rhian_of_oz Reads in 2024 - July to December

TalkClub Read 2024

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rhian_of_oz Reads in 2024 - July to December

1rhian_of_oz
Edited: Dec 23, 5:32 am

I'm Rhian from Perth and this is my sixth year in Club Read. My participation was sparse the last couple of years as I went back to uni full-time, so now that I’ve finished my studies I had hoped to do better this year. I’d forgotten how much time it takes to go into the office every day, which has been good for reading but not so much for online time. I’m hoping the second half of the year sees more interactions.

In past years my “plan” has been simply to reduce my TBR pile, but this year I thought I might change things up a bit and try and come up with monthly plans. I have surprised myself by maintaining these plans to the middle of the year - I’m enjoying the planning and find that it is a lot less overwhelming to choose something to read from a dozen or so books rather than over one hundred.

Given that the intention is still mainly to shrink Mt TBR, the count at the beginning of 2024 was 161.

Currently reading:
Perhaps The Stars by Ada Palmer
A History Of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel
Signs Of Life: To The Ends Of The Earth With A Doctor by Stephen Fabes
The Warehouse by Rob Hart

Next up:

2rhian_of_oz
Edited: Dec 23, 6:25 am

7rhian_of_oz
Edited: Sep 3, 11:18 am

Planned July reads:
Bookclub - Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher
Group Read - The Will To Battle by Ada Palmer
CalendarCAT (July) - The Trial by Franz Kafka
HistoryCAT (Spies in July) - The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
PrizeCAT (Country other than Australia) - The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
MysteryKIT (Cross genre) - Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty
RandomKIT (Favourites) - Mind Games by Nora Roberts
SFFKIT (First contact) - Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
AlphaKit (I and S) - Starter Villain by John Scalzi, If I Tell You by Alicia Tuckerman
ScaredyKIT (The Corporeal Undead) - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith,
Historical Fiction Challenge (Classic work) - The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
First book in a series (The Songs of Penelope) - Ithaca by Claire North
Next book in a series (Impostors) - Shatter City by Scott Westerfeld
Anthology - Walking The Clouds by Grace L. Dillon
Wishlist - Yours Cheerfully by A.J. Pearce


8labfs39
Jun 30, 10:27 am

I like the picture of your possible July reads. I'm so scattershot in comparison.

9Jim53
Jun 30, 2:50 pm

>7 rhian_of_oz: Wow, that's a lot of sources for books to read! I've been working in recent years to have less of that sort of thing because I found it stressful to have so many plans and then keep seeing all these books that I want to read in everyone's threads. Brava for keeping up with it all!

10rhian_of_oz
Jul 1, 11:13 am

>8 labfs39: and >9 Jim53: When I first thought of having planned reads for each month I didn't actually think I would stick with it. I don't expect to read them all so I don't feel any pressure, and there's enough variety in the selections for me to be able to choose by mood.

I'm not immune to CR BBs or impulse reading, so I guess it's less a plan than a guideline 🙂.

11rhian_of_oz
Jul 7, 7:56 am

Mind Games by Nora Roberts

This is the latest of Ms Roberts romantic suspense novels that follow a similar pattern. Our heroine experiences a bad, life-changing event in childhood, we get vignettes of her life as she grows up that include interactions with the villain, then in the "present day" as an adult she meets her love interest and the villain is vanquished.

Ms Roberts is a comfort read for me, and she is my go-to when I want to read something but not something new. She is very reliable, if a little predictable, but sometimes you want to know what you're getting.

For those in the northern hemisphere this would be a good beach read, and for those of us currently shivering through winter it makes a nice snuggled-on-the-couch read.

12rhian_of_oz
Jul 10, 10:03 am

Yours Cheerfully by AJ Pearce

This is the second in the Emmy Lake Chronicles. Set in London during WW2, Emmy is working at Women's Friend magazine when the Ministry of Information calls on Britain’s women’s magazines to help recruit female supporters to the war effort. While writing a piece on factory workers she discovers the challenges faced by women and mothers who want to do their bit.

To paraphrase a quote the author has on her website, this is a funny and heartwarming celebration of friendship and the strength of women. The tone is fairly lighthearted, though it does touch on some quite serious topics.

I think you need to have read the first one to properly enjoy this one. It's been about six years since I read Dear Mrs Bird so my memory is a bit hazy, but I think I liked this one better and I'm looking forward to reading Mrs Porter Calling.

13rhian_of_oz
Jul 27, 12:08 pm

Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty

I very much enjoyed Six Wakes and so I was looking forward to this, the first in the Midsolar Murders series.

Our main character Mallory is a murder magnet (and solver) who is living in self-imposed exile on the space station Eternity. When she hears that a shuttle load of humans are on their way she considers running away but it's not too long before the shit hits the fan and people start dying.

As the first in a series there's a fair amount of backstory in this, both of the universe and Mallory, but I didn't mind the flashbacks. And while Mallory is the main POV character she's not the only one so there's quite a bit to keep track of.

I'm struggling to describe how I feel about this book. I like the idea of the universe and I liked the backstory parts. I'm a bit ambivalent about Mallory - I mostly liked her but not always. There's a lot going on and it's not always clear. I read a few reviews saying that the story didn't really flow very well, and was choppy and disorganised, which I think is a good description of why I didn't love it.

I originally thought I might read the next book in the series (though borrow not buy) but now I think there are too many other books I want to read to potentially waste my time on it.

14rhian_of_oz
Jul 30, 7:19 am

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

When we first meet him, Charlie is not living his best life. Working as a subsitute teacher, living in a house he part inherited that his half-siblings want to sell, he has a dream to open a pub but not the means to do so. When his estranged billionaire uncle dies he is introduced to a life that is beyond his imagining.

This was as much fun as I was expecting. I did not read this at all critically, I was just happy to go along for the ride.

I feel like if you like Mr Scalzi's other work you will like this one.

15labfs39
Jul 30, 7:25 am

>14 rhian_of_oz: I've been meaning to get this one. I do like Scalzi's Old Man's War series, or at least the first four that I've read. I also own Redshirts and Android's Dream already, but haven't read them yet.

16rhian_of_oz
Aug 4, 11:03 am

>15 labfs39: I'll be interested to hear what you think when/if you get around to reading it.

17rhian_of_oz
Edited: Sep 30, 11:03 am

Planned August reads:
Bookclub - Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
Group Read - Perhaps The Stars by Ada Palmer
CalendarCAT (August) - The Muse by Jessie Burton
HistoryCAT (Byzantine empire) - Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler
PrizeCAT (Genre Prizes) - The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
MysteryKIT (Amateur Sleuths) - White Heat by M. J. McGrath
RandomKIT (title immediately made you want to read it) - The Dictionary People by Sarah Ogilvie
SFFKIT (paranormal investigators and space detectives) - The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
AlphaKit (M and G) - Ten Steps To Nanette by Hannah Gadsby, Heartless by Marissa Meyer
ScaredyKIT (Middle grade and YA horror) - All The Murmuring Bones by A. G. Slatter
Historical Fiction Challenge (set in a different country) - The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
First book in a series (Halting State) - Halting State by Charles Stross
Next book in a series (Chaos Walking) - The Ask And The Answer by Patrick Ness
Anthology - Walking The Clouds by Grace L. Dillon
Wishlist - Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

18rv1988
Aug 5, 12:28 am

>11 rhian_of_oz: Nora Roberts - now that's a name I haven't heard for a while. My mother used to read her books, I read a few as well as an adult. I think of her as being in the same vein as Dick Francis - she writes in her genre and is a little formulaic, but her books are consistently and predictably readable, which is no little feat!

>14 rhian_of_oz: This sounds like fun! I've been meaning to read more by Scalzi.

>17 rhian_of_oz: lots of great picks here, happy August reading! The Dictionary People by Sarah Ogilvie is on my list too.

19rhian_of_oz
Edited: Oct 12, 9:19 am

Almost four months into my "new" job and I still don't feel like I am managing my life as well as I did before. Add in a greater number of non-work commitments means I'm not spending as much time (i.e. any) at CR as I would like. I almost feel like I need to do a time and motion study to figure out where it's all going.

Planned September reads:
Bookclub - The Mountain In The Sea by Ray Nayler
Group Read - Perhaps The Stars by Ada Palmer
CalendarCAT (September) - Black Man by Richard Morgan
HistoryCAT (WWI/WWII) - The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
PrizeCAT (CAT/KIT) - All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
MysteryKIT (Upstairs/Downstairs) - To Say Nothing Of The Dog by Connie Willis
RandomKIT (Weather) - The Ferryman by Justin Cronin
SFFKIT (Gods, godlike beings, and mythology) - Leviathan Falls by James S A Corey
AlphaKit (V and C) - Darkness for Light by Emma Viskic, The Old Lie by Claire G Coleman
ScaredyKIT (Stephen King and Family) - Under The Dome by Stephen King
Historical Fiction Challenge (set in a different country) - The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
First book in a series (The Great Cities) - The City We Became by N K Jemisin
Next book in a series (The Time Police) - About Time by Jodi Taylor
Anthology - Sherlock Is A Girl’s Name by Narrelle M Harris
Wishlist - For Life by Ailsa Piper



20labfs39
Sep 8, 10:32 am

I think To Say Nothing of the Dog is very funny. I've read it a couple of times. Although many people loved All the Light We Cannot See, I thought it cloyingly sentimental and actively disliked it.

I love how you choose books to pick from each month. Here's hoping you can shoehorn in more reading time.

21rhian_of_oz
Sep 22, 12:14 am

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

I absolutely *loved* The Passage trilogy and was therefore very much looking forward to this one.

It was not as good.

Some of that may have been me having very high expectations. Some of it is that I worked out what was going on because I had read a similar scenario in another book. And some of it is due to the, IMO, unnecessary epilogue.

Don't get me wrong, it's not terrible. I think he did a really good job with the atmosphere and pacing for the most part.

I will read future books by Mr Cronin but maybe with lowered expectations.

22rhian_of_oz
Sep 22, 9:46 pm

>20 labfs39: According to LT I read To Say Nothing of the Dog in 2008 but I have very little memory of it. I think it's fair to say I didn't realise it was part of a series because there's no way I would knowingly read book #2 without having read #1 🙂.

I didn't expect the monthly planning to last but I am quite enjoying the process of selecting books each month. And it does make choosing my next book to read much simpler.

23KeithChaffee
Sep 22, 11:41 pm

>22 rhian_of_oz: "I think it's fair to say I didn't realise it was part of a series because there's no way I would knowingly read book #2 without having read #1 🙂."

For what it's worth, it's a very loosely linked series. The first two books (Domesday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog) are so different in tone that they barely feel like they're from the same author, much less part of the same series.

24labfs39
Sep 23, 7:41 am

>23 KeithChaffee: I agree with Keith. The two books share some characters but are not at all alike or dependent on one another. That said, I would never dissuade someone from reading Doomsday Book, as it is excellent. As tragic as TSNotD is funny.

25KeithChaffee
Sep 23, 3:43 pm

>24 labfs39: Oh, absolutely. I hope that didn't come off as dissing Doomsday Book, which is delightful.

I might dissuade you, though, from the third in the series, Blackout/All Clear, a novel so painfully bloated that it had to be published as two books. And there's no doubt that it is one novel and not two; the first book ends in the middle of the story with no resolution of anything. A rare disappointment from Willis.

26labfs39
Sep 24, 7:33 am

>25 KeithChaffee: I agree that Blackout/All Clear was not nearly as good. The only thing worse than Blackout was Lincoln's Dreams and Bellwether. I liked Passage, but Doomsday Book is my favorite, followed by To Say Nothing of the Dog.

27rhian_of_oz
Sep 28, 11:43 am

>25 KeithChaffee: and >26 labfs39:
Thanks for the warning about Blackout/All Clear as it was my intention to read them.

28rhian_of_oz
Edited: Sep 30, 11:21 am

Sherlock Is A Girl's Name by Narrelle M Harris
This was a fun collection of short stories based on the idea of Sherlock Holmes as female.

The Mountain In The Sea by Ray Nayler
I read this for bookclub and I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone else thought. It raised thought-provoking questions about consciousness, but I'm not entirely convinced about the story itself. It looked like it was working toward a big confrontation at the end which turned out to be a bit of a fizzer. And there was a whole storyline that looked like it was going to be interesting but turned out to be completely irrelevant.

The Dictionary People by Sarah Ogilvie
I enjoyed reading this over a couple of months.

29rhian_of_oz
Edited: Nov 10, 10:11 am

I haven't done the physical organisation yet, we're away for the weekend so hopefully I'll get to it during the week.

Planned October reads:
Bookclub - Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang
Group Read - Perhaps The Stars by Ada Palmer
CalendarCAT (October) - The Secret River by Kate Grenville
HistoryCAT (Disasters) - The Last Man by Mary Shelley
PrizeCAT (Short or Longlisted) - Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
MysteryKIT (Not too scary) - Halting State by Charles Stross
RandomKIT (Halloween/spooky) - The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
SFFKIT (Women Authors) - Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
AlphaKit (D and T) - A Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clark, Rosewater Insurrection by Tade Thompson
ScaredyKIT (Contemporary Horror) - All The Murmuring Bones by A G Slatter
Historical Fiction Challenge (unfamiliar time period) - The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
First book in a series (The Space Between Worlds) - The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
Next book in a series (The Expanse) - Leviathan Falls by James S A Corey
Anthology - The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley
Wishlist - Today I Am Carey by Martin L Shoemaker