin (Ed) - Brooklyn Noir

11/31 - David Stubbs - Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany

Really quite brilliant.
 
]1. Leaving Berlin, Joseph Kanon.
2. The child thief, Dan Smith.
3. Foxglove summer, Ben Aaronovich.
4. The beating of his wings, Paul Hoffman.
5. The cheapside corpse, Susanna Gregory.
6. Il metodo del coccodrillo- Maurizio de Giovanni.
7. The sin-eater's daughter- Melinda Salisbury.
8. Half the world- Joe Abercrombie
9. Tatiana- Martin cruz Smith
10. The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared- jonas jonasson.
11. The undertaking- Audrey Macgee
12. The book of life- Deborah Harkness.
13. Norwegian by Night- Derek Miller.
14. The luminous heart of Jonah s- Gina Nahai.
15. Holy spy-Rory Clements
16. The Angelic Darkness- Richard Zimmler.
17. Ghostman - Roger Hobbs
18. The whispering city- Sara Moliner.
19. The Mirrored World- Debra Dean
20. The silkworm- Robert Galbraith (or J K Rowling)
21. Getting by- Lisa Mckenzie.
22. All who go do not return- shulem Deen.
23. The Yellow Birds- Kevin Powers.
24. The skull throne- book 4 of the demon cycle- Peter Brett. Another good high fantasy. Though it's been so long since the last one I was 1/3 of the way through before I had remembered who was who and what was going on....
 
1/20 Proxima - Stephen Baxter
2/20 Glasgow Kiss - Alex Gray
3/20 Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
4/20 Matter - Iain M Banks
5/20 Crime - Irvine Welsh
6/20 Ultima - Stephen Baxter
 
1/30 Inferno by Dan Brown
2/30 Saga by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
3/30 Tales of the city by Armistead Maupin
4/30 Rapture by Jd Robb
5/30 Saga Vol 2 by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
6/30 Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory
7/30 Kick-ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr
8/30 The Godfather by Mario Puzo
9/30 The Sicilian by Mario Puzo
10/30 The Last Don by Mario Puzo
11/30 Saga Vol 3 by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
12/30 Omerta by Mario Puzo
13/30 Saga Vol 4 by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
14/30 Fools Die by Mario Puzo
15/30 Sex Criminals Vol 1 by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
16/30 COWL Vol 1 by Kyle Higgins et al
17/30 Chew Vol 2 by John Layman and Rob Guillory
18/30 Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis et al
 
I'm having a bit of a reading crisis. I am halfway through three books and dislike the protagonist in all of them. Not in an interesting antihero way, in a fuck off you self indulgent pillock you're doing my head in way. :(

So.... What should I read next? Any decent fantasy Pickman's model? We often read the same stuff Me76?
 
I'm having a bit of a reading crisis. I am halfway through three books and dislike the protagonist in all of them. Not in an interesting antihero way, in a fuck off you self indulgent pillock you're doing my head in way. :(

So.... What should I read next? Any decent fantasy Pickman's model? We often read the same stuff Me76?
Salvage the Bones was good. I enjoyed Barracuda but my friend had the same issue with it that you are having with your current books :)
 
Catchup post.
1. Dan Simmons, The Rise of Endymion.
2. Kameron Hurley, The Mirror Empire
3. Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Djinni
4. GRR Martin & Gardner Dozois eds, Dangerous Women, Part 1.
5. End of the Road, ed Jonathan Oliver.
6. A Natural History of Dragons, a Memoir by Lady Trent, Marie Brennan
7. Discount Armageddon, Seanan McGuire
8. Queen Victoria's Book of Spells, ed Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
9. GRR Martin & Gardner Dozois eds, Dangerous Women, Part 3.
10. Midnight Blue-Light Special, Seanan McGuire
11. The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All, Laird Barron
12. GRR Martin & Gardner Dozois eds, Dangerous Women, Part 2.
13. City of Bones, Cassandra Clare
14. Midnight at the Well of Souls, Jack Chalker
15. Exiles at the Well of Souls, Jack Chalker
16. Never Alone, Never Again, Bored Beyond Belief (f/f)
17. Quest for the Well of Souls, Jack Chalker.
18. Sigrid Ellis & Michael Damien Thomas eds, Queers Dig Time Lords
19. Andrew Roberts ed, Great Commanders of the Medieval World
20. Nathan Ballingrud, North American Lake Monsters.
21. Inside the House of Money, Steven Drobny.
22. Sea of Ghosts, Alan Campbell.
23. Lafayette O'Leary The Time Bender, Keith Laumer
24. Art of Hunting, Alan Campbell
25. Descent, Ken Macleod.
26. Lafayette O'Leary The World Shuffler, Keith Laumer
27. Lafayette O'Leary The Shape Changer, Keith Laumer
28. Kings Blades 1 The Gilded Chain, Dave Duncan
29. Kings Blades 2 Lord of the Fire Lands
30. Kings Blades 3 Sky of Swords
31. Zero to One, Peter Thiel & Blake Masters
32. Kings Blades 4 Impossible Odds (which might be #5)
33. Kings Blades 5 Jaguar Knights
34. The Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan (sequel to A Natural History of Dragons, and equally excellent)
35. Half a King, Joe Abercrombie.
36. Best of British Fantasy 2013, ed Steve Haynes
37. Another HP fanfic.
38. Another HP fanfic.
39 Mintzberg on Management, Henry Mintzberg.
40. A Delicate Truth, John le Carre
41. The Eighth Court, Mike Shevdon.
42. Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, George Macdonald Fraser
43. Half-Off Ragnarok, Seanan McGuire
44. The Mammoth Book of Awesome Comic Fantasy, ed Mike Ashley
45. Paragon Lost, Dave Duncan.
46. Meditations in Green, Stephen Wright
47. Dwarves, book 1, Markus Heitz.
48. Mammoth Book of Seriously Comic Fantasy, ed Mike Ashley
49. Dwarves book 2
50. Dwarves book 3.
51. Dark Elf Trilogy 1 - Homeland, R.A.Salvatore
52. Dark Elf Trilogy 2 - Exile, R.A.Salvatore
53. Dark Elf Trilogy 3 - Sojourn, R.A.Salvatore
54. Icewind Dale 1 - The Crystal Shard, R.A.Salvatore
55. Fate's Gambit - robst (F/F)
56. Retief! Perfect - Keith Laumer
57. The Truth - Terry Pratchett (reread)
 
1/27 The Universe in a Single Atom -- The Dalai Lama
2/27 The Last President -- John Barnes
3/27 Walden -- Henry David Thoreau
4/27 Walden on Wheels -- Ken Ilgunas
5/27 Walk to the End of the Word -- Suzy Charnas
6/27 Leading the Way: Asian American Artists of the Older Generation -- Paul Karstrom, et al.

7/27 Vacant - Alex Hughes
8/27 Earthbound - Joe Haldeman
9/27 Insurgent - Veronica Roth
10/27 The Visitors - Clifford D. Simak

11/27 Tale of the Body Thief - Anne Rice
12/27 Confessions of an Economic Hitman - John Perkins
13/27 Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling Our Modern Plagues - Martin J. Blaser, MD
14/27 Star Trek: To Rule in Hell - Greg Cox
15/27 To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design - Henry Petroski
16/27 Allegiant - Veronica Roth

17/27 Imago - Octavia E. Butler
18/27 Parable of the Sower - Octavia E. Butler

19/27 How the Rich are Destroying the Earth - Herve Kempf
20/27 The Parable of the Talents - Octavia E. Butler

 
1/51 - The Flemish House by Georges Simenon
2/15 - In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes
3/51 - The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 by Chris Wickham
4/51 - Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides are Wrong in the Race Debate by Kenan Malik
5/51 - The Pursued by C.S. Forester
6/51 - The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
7/51 - The Madman of Bergerac by Georges Simenon
8/51 - Critical Mass by Sara Paretsky
9/51 - A Lovely Way to Burn by Louise Welsh
10/51 - The Long Good-bye by Raymond Chandler
11/51 - Like Birds in the Wilderness by Agnes Owens
12/51 - Berlin Noir: March Violets, The Pale Criminal, A German Requiem by Philip Kerr
13/51 - The Wages of Destruction: The Making & Breaking of the Nazi Economy by Adam Tooze
14/51 - Mr Lynch's Holiday by Catherine O'Flynn
 
1. In the Midst of Life - Jennifer Worth
2. The Eye of the Leopard - Henning Mankell
3. A Grief Observed – C.S. Lewis
4. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet – David Mitchell
5. The Drama of the Gifted Child: the search for the true self – Alice Miller
6. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – Rachel Joyce
7. Audacity to Believe: An Autobiography – Sheila Cassidy

8. At Break of Day – Elizabeth Speller

Jacket blurb: "A heart-rending story of shattered hopes and dreams" :rolleyes: but actually it was better than that suggests, follows four soldiers from different countries in WWI, gets across the futility, and the ineptness, and how random and purposeless death was in the trenches.

Sheila Cassidy, lovely writing if dated in some attitudes, a warm book considering the harrowing subject matter (and not overly religious considering she became a nun later), by an English doctor imprisoned during military coup in Chile.
 
1/60 - 'Til Death - Ed McBain
2/60 - How to Connect with Nature - Tristan Gooley
3/60 - The Dead Women of Juarez - Sam Hawken
4/60 - Jericho: Season 3 Civil War - Dan Shotz,Robert Levine,Jason Burns (Graphic Novel)
5/60 - jericho: Season 4 - Kalinda Vazquez (Graphic Novel)
6/60 - The Black Echo- Michael Connelly
7/60 - The Black Ice - Michael Connelly
8/60 - Concrete Blonde - Michael Connelly
9/60 - The Last Coyote - Michael Connelly
10/60 - Trunk Music - Michael Connelly
11/60 - The Enemy Within - Seumas Milne
12/60 - Private Island:Why Britain Now Belongs to Someone Else - James Meek
13/60 - Angels Flight - Michael Connelly
14/60 - City of Bones - Michael Connelly
15/60 - A Darkness More Than Light - Michael Connelly.
16/60 - Lost Light - Michael Connelly
17/60 - The Narrows - Michael Connelly
 
1/27 The Universe in a Single Atom -- The Dalai Lama
2/27 The Last President -- John Barnes
3/27 Walden -- Henry David Thoreau
4/27 Walden on Wheels -- Ken Ilgunas
5/27 Walk to the End of the Word -- Suzy Charnas
6/27 Leading the Way: Asian American Artists of the Older Generation -- Paul Karstrom, et al.

7/27 Vacant - Alex Hughes
8/27 Earthbound - Joe Haldeman
9/27 Insurgent - Veronica Roth
10/27 The Visitors - Clifford D. Simak

11/27 Tale of the Body Thief - Anne Rice
12/27 Confessions of an Economic Hitman - John Perkins
13/27 Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling Our Modern Plagues - Martin J. Blaser, MD
14/27 Star Trek: To Rule in Hell - Greg Cox
15/27 To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design - Henry Petroski
16/27 Allegiant - Veronica Roth

17/27 Imago - Octavia E. Butler
18/27 Parable of the Sower - Octavia E. Butler
19/27 How the Rich are Destroying the Earth - Herve Kempf
20/27 The Parable of the Talents - Octavia E. Butler

21/27 The Pluto Files - Neil deGrasse Tyson
 
1. Dan Simmons, The Rise of Endymion.
2. Kameron Hurley, The Mirror Empire
3. Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Djinni
4. GRR Martin & Gardner Dozois eds, Dangerous Women, Part 1.
5. End of the Road, ed Jonathan Oliver.
6. A Natural History of Dragons, a Memoir by Lady Trent, Marie Brennan
7. Discount Armageddon, Seanan McGuire
8. Queen Victoria's Book of Spells, ed Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
9. GRR Martin & Gardner Dozois eds, Dangerous Women, Part 3.
10. Midnight Blue-Light Special, Seanan McGuire
11. The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All, Laird Barron
12. GRR Martin & Gardner Dozois eds, Dangerous Women, Part 2.
13. City of Bones, Cassandra Clare
14. Midnight at the Well of Souls, Jack Chalker
15. Exiles at the Well of Souls, Jack Chalker
16. Never Alone, Never Again, Bored Beyond Belief (f/f)
17. Quest for the Well of Souls, Jack Chalker.
18. Sigrid Ellis & Michael Damien Thomas eds, Queers Dig Time Lords
19. Andrew Roberts ed, Great Commanders of the Medieval World
20. Nathan Ballingrud, North American Lake Monsters.
21. Inside the House of Money, Steven Drobny.
22. Sea of Ghosts, Alan Campbell.
23. Lafayette O'Leary The Time Bender, Keith Laumer
24. Art of Hunting, Alan Campbell
25. Descent, Ken Macleod.
26. Lafayette O'Leary The World Shuffler, Keith Laumer
27. Lafayette O'Leary The Shape Changer, Keith Laumer
28. Kings Blades 1 The Gilded Chain, Dave Duncan
29. Kings Blades 2 Lord of the Fire Lands
30. Kings Blades 3 Sky of Swords
31. Zero to One, Peter Thiel & Blake Masters
32. Kings Blades 4 Impossible Odds (which might be #5)
33. Kings Blades 5 Jaguar Knights
34. The Tropic of Serpents, Marie Brennan (sequel to A Natural History of Dragons, and equally excellent)
35. Half a King, Joe Abercrombie.
36. Best of British Fantasy 2013, ed Steve Haynes
37. Another HP fanfic.
38. Another HP fanfic.
39 Mintzberg on Management, Henry Mintzberg.
40. A Delicate Truth, John le Carre
41. The Eighth Court, Mike Shevdon.
42. Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, George Macdonald Fraser
43. Half-Off Ragnarok, Seanan McGuire
44. The Mammoth Book of Awesome Comic Fantasy, ed Mike Ashley
45. Paragon Lost, Dave Duncan.
46. Meditations in Green, Stephen Wright
47. Dwarves, book 1, Markus Heitz.
48. Mammoth Book of Seriously Comic Fantasy, ed Mike Ashley
49. Dwarves book 2
50. Dwarves book 3.
51. Dark Elf Trilogy 1 - Homeland, R.A.Salvatore
52. Dark Elf Trilogy 2 - Exile, R.A.Salvatore
53. Dark Elf Trilogy 3 - Sojourn, R.A.Salvatore
54. Icewind Dale 1 - The Crystal Shard, R.A.Salvatore
55. Fate's Gambit - robst (F/F)
56. Retief! Perfect - Keith Laumer
57. The Truth - Terry Pratchett (reread)
58. A Calculated Life, Anne Charnock.
 
1. "A Colder War" - Charles Cumming
2. "Sleepyhead" - Mark Billingham
3. "Lamentation"- CJ Samson
4. " The Child Thief " - Dan Smith
5. "The Murder Bag" - Tony Parsons
6. "Stolen Souls" - Stuart Neville
7. "NOS 4R2" - Joe Hill
8. "Storm Front" - Jim Butcher
9. "Scaredy Cat" - Mark Billingham

10. "A Place of Strangers" - Geoffrey Seed. A 99p deal on kindle and it was rather good, understated and interesting
 
1/60 - JM Barrie - Peter Pan*
2/60 - Joe Hill - NOS4R2
3/60 - Arthur Ransome - Swallows and Amazons*
4/60 - Belinda Bauer - Rubbernecker
5/60 - Roddy Doyle - The Guts
6/60 - Phillipa Pearce - Tom's Midnight Garden*
7/60 - Mildred D Taylor - Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry*
8/60 - Denise Mina - Exile
9/60 - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Americanah
10/60 - Jon Ronson - Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries
11/60 - Iain McEwan - The Children Act
12/60 - Denise Mina - Resolution
13/60 - Neil Gaiman - Stardust
14/60 - Karen Joy Fowler - We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves
15/60 - Shirley Jackson - We Have Always Lived in the Castle
16/60 - Ian Rankin - The Complaints
17/60 - Annie Proulx - Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and other stories
18/60 - Willy Vlautin - Lean on Pete
19/60 - Stephen King - Cell
20/60 - Philip Reeve - Mortal Engines*
21/60 - William McIlvanney - Laidlaw
22/60 - Melvin Burgess - Junk*

23/60 - Val McDermid - The Skeleton Road
 
23/50: Graham Swift - Last Orders
24/50: Richard Flanagan - The Narrow Road to the Deep North
25/50: Giles Milton - Samurai William: The Adventurer Who Unlocked Japan
 
]1. Leaving Berlin, Joseph Kanon.
2. The child thief, Dan Smith.
3. Foxglove summer, Ben Aaronovich.
4. The beating of his wings, Paul Hoffman.
5. The cheapside corpse, Susanna Gregory.
6. Il metodo del coccodrillo- Maurizio de Giovanni.
7. The sin-eater's daughter- Melinda Salisbury.
8. Half the world- Joe Abercrombie
9. Tatiana- Martin cruz Smith
10. The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared- jonas jonasson.
11. The undertaking- Audrey Macgee
12. The book of life- Deborah Harkness.
13. Norwegian by Night- Derek Miller.
14. The luminous heart of Jonah s- Gina Nahai.
15. Holy spy-Rory Clements
16. The Angelic Darkness- Richard Zimmler.
17. Ghostman - Roger Hobbs
18. The whispering city- Sara Moliner.
19. The Mirrored World- Debra Dean
20. The silkworm- Robert Galbraith (or J K Rowling)
21. Getting by- Lisa Mckenzie.
22. All who go do not return- shulem Deen.
23. The Yellow Birds- Kevin Powers.
24. The skull throne- book 4 of the demon cycle- Peter Brett
25. The lady from Zagreb- Phillip Kerr. It's that time of year! A load of stuff I pre ordered magically appeared on my kindle! (9 in German- hardly light holiday reading, no idea wtf I was thinking) anyway, this is a Bernie Gunther, #10 I think. He goes to Yugoslavia in search of his lover's father and meets the Uštace. (Spelling?)- scary Croatian fascists. Not the best of the series, but interesting, readable, shines light on interesting little sidebars of WW2 history. Always enjoy a Philip Kerr.
 
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