INTRODUCTIONS

Welcome to Club Read! Please take a moment to introduce yourself to others in the group whom you may not have met yet. You might give us your first name, where you are from, what kind of reading you like, and what your reading plans are for 2024 (if you have any).

Since it's nice to remember who's who, I will create a list below as people introduce themselves or create a thread. If I miss you or make an error, please message me.

Ameise1 / Barbara / Zürich Switzerland
bragan / Betty / New Mexico USA
cindydavid4 / Cindy
DAGray08 / Dwight / central Texas USA
dchaikin / Dan / Houston, TX USA
ELiz_M / New York, NY USA
FlorenceArt / Florence / Paris France
japaul22 / Jennifer / Washington, D.C. USA
jjmcgaffey / Jennifer / Alameda, CA USA
KeithChaffee / Keith / Los Angeles, CA USA
kidzdoc/ Darryl / Philadelphia, PA USA
raidergirl3 / Elizabeth / Prince Edward Island, Canada
rhian_of_oz / Rhian / Perth Australia
thorold / Mark / The Hague Netherlands
torontoc / Cyrel / Toronto Canada

Happy and Blessed New Year, everyone! My name is Darryl, and as my username implies I am a pediatrician, although I have not been able to work since the end of 2021, when my father died after a short illness, and I moved from Atlanta, where I had lived for nearly a quarter of a century, back to suburban Philadelphia to become the primary caregiver for my mother, who has moderate vascular dementia. I hope to return working in a non-clinical capacity at some point in 2025, though.

I've been a member of LibraryThing since 2008 and Club Read since 2010. My main reading interests are, not surprisingly, fiction and non-fiction books about medicine, illness, and global and public health, along with international literature in translation, literature written by minorities in the United States and abroad, particularly from the African diaspora, and historical fiction.

My reading output has fallen off dramatically in recent years, and I do intend to take A New Approach to my reading in 2025, which will focus largely on books from my personal library that I've wanted to read for years but keep putting off.

For the moment I'm the administrator of the Booker Prize group on LibraryThing, but I will be seeking someone to replace me, as I no longer plan to follow that award as closely I have previously.

I love reading and list-making and book buying, and chatting about books, but I hate writing reviews and am unlikely to start a thread this year.

For many, many years I have been reading from the 1001-Books-to-Read-Before-You-Die list (971 read so far!) Other reads are chosen through reading challenge prompts on Litsy my global challenge on LT. Now that I spend more time on Litsy I am reading more contemporary novels, especially those featured in the Tournament of Books or listed for the International Booker.

Aside from reading, my weekdays are spent working for a large performing arts organization in NYC and my weekends are for walking around my Brooklyn neighborhood, occasionally visiting a museum, and cooking vegetarian meals for myself and/or baking treats for the office, and, of course, giving attention to my elderly cat.

My name is Florence and I live in a suburb of Paris, France. I work as a consultant in information systems, and in my free time I do a little visual art on the side, mostly these days in the form of video improvisations, working with musicians.

Readingwise, I am in dire need of comfort these days and so I read mostly comforting fluff in 2024. I don't see this changing in the near future, though I do insert a nonfiction book once in a while.

>4 FlorenceArt: Read children's books. I find them fun.

I’m Mark from The Hague in the Netherlands. I’m a retired international civil servant, originally from the north of England, who moved here nearly forty years ago. Through my partner I also have a toehold and a subsidiary book-pile in Cleveland, Ohio.

I joined LibraryThing in 2007 and have been a regular in Club Read since 2016. I’m also currently admin of Reading Globally, a group that has quite a large overlap with this one. Please check out our quarterly theme reads if you don’t already know them!

Having had the good luck to grow up in a bilingual family and work in a multilingual environment, I like to read in different languages, and to mix fiction with other types of reading, typically an eclectic mix of humanities and science/engineering.

I’m not making detailed reading plans for 2025, as my non-reading plans for the year are still rather up in the air. But obviously I’ll be getting involved with the RG theme reads, and I’m hoping to have another go at the round-the-world reading tour, which I enjoyed in 2024, with books from thirty countries.

Looking forward to sharing other Club Read members’ reading experiences in 2025!

Hi Im CindyDavid4, (aka cindy a) I started Lt in 2016 and discovered club read soon after that. Im a retired teacher of special needs children (35 years!) and enjoying my retirement and having more time to read, plus dancing, traveling and gardening. I enjoy general fiction, 'literature' Historic Fiction, books in translation, short stories and sci fi/fan books . My fav non fiction is Travel, History, Science and Archeology.j and Biography I can usually be found in Reading through time, Global reading, Monthly Author group, non fiction challenge, Englilsh authors, and what are you reading threads. No plans this year I doubt Ill start a thread, or if i do its one to help me keep track of what Im reading. I prefer to participate on themed threads, and on individual threads where I can discover new reads!

Welcome all to your new favorite rabbit hole

Hi I am Cyrel from Toronto, Canada. I am a retired visual art teacher and find that I am still busy with volunteer committees involving history and art. I find that my reading has dropped since the pandemic. I like what I am reading but I do read fewer books. I still have book piles around my house. I also give tours of the Kensington Market area in Toronto and am on the historical society exec. ( We are having an "outdoor AGM and walking tour this sunday-for some reason we chose the coldest day so far!) I like reading memoirs, fiction and history.

I'm Keith. This will be my third year at LT and in Club Read. About half of my reading each year comes from the challenges in the Category Challenge group, though I won't be maintaining my own topic over there this year; keeping track of everything in one place is plenty for me.

Retired librarian; grew up in Vermont, educated in St. Louis and Ann Arbor, now living in Los Angeles, where I worked for the public library for 31 years.

My fiction reading is largely SF and mystery, with an occasional same-sex romance novel and an even more occasional dive into literary fiction or the classics. In nonfiction, my main interests are film, TV, and music; American political history; and LGBT affairs.

Hello! My name is Rhian and I'm from Perth in Western Australia. Based on the books I read in 2024 my most-read genres are Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Mystery, and Romance.

In 2024 I created monthly reading lists based on the Category Challenges plus a couple of additional categories of my own and surprisingly I maintained this until October. I enjoy the process of choosing the books each month and physically locating them on a little shelf behind my desk. Having 16 books to pick from made it easier to decide what to read, and they were usually varied enough that I could still read by mood. So I'm going to do that again this year. My only other reading goal (as it has been for the last few years) is to reduce my TBR pile. It only went up by nine in 2024 which is practically a decrease by Club Read standards 🙂.

Last year I also returned to full-time work after two years studying, and seven months in I still haven't managed to work out a good balance for my non-work life. Sadly Club Read was one of the things that slipped, but I love it here so I am having another go in 2025.

Hi, I'm Jennifer, living in Alameda California. I'm a self-employed computer tech, a Foreign Service brat who grew up living in countries all over the world, and an avid reader. Also gardener, baker, crafter (mostly fiber work) - too many hobbies, but reading trumps all.

I read mostly science fiction and fantasy (labeling both together as SF, speculative fiction). Also mystery, romance, and various other genre work; non-fiction mostly about crafts, history, science, and especially the history of science. I avoid (most) horror and literature because I pick up moods from my reading and I don't enjoy being depressed.

I read a lot, and I usually enjoy reviewing my books. This year (2024) that mostly fell by the wayside - partly because I was doing a lot of light/comfort reading, which meant a lot of rereads and short books and some that were both. I have been tracking my reading, and hope to get at least some of the info into LT (and some reviews, too) at some point. I want to get back into regular reviewing and posting next year, we'll see.

See you around the threads!

Hi, I'm Jennifer (japaul22) and I've been on LT since 2009 and in Club Read since, I think, 2013?

I am a professional musician in "The President's Own" US Marine Band, stationed in DC. I've been here over 20 years. It's a great, if exhausting and chaotic, job. I live in Northern Virginia with my husband and two sons, who are turning 15 and 12 this winter. My older son is very into baseball and is part of a travel team and (hopefully) the high school team this spring. So his schedule keeps us even busier!

Despite all of that, I find plenty of time to read - mainly because I don't really watch any TV/streaming shows or movies. I usually read about 80-90 books a year, a mix of classics, current literature, historical fiction, and nonfiction - usually historical biographies or books about nature/environment. I gravitate towards women authors.

I love Club Read and have pushed my reading in new directions based on all of your reviews and reading. Looking forward to continuing our discussions in 2025!

Hello, I'm Barbara from Zürich (Switzerland). I have been a retired primary school teacher since July 2024 and am enjoying my third phase of life to the full together with my husband, our daughters and their partners and our two grandsons.
I'm a series junkie, but instead of finally finishing one, I add new series every year.
I like to read mysteries, thrillers, historical novels, but also various other genres, preferably from Europe, but now and then I also read from another continent. Last year I discovered ‘modern’ Italian writers and will continue to do so in the new year.
I prefer printed books, I need the tactile and the smell. When I'm travelling, my e-book is always with me. What I also always have ‘in my ear’ is an audio book, especially when I'm travelling on foot, in the gym, doing housework etc..
I'm not big on lists, if I see a BB and my local library has it, I put it on my never ending library watch list and then when I get round to borrowing a BB, I can't remember who it came from, please forgive me.
My library wishlist fills up with BBs from LT, articles from newspapers, my RL book club and of course the next volumes of the countless series I've started.
When I go to the library, I always have a plan of what I want to borrow, but most of the time I stumble across a book on display that has piqued my curiosity and I really want to check it out and read it. As you can see, I'll never run out of reading material and I already know that one lifetime won't be enough to read all my ‘dream books’.
I wish everyone happy holidays and a super great and exciting reading year 2025.

Hello, I'm Dwight from central Texas. I'm a retired soldier, part-time professor and part-time seminary student. Though I was always something of a reader I've been enjoying having the extra time to catch up on some of the challenging literature that just sat on my reading list. Lit fic, classics (esp Homer, Ovid and Shakespeare) poetry, and creative nonfiction are still my main reads. But I've been trying to branch out, read more outside our borders, more writers of color, more history/historical fiction, more liberation theology, even some science fiction, lately.

Still trying to get in the habit of tracking my reading here. (And breaking free from Goodreads in the process).

Happy Holidays, everyone. Looking forward to some great discussions in 2025.

Welcome to Club Read, Dwight! I look forward to following your reading journey in 2025.

I’m Elizabeth, from Prince Edward Island, Canada. I’m in my last school year, after teaching high school physics and math for 32 years at the school I went to. My school’s nickname is the Raiders, which is where my user name comes from.
I’ve been on LT since 2007, and I joined Club Read three or four years ago. I like the idea of having a thread, but have never been good at maintaining one. I may start one this year because sometimes I have thoughts to share, but I’m not great at small talk.
I listen to mostly audiobooks these days, can maybe manage one paper book a month. I read mysteries, mostly police procedural, I like series, historical fiction, historical mysteries. I get distracted by lists like the Women’s Prize for fiction and the Tournament of Books and that makes up the new releases I read. I sprinkle in some non-fiction, like memoirs and science. And finally I like to read Canadian authors.

Being from PEI, I’ll add that I love Anne of Green Gables.

Hello, all! I'm Betty from New Mexico, where I operate radio telescopes for a living (not nearly as exciting as it sounds, but the science is cool). I have a lifelong fondness for science fiction and fantasy and science-y non-fiction stuff, but I like to describe my reading, in general, as an "eclectic mishmash," because I'll read a bit of nearly anything, and can frequently be found, say, following up a hefty tome on some deeply serious topic with a collection of comics based on a TV show.

I've been on LibraryThing since 2007 and Club Read since 2009, but if I think too hard about exactly how long ago that was, I fear something worrying will happen in my brain.

Hi all. I love this thread, every year. Love seeing who everyone is behind our reading and reviews. Welcome all (above and after this post). I encourage everyone to begin a thread if you’re considering it, even if it’s a just a list of titles. Everyone loves lists…. I think

I’m dan from outside Houston TX. I survived another massive layoff round so i’m still in the oil industry interpreting mainly salt on seismic data in mainly the Gulf of Mexico. I’ve been in CR since avaland 1st opened it up to everyone in 2009. I’ve been reading through the classics (forward from Gilgamesh, and backwards from Cormac McCarthy and Toni Morrison). This year is Spenser and more William Faulkner. I’m using my Edmund Spenser year to explore Thomas Wyatt and John Donne. But, 1st I must somehow finish Piers Plowman. Also I’m obsessed with the Booker Prize. I read the full longlist, hopefully a chunk of International Booker longlist, and this year i want to fill in some of the more well-known books from previous Booker lists. If you haven’t noticed, I have a lot planned. No free range reading for me. My whole year of reading is loosely sketched out already, as it has been for the last handful of years. For me it works. I still love what i read, and I’m constantly discovering what can be done with language.

>14 DAGray08: welcome Dwight. I have plans to revisit Shakespeare in 2026. Hopefully. There’s still a few i haven’t read. And he’s wonderful to reread.

My name is Beth, and I am a recently retired English instructor. I love retirement and being able to travel during the school year. In 2025 I plan to visit Scotland and Iceland. Besides travel and reading, I also like to sew, play piano, and spend time with my granddaughter Scout.

I read eclectically, mostly fiction, but I do tend to always have a volume of poetry and a book of essays going as well. I belong to a book club that has been going since 2002, and I do a few group reads here on LT. Otherwise I don't plan my reading. I always resolve to read more from my shelves, but those shiny new library books do distract me.

I do try to comment on my reading; if nothing else it helps me to remember things better. I have gotten lots of good suggestions here and am always happy to discover a new-to-me author.

I look forward to 2025 and my continued reading of the works of Shakespeare. I'm not sure yet whether I will have a thread here.

Hello, I'm Jan (janoorani24). I've been a LibraryThing member since 2006, but last year was my first year on Club Read. I've had four pretty distinct careers, beginning with 20 years in the US Air Force up to my current job as a cyber threat analyst for a large corporation. I have a degree in Library Science, but have never worked in a public library.

I have a largish personal library, but also check out many library books, which do get added to my LibraryThing catalog if I finish them -- same with my Kindle and Audible libraries -- they are only added to LibraryThing if I finish them. Last year I started trying to read more works from my short story and anthology collections, as well as my recently inherited Great Books and Great Ideas collections.

I read pretty widely, but my favorite books are history, biography, and historical fiction, followed closely by science topics, science fiction, and mysteries. I seldom read horror, but I have Frankenstein on my TBR for 2025.

I enjoy reading other Club Reader's reviews and have added many books from this group to my wish list.

I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Hi everyone. Glad to see many new and familiar faces.

My name is Edwin. In 2022, I returned from having spent 25 years overseas is respectively Czech Republic, Germany (1+ year), Spain (1+ year) and China (22 years).

Compared to China, the Netherlands is a "book walhalla." After almost a decade of only reading from my TBR pile, I am now buying and reading a lot of new books. I have to be very careful with free libraries and thrift stores.

I read in five languages: Dutch, English, German, French and Spanish.

Due to a very busy job combined with academic studies and a rather chaotic housing situation, I rarely find time to read and especially comment on the reviews by others. If only you could "like" posts on LT, I would appear more active.

I am brand new to "LibraryThing" Catlin1929/Catlin/Texas USA I read, garden, and craft.

welcome Catlin!what kind of books do you like to read?