*Introduce Yourself and Greet Your Fellow Club Readers

Welcome to Club Read 2016! Please pull up a chair, say hello and introduce yourself to the group!

Well, I will start us off!
I'm Monkey (formerly PolymathicMonkey). I've been puttering around CR for a few years, and this year I've been passed the torch for admin duties. :)

I'm an American expat (yay Chicago!), Belgium is my lovely home now - thanks to marrying a Dutchie; we live here with our three feline furbabies. :P Sadly I still fail at speaking Dutch, but I'm working on it, slowly but surely.

I'm an avid eclectic bookworm since birth, I love photography, cooking/baking, travel, horror, movies, cats, ladybugs, monkeys, and lists!! I read some of nearly everything, but horror and thriller/suspense/mystery and classics are at the top of my list, but my shelves have some of almost everything else, too. Super excited for my 2016 reading! :D

Hi *waves* I'm thebookmagpie (formerly humblewomble), I'm new to this group. I've been on LT for a little over a year now but I've not really been active in the social side of things (apart from participating in Santathing both last year and this year). I'm really looking forward to participating in this group though, it seems like it'll suit me!

I'm from Scotland (Glasgow) and still live there. Up until this year I was planning on training as a solicitor but have taken a step back from that and am now trying to decide what career direction to go in. I live with my boyfriend who is also a law graduate and we have two pet rats (they're really awesome, honest!) We'd love a dog but we'll have to wait at least until we own our own home.

Bookwise, I'm into pretty much everything - you can check out what I've read this year in my "2015" tag. I enjoy reading more than any of my other hobbies and I spend a lot of time thinking, talking, and writing about books. I tend to gravitate towards literary and YA, as well as a generous portion of mystery/thriller, fantasy, and SF. I'm trying to read more diversely, though it can be difficult at times. I'm a massive fan of TV shows like Buffy and Adventure Time, as well as Veronica Mars and anything written by Graham Linehan. I'm also into PC gaming and collect stationery and bookmarks.

Hopefully I've not bored you all to death! I'm looking forward to 2016 so much :)

>3 thebookmagpie: Woo Veronica Mars! <3 And stationery! XD I have one rat, too, her sister died this summer, she still seems to be holding up fairly well though, but she's an old lady now, and she's always been rather neurotic, hahaha.

Welcome to Club Read, I'm sure you'll enjoy it here! It's a great group of folks with all sorts of reading styles, it sounds like you will fit right in!

Hi! I'm Sace (formerly topperarnold) and I am considering 2016 my first year on LibraryThing. I've tried in the past and not been very active. I hope to improve this year.

I read almost anything, but in the last year I have read mainly manga. I have a sneaking suspicion that I am getting dumber as I age. I seem unable to read more difficult tomes. I hope to improve this as well.

I kind of stink at intro posts.

>5 Sace: Welcome aboard! I'm sure it's not intelligence but attention span, lack of desire, and things of that nature, that have made some areas unattractive to you. What if you tried reading some of the more complex things alongside the less taxing ones, just a little bit at a time? That's what I try to do when I'm reading something that's not holding my interests very well for whatever reason, I'll just read other things and just slowly chew through that one all the while. It usually helps! :)

(Noob question: how do I tag a specific post at the start of my message?)

.Monkey. - We were in the same situation until earlier this year, we had an elderly girl who was happy on her own. Wasn't sure if we would get any more after she passed away but we got another pair of girls in June! Also, I had a look through some of last year's group and it seems like there's a really eclectic bunch of folk here which suits me down to the ground.

Sace - what kind of manga have you been reading? I haven't read any manga in years and have really fallen away from it. Also, I think many of us feel put off by complex books at times - I've had periods where I've been so exhausted that there's been no point in me even considering them, but when I have more energy and am in a better frame of mind I often find tackling something difficult quite rewarding (though not always!)

Good morning, all. My name is Brodie. I live in greater Seattle, WA. I have loved a good story for as long as I can remember. Whether it is a movie, a book, a comic, or simply someone telling me a story verbally, I am in heaven.

I am married and have three children; 9, 7, and 6. I love reading to them as much as reading for myself.

As for genres, I jump from SF to mystery/thrillers to nonfiction travelogues. I have specific interest in The Camino de Santiago. A dream would be to make the pilgrimage. But, for now, I am living vicariously through those who have written about their experience.

>7 thebookmagpie: Just the > followed by the post# will insert the link with name for you. :)
Yep, wide range of readers here, something for everyone!
I tend to not generally repeat caged critters, I love all animals so when one sort are all gone, then I tend to bring in some other sort to play with! xP Especially in this case, rats aren't especially common here and I wouldn't trust getting more from the same place, it's someone who works there that breeds them and the employees always all seem quite nice, but though they were still young when we got them, they never got so trusting/comfortable with us. They always had to stay confined to their cardboard-enclosed play area or else we'd never have been able to get them safely back inside. :/ So, yeah, I wouldn't know where to find ones that'd be better handled from birth. I'm aiming for snakes next, I had them once before, years back, and I adore reptiles. If not snakes, possibly some sort of gecko or chameleon, but I'm thinking either a cute lil corn, or a Brazilian Rainbow Boa. The Brazilian would be a step up the ladder, so I will probably lean that way, haha!

>8 brodiew2: Welcome, Brodie! My love of reading developed from my mom reading to me constantly as a child, hopefully you've got a brood of readers coming along there! ;P

>7 thebookmagpie: thebookmagpie: I had now idea you could tag a specific post! Thanks for asking the question. I tend to gravitate toward Shojo manga, though I have started a Shonen series that I really like (Food Wars.)

>9 .Monkey.: .Monkey.: I learned something new! And you are so right. I tend to read something "heavy" followed by a flurry of manga. I rarely have long stretches of time to read, which makes it harder to read some of the meatier books. In my opinion, they require more than 20 minutes at a time reading spurts.

>8 brodiew2: brodiew2: I have family in Galicia. My cousin and uncle just finished doing a short version of the Camino in October.

>10 Sace: Yeah it depends on the book, some I find are best suited to small spurts because it gets too dull to read them for longer, so it helps to keep them less of a "chore" by keeping it to such limited bits at a time, and mixing it with more "fun" reading in-between. But it's true, not everything works so well in that format. I think dry non-fic is usually safe, but novels in the midst of things can be annoying to stop there. You could always try the lighter stuff (during the week?) when you have shorter time, and save the heavier stuff in slightly longer chunks when your schedule is more free!

Sase: That's really cool. What did they have to say about their experience?

Hi all! I'm Book-dragon (Donna), I am new to LT and just learning how to navigate here. I've been cataloging my library, still have a lot to do. I read almost anything, SF is my favorite, trying to get through Ivanhoe right now. Excited for 2016 reading. I live in Wallingford, CT, USA. I'm a mother, grandmother of 12! I also quilt, machine embroider and watch lots of movies.

>9 .Monkey.: yeah, I know what you mean about finding the right place to get small pets. We're lucky to have a responsible breeder that lives pretty near us. Keeping snakes sounds amazing as well though, I'd quite fancy that at some point down the line when we've got a bit more space.

Hi brodiew2 and Book-Dragon :) really looking forward to spending time reading/talking books with you all. >13 Book-Dragon1952: I'd love to be crafty and sew etc but I'm a bit cack-handed haha. You must be super busy with 12 grandchildren though!

My name is Cyrel and I am a retired art teacher. I have really increased my reading since I retired - I read novels , history, memoirs and biographies. I also look at new children's books. I belong to a pottery co-op and like to travel. I go to two major film festivals a year and write about the films here as well.

>11 .Monkey.: .Monkey.: During the week I have very little reading time. Usually I'm sneaking in a few pages during the lunch break. Manga and light reading is perfect for that.

>12 brodiew2: brodiew2: They had an amazing time.

Surprise! My name is Rebecca and I live in New York City. I've been a member of Club Read since it started and it is my "home" on LT. I read a lot of gloomy literature, and literature in translation, but since I've been under a lot of stress this past year I've also been reading a lot of mysteries, mostly in translation. I've also been reading "easier to read" books. My TBR has been growing exponentially since I joined Club Read, and earlier this year I initiated Project TBR to try to get a grasp on my threatening to overwhelm me TBR piles.

I'll start my reading thread towards the end of December.

Hi everyone. I am Annie, still in Phoenix, still not very good at keeping up with her thread for a full year. Another year, another try I guess.

I love science fiction and fantasy but I read pretty much anything - regardless of format (yes, comics are real books). I read a lot of short stories, I keep up (ok, I try to) with a lot of magazines and journals and I am as likely to be reading a children book as I am to be reading a non-fiction dissertation on the Elizabethan Parliaments; sometimes at the same time actually. As a result, when I am keeping up with it, my threads can be easily defined by the expression "variety show" (that's a thought - maybe I will call them like that when I set my thread).

I tend to buy too many books - both for my Kindle and on paper - and I rarely skip a weekly trip to the library. Mount TBR is about to start dragging the Earth out of its orbit - it is sticking that much over the atmosphere... I also have a weak spot for beautiful books - so specialty presses feature in my library a lot. So do small presses - when I trust a publisher, I usually end up with a full collection of a small press output.

>17 rebeccanyc: "Project TBR" is probably more intense than the TBR Challenge, but you should check it out, it's been my favorite group, along with CR, for several years. :))

>18 AnnieMod: Haha, variety show is awesome, go for it!

Hi all. I'm Majkia (Jean), retired US Air Force. The hubster is retired as well- a civilian who worked for the Air Force. We do a lot of RVing (Recreational Vehicle) in our 38ft Fleetwood Bounder. We take the kids (4 legged) with us, Baylee - a mixed Lab, rescued- and LC a Labradoodle who came to live with us a month ago. LC is 8 months old, Baylee is 7 years old.

We live in Florida and do a lot of RVing here as well. At the moment we are at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, probably our favorite campground. It is about 40 miles from home in Niceville, FL. Jim is volunteering here, so we are here for two and a half months, and will go home the end of December.

I read mostly sci fi, fantasy, historical fiction and mysteries. I'm a geek and a nerd and like playing with and fixing computers. I know, weird, right?

This year I'm planning on concentrating my reading on a few series I want to either finish or at least get further into. Most of them involve long and complex books, so I'm planning on reading fewer books, if still reading about as many pages.

I'm not big on intro threads so excuse the brevity. I'm klarusu (Claire) from the UK. I'm owned by a couple of cats, a hamster, a snake and an eight and half year old. I read pretty much anything that takes my fancy, although I do like literary fiction (contemporary & classic), translated stuff, SFFF and comic books! I'm a Biology lecturer so I read an awful lot of 'work' stuff - that means sometimes I completely fall off the reading wagon and binge watch series on amazon Prime. I've joined CR in previous years but haven't stuck with the thread. I'm a Category Challenge member but I'd like a place to be a little bit less prescriptive about what I record. Not sure what I'll use my thread for yet but it'll likely be for any reading at all that interests me rather than books alone.

Hello, everyone. I've been a Club Read member for quite a few years (not sure if the year I joined was the first or second year). I'm a recently retired (since August) English professor whose area of expertise is Tudor and early Stuart period lit (especially drama); my dissertation was on Ben Jonson. For now, I've decided to stay in Pennsylvania with my two Wonder Cats, Jasper & Suki. My daughter lives in Nashville, so I may end up there down the road. I've pretty much been relaxing, cleaning up house and yard, and twiddling my thumbs since retiring, but I am also doing research for a historical novel. (Confession: I signed up for NaNoWriMo last month but just wasn't ready to start writing.)

I read a fair variety of books, but my favorite category is literary historical fiction (NOT romance and preferably not mysteries). Most of my favorites are set in England from the early Tudor period through the reign of Queen Anne, but I've also enjoyed some more modern and some medieval novels. I also read a lot of historical fiction about Ireland and Scotland, the American and French Revolutions, the American Civil War, and the early 20th century through World War I. Second favorite category would have to be contemporary literary fiction. I generally read a lot of the Booker winners and nominees. And I love good short stories as well. I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but when I do, it's often a biography of historical figures (although I really liked Alan Cumming's autobiography last year).

Like many of you, I have way too many books, but I have been trying to cut back. Last year I gave away to LT friends and and sold on eBay about 250 Virago Modern Classics, and I gave an additional 450 books to the local library's book sale. Retirement has required another purge as I brought home a ton of books from my work office. I gave away about 100 to students, another 285 to the students' charity book drive, and another 300 to the library's books sale. At present, I have about 150 scholarly books stacked on the home office floor in hopes that someone browsing Amazon will want them. What's left will go to the library in about two weeks. While it is sad indeed to give away so many books, some of which are brand new hardcovers that have only been skimmed or never read at all, I'm enjoying being able to unbox and shelve the novels I've been waiting to read. Not to mention seeing the floors again!

Hi everyone! This is my 5th year in Club Read and my 8th year on LibraryThing. I came to LibraryThing with the awful problem of never having any ideas of what to read next and now have so many ideas of what to read next that it is sometimes overwhelming! (But a fantastic problem to have!)

I read a mix of classics, new fiction predominantly by women, books off the 1001 books to read before you die list, and nonfiction - mainly historical biographies. I also throw in some mysteries now and then.

I have two little boys who are about to be ages 6 and 3 and I work full time as a professional classical musician. Somehow I also find time to read a significant amount of books.

Looking forward to following everyone's reading!

The kids and I are back! My nieces and nephews and I have been doing Club Read since 2010, and as they've gotten older and moved on to college, marriage and jobs, it's been interesting to see that they continue to participate. Every few days I get an email or text with someone's completed book info and rating, and they do keep track that I enter their listings in a timely manner so they can compare results. This year the youngest will be 15/16, and the oldest 28/29, and that includes one niece-in-law. It's spreading! Also, this Christmas a not-so-enthusiastic reader in the family, who doesn't usually participate in CR, asked me for a Kindle for Christmas, so maybe he'll join in one day.

We all live in semi-rural NJ (for those of you who weren't sure, yes, there are areas of NJ which aren't paved over). I'm a retired public librarian and do about perhaps 60% of my reading on the Kindle. For some books I have both print and ebook versions, and there's one for which I have print, ebook, and audio. This way I can read lengthy and sometimes heavy NF books on the Kindle and refer to the print copies for larger and color illustrations. The kids all have their Kindles on my account, so we do share some titles around, and I've recently succumbed to an almost 50%-off 2-year prepaid sub to Kindle Unlimited.

Right now I'm plowing though:
Hugh Howey's SF novels (Kindle Unlimited)
The History of Scepticism: From Savonarola to Bayle by Richard H. Popkin
Shikasta, the first in Doris Lessing's five-part SF classic
Tears in the Grass by Lynda A. Archer, a NetGalley offering about a 90-year old Saskatchewan Cree artist searching for a child who was stolen from her years ago

>24 auntmarge64: I do so love your whole, all the family reading & tracking together, thing! :))

Hi folks! I'm Alison (no surprise there), and 2016 will be my second year amongst the wonderful Club Readers.

I live in N. Ireland with my hubby, 2 kids (8 and 6), a cat who I suspect is plotting my downfall, and an attic full of deaf mice who seem totally immune to my sonar rodent repellent device.

Work-wise I'm co-founding a new technology start up, which is exciting but doing my leisure reading time no good at all.

In terms of books I like classics and modern literary fiction, the odd biography (people / historical), and have been introduced this year to a bit of noir thriller / crime fiction which I've enjoyed.

In 2016 I suspect my reading rate will be down. In 2015 I set myself a list of 50 books to read at the start of the year and read about 40 of them, but the temptation of my wish list at the library became too great and I drifted away from my list. In 2016 I have no fixed plans in terms of what I read, and am just going to enjoy the randomness of where my library shelf browsing and wish lists take me.

For some reason, I didn't realize this group had even been set up yet until now. Hello for 2016, all!

I'm Betty, I live in New Mexico, and I'm a radio telescope operator for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which is not quite as impressive as it sounds. Often my job consists of sitting around all day (or, depending on what shift I'm on, all night), waiting for something to break, so I manage to get a lot of reading in.

I have wide-ranging tastes. Science fiction and non-fiction on various science-y topics are some of my oldest loves, but, honestly, I'll read darned near anything. Mysteries, horror, contemporary literature, kids' books and YA, non-fiction on any topic that looks remotely interesting, etc., etc., etc... But I prefer to think of my reading habits less as "indiscriminate" and more as "eclectic."

I also have a terrible, terrible book-buying addiction. My TBR shelves have nearly 900 books on them, and are now almost completely full. Again. I cannot continue solving this problem simply by going out any buying more shelves. Can I?

Hi, all. I've been participating in Club Read since 2009, and have felt it to be my home here on LT. I love that it endures despite changes in the management, and that new people find their way here every year, and the old regulars return.

I'm finishing up my third year in Munich and will be returning to South Carolina this summer, husband, children (daughter who is fifteen and a son who is twelve) and the cats in tow. I've been enjoyably unemployed (with small amounts of proofreading and translating work) and free to explore the art museums.

I'd like to say that I have a structured reading plan, but that would be an easily discoverable lie. My goal in 2015 was to read more by women authors and that was a great success for me, leading my reading in new directions and discovering new authors. Next year, I'd like to read more diversely, both within and outside of the English-speaking world. We'll see how that goes. I do like newer titles, and the end of the year lists, as well as all the various short and long-lists are all eagerly perused. I will cannibalize your threads for book suggestions. Don't say that I didn't warn you!

>27 bragan: I also have a terrible, terrible book-buying addiction. My TBR shelves have nearly 900 books on them, and are now almost completely full. Again. I cannot continue solving this problem simply by going out any buying more shelves. Can I?
Please tell me the answer is yes. Because I am in your boat and and not going anywhere! xP

One day I'll figure out how to outsource my reluctance to buy books I haven't read yet and make a fortune on LT. I'm pretty sure my brain thinks I'm curating a library for a book-centered bed and breakfast.

I'm Meredith (or mabith is fine, I've been mabith online for 16 years), I live in West Virginia with a tubby tabby cat. Until I became disabled I worked in the local independent bookstore. I can't work any regular job now, so I do a lot of reading and design and sell cross-stitch patterns. I also knit, cook when I can, collect tea cups, and pour over used bookstore shelves for girls' fiction from the early 20th century (wish I'd had all the aviation-centric girls' adventure books as a kid!).

My reading is super varied and eclectic. I love history and read a bit more non-fiction than fiction (about 60/40). I love alternative comics, children's fiction, read a lot of fiction and non-fiction relating to WWI, WWII, ancient Rome, Egypt, and China. I love poetry and plays as well. Authors I'm devoted to include Lindsey Davis, Elizabeth Gaskell, Caroline Alexander, Carl Sandburg, John Steinbeck, Juliet Marillier and Daniel Pinkwater.

Hi, I'm Colleen. I joined LT and Club Read in 2013, and as I've said before, I'm very glad that I did. I won't try to plan my reading for the year, because as much as I want to follow a plan, I tend to be distracted easily. All of the great reviews in this group influence my reading. I don't think that's a bad thing. I do plan to read Trollope's Palliser novels.

I retired about four years ago, and live with my hubby in a town in Northwest New Jersey called Sparta. As Aunt Marge says in >24 auntmarge64:, much of NJ is rural and beautiful. Northwest NJ has lots of lakes and farms. The deer and bear can be a nuisance, but that's what we get for invading their space, I guess. I have three married children and seven grandchildren. I enjoy historical fiction, non-fiction, and mysteries. But, I am usually open to suggestions for anything other than horror.

In addition to reading, I love spending time with those 7 grandchildren, knitting and maybe definitely watching a little too much TV.

Hello, I'm Liz and 2015 was my first year in Club Read. It has (almost) inspired me to review all the books I read, even though I am not fond of writing them.

I live in Brooklyn and work for a performing arts organization in a scheduling/logistical capacity. Although I've been in NYC for 14 years, I am not sure I am a New Yorker yet, but I no longer consider myself Minnesotan either. Wherever I am is home, I guess. On the rare occasion I am not reading, I am likely to be cooking/baking. On the even more rare occasions when I am not at home, I am likely to be eating out with friends or visiting a museum.

>27 bragan: >29 .Monkey.:

Well - I just devised a plan involving moving my bed so I can fit another wall of bookcases :) So for now, of course you can. Now... after that set of bookcases, I may be a bit stuck but I am looking for other options. :)

>33 AnnieMod: Hahaha woo! Actually if we needed, we'd be able to do that also, our bedroom has quite a lot of space. xD

Hi All! I am French and live in the Paris area where I work as a software consultant. I am also a visual artist in my free time. I don't set myself goals, I enjoy reading what takes my fancy next. I also try to avoid buying books before I'm ready to start reading them, so my TBR is not very large (but still too large for my tastes at about 20 books). In fact my "reading now" list is almost as large as 10 or so books, as I have a tendency to start way too many books and as a result take ages to finish them. And of course my wishlist is growing exponentially, mainly because of LT and Club Read!

Yep, LT, and CR in particular, are evil wishlist fiends! Forever piling more in!

Hi Everyone! I'm Narilka (aka Gale). I've been with LibraryThing since 2009 and joined Club Read for the first time in 2015. I'm really glad I did. I normally don't try to make a reading plan and read whatever strikes my fancy but this year is different. This year I'd like to read more from my TBR pile. To that end I joined the TBR Challenge in addition to Club Read. Here's hoping I can stick to it. While I do like and read other genres Fantasy is my favorite and what I tend to read the most, though I've been on a YA dystopia kick lately.

During the day I am a Sr. Project Manager in health care IT which takes up a lot of my time. I'm currently located in GA and live with my boyfriend and 4 cats. Other hobbies include video games, going to see movies, walking/hiking the many parks of Georgia, coloring, visiting with friends and spoiling the cats rotten.

I've been hovering over and around this thread for a while - well, at least since around the 2nd. I was thinking, by the title, that everyone will be reading the same thing. Is this true? From my reading of the posts above, I think not. Just want to be sure. Why?
Because when I plan what I'll read I always get the siren song of other books and abandon my list. I'd like to read what catches my fancy this year - is that permissable?
I live with my husband and a gigundo 8 month old standard poodle. He's the 3rd standard poodle I've had, and the others grew at a much slower rate. He now weighs what they weighed when fully grown (18-24 months). It's kind of sad because he's still so young he wants to be cuddled and held. You should see him on my lap - what a trip!
We'll be moving in the near future so things are a bit stressful right now - so reading is even more necessary.
I'll stay in touch.
Karen

>38 UtopianPessimist:

It is your reading - you read whatever you want. This group is just the place to talk about your reading without being part of one of the numerous challenges - and to talk with other people doing the same :) Some are planners, some read whatever catches their fancy - I am from the latter group for example. Everyone is welcome :)

We have a few group reads now and then but they are not mandatory - if you want to join, you can; if you do not - you do not. :)

>38 UtopianPessimist: Yep, what Annie said. At first I was thoroughly confused where you'd have gotten that idea, but then it dawned on me - maybe you are seeing the "club" in the name and thinking "book club" as in a small group of folks who get together every month or two after reading the same book? If so, that is definitely not what we are! Haha. We are a "reading club," as in, we are folks who read and love to talk about our reading with other folks who love to read! :D That's really all there is to the group. Read, and talk about it. :)

>33 AnnieMod: Hmm. I'm not sure moving my bed would help me fit any more bookshelves, but I am thinking of getting rid of the dining room table and just filling the dining room with bookshelves (rather than just having it lined with bookshelves, as it is now). I never eat in there, anyway. And it's kind of a rickety old table...

>38 UtopianPessimist: yeah, I'm the same quite often - I'll make a list or a plan for the year and it works for a few months... but then I just fade away. I'm only trying to stick to one prescribed challenge this year (the TBR Challenge) so hopefully I'll manage that!

>27 bragan: >29 .Monkey.: >33 AnnieMod: I have the same problem. I just built up another book case last night because the stacks in our bedroom were getting a bit ridiculous. I have someone staying in our spare bedroom/my library just now and it's getting very challenging to try to manoeuvre around him with my books.

I'm really enjoying looking at everyone's threads so far! I'm going to try to get mine up some time this week :)

Hi, I'm Joyce. In real life I'm a corporate writer and editor in the Greater Vancouver area. I live in an old house with too many books, a husband, a 15 year old daughter, a cat, and a 19 year old daughter who is away at university about half the year.

I like reading British novels from all eras, and I dabble in CanLit.

Thanks to those of you who responded to my questions. I'm happy to know this is not a challenge but a fun time talking about books. Happy Holidays to all. Karen

Sace- (Ref: 5) you are not getting Dumber... your expectations of yourself are greatening with age. Feel proud x

I'm Darryl. I joined LibraryThing in 2006, but I wasn't very active in groups until akeela and deebee1 encouraged me to join the 75 Books group in 2008. I joined Club Read in 2009, and in addition to those groups I'm most active in Reading Globally and in the Booker Prize groups (I have been the administrator of the latter group for the past two years). My main literary interests are literary fiction, international literature, literature from the African diaspora, and books about medicine and public health.

In real life I work as a pediatric hospitalist (a pediatrician who cares for hospitalized children) for a large children's hospital in a suburb just north of Atlanta, Georgia, where I've worked for a little more than 15 years. In addition to reading my main interests are traveling (thanks to LibraryThing I now have numerous personal friends in the US and Europe that I visit on a regular basis), visiting museums and attending plays, mainly in London and NYC, and fine cuisine and cooking. Although I've lived in Atlanta since 1997, when I moved there to serve my pediatric residency at Emory University, I'm originally from the Northeastern US, living in the NYC metropolitan area until my family moved to suburban Philadelphia in the mid 1970s, when I was a teenager.

>46 kidzdoc: - Darryl, while our tastes often differ, I read your posts regularly in whatever group I'm perusing, because you always have interesting things to say about the books you read. That, and I'm always amazed how you find the time to read them all.

Hi, my name's Rachel (the_hibernator), and I got my PhD in biomedical engineering studying hibernating bears. :) Right now, I'm working in the healthcare industry and taking prerequisite classes to get into a Physician's Assistant program (it turns out my education has expired, so I need to retake several classes). Winter semester I will be taking an EMT-B training course so I can get some direct medical experience. I also volunteer for a suicide prevention hotline for teenagers. I will soon start training for a program called "COLUMNS" (Circles of Support & Accountability for life-term offenders on parole), which works with recently released life-term offenders to help them readjust to life on the outside and avoid recidivism. I'm also passionate about reducing stigma about mental illness. I have bipolar disorder and talk about it a lot because I think more people need to know that mental illness is something that you don't have to be ashamed of.

I've tentatively poked my foot into Club Read a couple of times in the past several years, but this year I think I'll sink my teeth into it instead because I'm trying to write lengthier and more thoughtful reviews (at least of classics and literature, not of the escapist stuff that I also read). I figure in-depth analysis is what Club Read is about. So here I am.

>48 The_Hibernator: Wow, so much interesting stuff! Hibernating bears, how cool of a topic! And suicide prevention hotline and "COLUMNS" and reducing mental illness stigma, such important things! I deal with social anxiety disorder myself and know many folks online who work to manage one thing or another (or a few). It's not even just the stigma, but the complete lack of understanding, that can make things much harder to deal with than they need be. :| Yay for people who try to make the world a better place! :)

Welcome to Club Read! :D

Hey everyone, I'm Dee, better known as BookieWorm. A very suitable name, because I've been reading since I was small. I live in a small rural town of just over 2,000 people, with my husband, cat named Paris, three hens named Pitty, Rosebud (both ex battery hens) and Punk, two ducks named Daffy and Frances, and an axolotl (amphibian) named Sally. We have four grown children, who live in other parts of the country, and my second eldest daughter Sara, is expecting her second baby in thirteen days! Exciting!
My favorite genres are quite a mix-Chick lit, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Thriller, YA, Romance, and some Non Fiction. At the moment, I am fascinated with fae, and remade fairy tales, eg:Moonlight and Ashes by Sophie Masson.
I'm really excited to have a journal about my reading. It's so hard to find groups like this. Thank you:)

Hello fellow readers.

I am Lilisin -- not my real name, just a monicker from my middle school days -- and have been with Club Read since 2009. I've been fortunate to have read so many great threads over the years and to have had really great discussions with fellow CR peeps both online and in real life as I have now met two members outside of the computer.

I primarily read French and Japanese fiction but that makes it sound like I read a lot. In fact, last year I only managed to read 6 books the entire year and three of those were in the first three weeks of January!

Basically, I moved to Japan at the end of that month and ever since I have been galavanting about Tokyo when I'm not at work. I've been super happy and while I know someday I will eventually return to the books, so far I haven't missed it. But, I do still love to visit the CR reads so you can see me posting a comment here and there even if my thread stays at the bottom of the group page.

>50 BookieWorm: Congratulations! Any idea if you'll have a grandson or granddaughter?

I'm Vivienne. This will be my fourth year at Club Read. I live in the southern interior of British Columbia, surrounded by beautiful mountains, forests, and lakes.

I read just about anything but most of all enjoy literary fiction and mysteries. As I grew up in Northern Ireland I'm mostly familiar with British or European authors and since coming to live in Canada, I have added Canadian authors. I can thank LibraryThing members for recommending authors of other nationalities, especially American.

It's good to be back for another year with this wonderful group.

I'm Dan and have been with the club since 2009. I have experimented with several reading plans in the past, but a weird thing happened last year in that I actually followed my plan.

This year I have set up a two part plan - one is a series of books on Homer and Greek mythology. I'll kick of January 1 by opening the Iliad. The other is to read all nine Thomas Pynchon novels - even the really really long ones. It's all new stuff for me.

It could work, this plan. It doesn't have to and if I find Pynchon isn't for me, I'll happily abandon that part. But I surely hope I don't quit Homer - since those epics are in everything we read. The biggest challenge would be getting laid off...I work in the oil industry, interpreting salt on seismic data.

I'm another parent her - with a 9 & 11 year old, an over-sized dog and two cats. We're in the Houston area.

I'm Helen, joined LT a couple of years ago, and flitted around a few groups, joined CR last year and am back for a second helping.

I run a book group, so that's one book per month.
I try and read at least one non-fiction per month.
I have a tendency to retreat into a comfort zone, so I also want to read one new author a month.
I read real books and listen to audio books in the car while commuting.
Oh, and I'm regularly welcomed at our local library as their favourite person. That I can live with.

>44 UtopianPessimist: It was many years after I joined LT before I tried a 'challenge'. I read for fun, and have no desire to put pressure on myself and ruin reading. But the 'challenge' part, for most of the groups, is really whatever you want it to be.

So enjoy the reading and talk to us about it. That's really all that goes on here!

>54 dchaikin: Salt in seismic data? How does that even work? I am always curious about geology, hydrology, etc when I read the oil articles in The Chron. I'll keep my fingers crossed (ok, & a prayer for you) about your job!!

Thanks Leslie. I'll have to hunt down a picture. Salt is a big deal in and around the Gulf of Mexico...and some other places too.

Hi, I'm Jennifer. I've been doing the 75 Book Challenge, but Club Read sounds like a lot of fun; I think I'll try it over here this year. I'm still going to frame it as a challenge (or several), but it's just me challenging me; I've never responded well to competitiveness.

I read mostly genre stuff and non-fiction; SF & F, mystery, animal stories, romance, biography, science (anything from geology to astronomy), craft books, cookbooks, and words-in-a-row. I've been deprived of books for more than a couple days only a couple times in my life, and at least once I literally got the shakes (and then read a John Grisham - speaking of words-in-a-row. But it saved me until the school library opened).

I own _way_ too many books, and far too many of them haven't been read; one of my challenges will be to read BOMBs (Books Off My Bookshelf). And another will be to discard books, but I generally can't do that to an unread book - it might be wonderful! So the BOMBs and discards go together.

I live alone, with two cats, in the San Francisco Bay Area. My parents live a mile or so down the road, so I visit them a lot; I've got two (younger) sisters, one in the area and one in Reno, not _too_ far away. Besides reading, I craft - knitting, sewing, cross-stitch, braiding, etc.; cook (well, mostly bake. And make candy); repair computers; program them; garden; and have far too many interests. Glad to meet you all!

Hi everyone - I'm Ursula. I am an American who has been living in Padova, Italy since the beginning of May. I'll be here until next September. I have been a member of Club Read for a few years, although I have bounced between here and the 75 book challenge. I'm married to a mathematician and we have an Australian Cattle Dog (blue heeler) that we brought with us from the US. I have two grown children who are at university in Colorado and New York. I'm an artist and photographer.

I read a lot of things, but I'm not really into scifi/fantasy. Whatever nonfiction I read is usually absorbed through audio books. I am working my way through the 1001 Books list, usually reading about 35 from the list over the course of a year (it's going to take me a while at that rate). Also, I'm trying to always be reading a book in Italian - it's slow going but it's a big help for learning the language. Other than that, I don't do a lot of planning.

>54 dchaikin: although I live on the Gulf of Mexico (Destin, FL area), I did not know that! Have to look that up!

Regarding salt in the subsurface of yhe Gulf of Mexico- this picture might give you a sense of what's there:
P

Hey all, I'm Anki and I'm from New Hampshire. I will have been on LT for 10 years come February, but this is my first year trying out Club Read. I tend to lurk a lot when it comes to social media type situations, but I do like seeing what other people are reading!

My reading tastes are pretty varied, but I do tend to lean toward science fiction and fantasy. This past year I have been borrowing a whole lot more books from my public library, which is better for my wallet but doesn't much help me with scaling Mount TBR. For 2016 I am hoping to strike a better balance so I will read more books I already own, but only time will tell at how successful that will be.

When I'm not reading my hobbies include knitting, cooking, and board/card/video games. I'm also studying German and French thanks to Duolingo, and I have been working on my maths via Khan Academy.

Hi, I'm Lois. I'm pleased to see that Club Read continues into its 8th year under its third administrator. Thanks, Monkey! I joined LT in 2006, and began creating all kinds of havoc like the group "Reading Globally" and in 2007, LT's first non-library private group (at the time Tim told me internet groups like this only last about 2 years...ha ha...it's still going), and yes, the original "Club Read 2009" (don't laugh, but I recruited prospective members privately to "seed" the group before I made it public.)

As posted in our joint 2016 CR thread, for Avaland (Lois) and Dukedom_Enough (Michael):

By way of introduction: Semi-retired couple who read. He the science PhD, she the English/Humanities major. He brought more books (initially) to the relationship, she brought the kids (who were already teens at that time). Now this reading couple live on 4+ wooded acres in New Hampshire in a color-full house with lots of books, music, fabrics, garden paraphernalia, and the requisite electronics needed to keep up with the world. They now have an ADORABLE grandson, who has had books foisted upon him since birth (actually, before birth).

Michael reads mostly science fiction (novels, short fiction), poetry and nonfiction, the latter being mostly economics, progressive politics..etc. He follows twitter, various blogs, and reads nonfiction (and rarely, fiction) on the internet.

Lois reads all manner and form of fiction, and poetry. Her nonfiction reading varies from art history to literary criticism to social issues and social history. She no longer follows twitter, doesn't follow any blogs, is intermittent on FaceBook, but does read articles occasionally on the internet.

Magazines hanging around the house: World Literature Today, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Publisher's Weekly.

Music in the house includes: Jazz, World, Folk, Rock, Classical and other less definable genres (go ahead, ask him). He can't name a favorite musician, but it would probably be one of the jazz saxophonists. Her current favorite World band is the Icelandic group, Aristidir.

>63 shadrach_anki: Anki! We are practically next door to you in Hollis!

Hey all! I'm Kayla, and this is my 3rd year with Club Read. I've lived in California my whole life, but in August I moved to Arkansas to work as an Area Coordinator/Outdoor Programs Coordinator at a (very) small private university. When I'm not dealing with freshmen and their various issues, I can be found leading camping, hiking, backpacking, or rock climbing trips around Arkansas for the students. It's a lot of fun, but sometimes cuts into my reading time.

I'm addicted to buying books (thriftbooks.com is the best thing ever), therefore my TBR list is continuously growing. I'm looking forward to reading a lot of great stuff this year, and I hope to diversify my reading a bit more.

When I'm not reading or working, I like to binge-watch shows on Netflix, go thrift shopping, and discover new places to eat (which is sometimes hard in small-town Arkansas).

Hi, I'm Lesli. This will be my 3rd year in Club Read. I am a librarian. I live in the Houston area. My TBR is 500+ titles while my wishlist is 900+ titles. This year (like last year) my plan is to read from my collection. I have made some progress in my ebooks; but I need to do better with my paper books. If I am not reading, I am usually crafting. I sew quilts, pillows, purses...anything except clothes. I have been known to dabble in crochet, cross stitch, embroidery, handmade paper, painting, and scrapbooking. I also cook as a hobby. This year I want to put together a family cookbook with cherished recipes.

Hi, I am Barbara and a member of LT since 2010. I have never joined the Club Read (didn't know it existed), but like to do so now, especially to monitor my own reads and too read what books other members have been reading.
I am Dutch and live in Amsterdam. I am a mother of 2 and owner of a communication and design agency.
I look forward to the Club Read of 2016!

Hi fellow book lovers!

I'm Nancy from Milwaukee, WI. I've been on LT since 2007, but not sure how long in this group.

For 20 years I was marketing director for a group of independent bookstores until they closed in 2009. I now hold a similar position at a nature center here and consider myself fortunate to be able to promote things I am passionate about.

My reading tastes lean toward contemporary and literary fiction. I can't help myself from watching for and purchasing new books, even though LT says I have over 450 books in my house yet to read, although I am sure it is quite a bit more. (I also have 415 books in my wishlist.) I have not managed to switch over to reading ebooks.

I appreciate all of the book chatter and the friends I have made here over the years!

I thought we were looking a bit sad in the group list with no group picture, so you're looking at my box of Heyers. It was the most booky picture I could find on my laptop.

I'm Teresa and I've been on LT for 9 years. I live in northern New Jersey--just outside of NYC--with my husband. We are occasionally visited by our daughter when she has the time off from college.

I currently run the "Friends" group at our local library, which is a worthwhile pursuit that takes up an amazing amount of time. We raise money, yes, but we also produce a free monthly Sunday Afternoon Concert Series. My husband is semi-retired, also a reader, and we look forward to those late afternoons when we can sit together quietly and read our respective books.

>69 alphaorder: Nancy, is your wishlist and TBR the same thing?

>72 avaland: Nope. TBR is books I own on a shelf waiting to be read. Wishlist is books I do not currently have access to (in my world that means own) but I would like to.

I see why you were wondering, as the number was the same. I had a typo on the wishlist, which has now been fixed.

I'm Deborah. I've been a member of LT since 1-1-2009 and a Club Read participant for a few years less. I retired from being a tax attorney when I became a grandmother 5 years ago. I live in the Seattle area with my husband of 45 years, 3 cats and a dog. Our five children are scattered across the country--the three boys in NYC, one daughter in Houston, and one daughter in Palo Alto CA. We now have 4 grandchildren-2 in Houston and 2 in NYC. This means we do a lot of traveling to keep up with them all.

My reading is eclectic, about 1/3 nonfiction and 2/3 fiction. I read a lot of literary fiction, world fiction, and classics, but I also read mysteries (usually stand-alone rather than series) and some science fiction. The only things I don't usually like are horror and romance. When I'm not reading, I'm heavily into textile arts.

I usually read everyone's thread, but mostly as a lurker. In my introductions to prior years' threads I've said that I review every book I read (about 100 per year), but I'm also not usually successful in meeting that goal. I do comment on most of them however. I hope that lots of you will visit my thread.

I feel almost apologetic joining CR2016 given my abysmal performance in CR2015, but I will try harder this year! At least that is the intention.

I am Dennis, I am from Australia via New Zealand, and now live near Oxford in the UK. I have been a Club Read member for quite a few years, with varying degrees of commitment.

My aim is to perhaps post some proper book reviews from time to time as well as sundry ramblings on various obscure interests that may arise. My interests tend to be on European authors and on psychology and particularly Jung and psychological types.

In November 2015 I experimented with trying a slightly differently focussed thread over here, as opposed to the wonderful but extremely sociable 75, which I joined immediately in 2010 when I found LT. I find I like both places and I like the difference in emphasis I'll put a link to my 75 thread on my home page, I am a little chattier there, more pix of our pets and scenery.

Let's see, I live in Vermont off-the-grid which is, in fact, "interesting." I have one daughter (in college), a corgi and two cats--one a tiny kitten.

Who knows why I read what I read - always trying to balance enjoyment with edification. I divide (or is it scatter?) my attention to different kinds of fiction: classics, contemporary. In genre readiing: science fiction, fantasy and mystery . . . and in non-fiction biographies literary essays, travel, natural history, and regular old history. In audio books I tend, for some mysterious reason, toward historical mysteries. I usually have one in each of those categories going and try to keep switching it up between types of books within each category to keep things interesting. (So four, including audio). My reading goal for 2015 was 150 books, achieved, which makes me happy as it was more than double what came INTO the house last year! My TBR shelves are still groaningly full, however.

I play Irish music on harp and concertina and I'm a writer. Just maybe, sometime in the next year, I will be able to put those LT brackets around a book of my own! That will be such a thrill.

My 2016 thread is My 2016 thread is here:
2016

I'm Tim, I'm a writer and editor (among other pursuits), I live in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, with my wife and son, and I have been in Club Read since 2009, even though I devote much less time to it than I would like. You'll probably find that I'm reasonably active here each December-February, but my appearances get fewer and fewer as the year gets busier.

I read 52 books in 2015 - highlights here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/185565#5388527

When I'm not writing, working in my part-time day job, or working on environmental issues, I like to read (obviously!), listen to an alarmingly eclectic range of music, walk the hilly streets and urban forests of Wellington, and watch cricket. (I used to play cricket, but my love for the game is in inverse proportion to my ability.)

I can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/timjonesbooks and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/timjonesbooks

I am Barry. I moved to South West France from England 10 years ago so that I could retire early. I never enjoyed working and so an early release was something that always appealed. I am married, but not for the first time. We do not have any children, but late last year were adopted by two tiny kittens found in the garden.

The New Year is always exciting as it seems like a great time to plan reading for the coming year, although too much planning can lead to not enough reading. I have unfinished projects from last year and these will make up most of my reading for this year. Learning to play the saxophone has seriously cut into my reading time, so much so that the amount of books read last year was 50% down on previous years. I will try and do better this year.

I read literary fiction and history books and I will be again concentrating on the 16th century and books published in 1914. I enjoy science fiction mainly old school stuff and I am jerked (sometimes screaming and Kicking) into the 21st century by the choices of my book club.

I listen avidly to all sorts of music and will from time to time share my experiences on my thread which I had better get round to starting soon. Hope to see you there because I will certainly see you on your threads.

Happy New year.

I'm Chris, and I'm back in Club Read after petering out mid-2014. Here's hoping I stick to it this time! I get so many great recommendations from this group--which can be a bad thing, as evidenced by my groaning shelves of nearly 1000 unread books and a wish list that would take me close to a decade to get through.

I live in Connecticut with my husband and three children, and work in magazine publishing (puzzles, science fiction and mystery, and our newest venture of adult coloring books). The bulk of my reading is literary fiction, but there are few genres I don't dabble in. I enjoy nonfiction as well, particularly history, biography, and science, but I don't read nearly enough of it.

>79 cabegley: Welcome back, Chris! We like your mom, by the way.

>80 RidgewayGirl: Thanks, Kay! I'll try to stick around this time. (And I like her, too.)

I'm Ben.

No. Just couldn't resist. And I missed my chance to try Brenda, well, kinda.

Anyway, here again. Hoping for a good year of good reading and thinking and maybe even doing. Too late, as ever, but no better time to start. I hope to keep up better with more of everyone else.

I live in northern UK. I was interested to read others speak of mental health issues given personal experiences and I work in that field, believing in good relationships found on a Rogerian path. I write, when the wind blows the right way. I read literary fiction, philosophy and poetry (see my thread for current thoughts on directing my reading). I've been on LT since 2007. At first I tried the 50 book challenge but never really get anywhere near that figure each year, I've begun to accept that, maybe. (One day). So I came here not long after. I enjoy writing my feelings and thoughts about my reading, it helps me develop them and me, and keep track of it all. And I enjoy the response of others to this shared journal and reading of the reading of others, even though I may lurk for lack of that writing breeze.

Away from books I also like film and music (of course). I used to try my hand at several sports and hope to get more active again, knees allowing. I like walking. Lots else going on and kind of finding myself again in the world, that's starting to find some people it didn't really before. And starting to try and find/make more ways to help so more people can find the plot in a world that could be doing a lot better, if people would just talk instead of acting, but of course have to start with myself, maybe the best way I could hope to.

I'm Pat. I had a very slow reading year last year when I had a lot going on my life. My goal for this year is to force myself to read for at least 20 minutes per day this year regardless of what is going on in my life. I need my reading breaks. It helps me deal with the rest of the world.

As for what I will read, I have no real plan. I have had plans before, but I have never stuck to them. I prefer more to read whatever strikes my fancy. I am currently reading Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson. After that, I am going to read Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory by James M. Schmidt. After that, who knows?

Some of my favorite authors include Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Vonnegut and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Lately, I have read Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I would definitely like to read more Atwood at some point. Maybe that's where I will go next.

Hi! I’m Jane and architect/interior designer in New York. I’ve been on and off in Club Read for several years now and always enjoy following everyone’s reading which adds massively to my wishlist. I read a lot of classic and contemporary fiction, fantasy/sci-fi, and random nonfiction. This year I’m also hoping to finish up my licensing exams so a lot of boring reading in that arena.

Outside of reading, I enjoy cooking, camping/hiking, running, watching all kinds of sports, and going to museums - some of which I’ll try to track here also.

Hi -- I'm another Jane (where did we all come from?) I'm a recently retired community college professor, and I live on the West Coast of Florida. I'm married to a semi-retired repertory actor, and I have 2 kids and 2 grandkids (3 and 1). When my husband's not working we like to travel, both road tripping in NA and going abroad. We're museum rats and like to visit authors' houses.

I don't really have any reading goals for the year, other than I'd like to get started on reading all of Virginia Woolf's novels in chronological order. Last year's reading looks pretty Western-oriented, so I think I'd like to read more Asian and African books. I have books all over the house beckoning to me, and plenty on my kindle to pick up when we go travelling. I continually resolve to buy fewer books, and then one of you posts an enticing review, and I immediately find myself on Amazon. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Hi everyone. I’m Linda. I live in the Capital Region of NYS and am retired from a long career in public human service delivery and administration. This will be my fifth year on Club Read, although I have not been very active the past few years. But I have missed the group and hope to do better this year. I will read just about anything that appeals to me, but generally prefer literary and translated fiction, classics, travel narratives, short stories and poetry. My only specific goal is to eventually read at least one work by each Nobel Literature Laureate.

Hi, I'm MJ (Mary Jo) in Chicago. My reading tends toward contemporary fiction, memoir and science-y nonfiction. I especially like debut novels, workplace settings, lush illustrated works and originality of any kind.

My only reading "plans" this year are to continue to pull about half of the books I read from my TBRs and to continue with Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History. Last year, I was so wow-ed by its cosmology section that I paused to read several of the related books in my TBRs. I hope to do similarly with the life and human-life sections this year.

Hello all! I am Suzanne, and I retired early in San Francisco and moved to Las Vegas about a decade ago. I know, it doesn't compute. But aside from missing a few essential things about the Bay Area --- you know, the scenery, the climate, the many classical music venues, art museums, etc, etc. --- I am happy as a clam here in the desert. Club Read has been the hub of my online life since 2011 but real life has interfered the last couple of years and my participation has been somewhat spotty. Each new year begins with renewed hope, and this year is no different.

My reading interests --- when I am actually reading --- tend toward literary fiction and history with a dab of philosophy thrown in just for fun. I am currently commuting between the Renaissance and the ancient world, with one foot in each. When I am not reading, I do wild and crazy things like playing in poker tournaments, Magic the Gathering (What! At my age? ) yeah, don't ask, and quilting (That's more like it ).

Anyway, looking forward to all the great reading ideas that float around here --- and there's no extra charge!

Welcome back Suzanne

Hi, this is my first year in Club Read and we'll see how it goes. I like the idea of keeping track of my reading, but I don't know how consistent I'll be. I do tend to lurk a lot more than I post, so even if I don't say much, I'm probably still out here following along. :)

I'm a preschool teacher and religious education secretary at my church. I like reading (obviously), crafts, and exploring my city. As for reading, I mostly read non-fiction, often history, biography, memoir, stories about people from interesting places or times or doing interesting things.

I think I will also mention some of my favorite pictures books this year. One of my favorite parts of the day is reading to "my" kids and I'm working hard at teaching them that books are the best. I won't review everything we read as that would be quite a bit, but I will try and add some of my, and their, favorites.

>88 Poquette: I just had to Google what Magic the Gathering is, Suzanne - still no more the wiser I have to say! Welcome back.

>90 KarenElissa: I'm not sure what part of the world you're in, but if you haven't discovered Oliver Jeffers' books with your class yet I highly recommend them! Stuck and The Incredible Book Eating Boy are favourites in this house - such innovative illustrations and crazy stories.

>91 AlisonY: Oh, those both look like fun, I'll add them to the list next time I request library books. Funny books like that always go over well.

Oliver Jeffers brings me back to the picture book days in our house. I miss that time

Hi everyone!
I'm scent22, and I am a college student studying librarianship.

I just recently join this kind of social catalog, and find it very interesting because I'm a book lover!

As I join in this group "Club Read 2016", I hope that we could share different ideas, fun thoughts, favorite books, and a lot more...You know, sharing is good!

Love lots! xoxo

Hello friends, hello again, hello from the other side?
I'm a grad student, and I left my 2015 thread shamefully abandoned when I started grad school last fall, but I'll do better this year, I promise! I still have catching up to do on many of your 2015 threads. So glad to be back with my fellow Club Readers.

>95 reva8:

Welcome back!!! :)

Hi, I'm Gary. This is my third year on Club Read so I thought maybe it was about time I actually posted an introduction. I've been a big reader for my entire life, though since discovering LT my reading has increased hugely over the previous few years. During my childhood I read mostly science fiction, but these days I try to read as diverse a selection as I can to keep things interesting, and I'll at least try pretty much any type of fiction. I'm trying to increase the amount of non-fiction I read too. I like keeping things varied. I'm also a big fan of Terry Pratchett (hence the "death" part of my username comes from Discworld, as opposed to any of the more goth or metal connotations. It's been in my online name since the days of dial up modems).

I try not to plan anything in my reading, since any time I do that I always end up getting fed up with it and reading less in the end. So I just go with whatever I feel like at the time. I'm hoping to keep up with all the threads a lot better this year. Hoping being the key word, but I'll just have to see how I get on!

Hi, I'm back again for the next round. This is my third year in Club Read and I've loved being here from day one. As for my username, I just love Oscar Wilde, especially The Importance of Being Earnest. I'm a high school teacher (English and mathematics) and I love reading (obviously), running and traveling. Let's see how much of both I'll manage to get done this year. Usually, I read about 25 books a year, which is not much, I know. Last year, however, I only read 20 books as my job can be very time-consuming. Hopefully I can get back up to 25 again in 2016. I read mostly fiction with the odd non-fiction book thrown in for good measure. If you want to follow my thoughts on the books I read, just click the link below.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/210842

>65 avaland: Hey, book neighbor! Do you have any particular favorite local bookstores?

>88 Poquette: Do you go to any Magic pre-release events? I'm still trying to decide whether or not I want to participate in the upcoming one....

Hi - thorold (Mark) here! Somehow I've overlooked the existence of Club Read in previous years, but it's probably about time to give it a try.

I'm another expat denizen of the Low Countries - I've lived in The Hague (NL) for nearly thirty years, but originally come from the North of England. Some time in the next decade (preferably sooner rather than later!) I plan to retire and spend more time with my books. When not otherwise occupied, I like to do outdoorsy things of a not-too-adventurous type, especially walking, cycling and sailing, and of course I have a weakness for trains...

I read all sorts of things, and especially since the arrival of LibraryThing, online booksellers and e-readers I've kept on discovering new areas I want to explore. Which means that other things fall by the wayside and the TBR shelf expands. I'm especially fond of literary fiction, the 19th century, British light fiction (especially Wodehouse!), history, detective stories and good travel writing, not necessarily in that order. I'm not really a serious linguist, but I'm used to being in a multilingual environment and enjoy reading books in different languages (even the ones I haven't fully mastered yet!), which is a big part of the reason I am often to be found on Reading Globally.

No long-term reading plans for 2016, I expect I'll go with the flow and get hooked on something rich and strange. In Q1 I think a lot of my reading is going to be based around the Reading Globally Caribbean theme read.

>99 shadrach_anki: Sorry, I didn't see your post until just now. I went to a prerelease on Sunday, the last one scheduled at my local game store. It was relatively sane, not as crowded as the earlier ones. I didn't win, but had a good time anyway. Did you decide to go after all?

>101 Poquette: I did end up going to the main Saturday event at my local game store. There were fewer players than at previous prereleases (I think the weather might have had something to do with that; it was rather messy at the beginning of the day). I had a good time, but my only win was in the second round, and that only because the person I was paired against left (along with two of his friends, so there were three of us that wound up with nobody to play against that round).

>100 thorold: It's good to see you here, Mark. I enjoy your reviews over on Reading Globally.

A belated introduction. I've been at Club Read for a few years now. Embarrassingly enough, even having read the intro blurb that it's the past tense pronunciation, it just hit me that it rhymes with 'Med'. I say embarrassingly, because many moons ago, I worked for a short time with Club Med. You'd think I'd have picked up on that more quickly.

In any event, I am originally from the States (very much an East Coast gal), but have lived abroad for over 15 years now. I live in Sweden, but have also lived in Scotland, plus have had shorter stints living, studying and/or working in other countries.

I tend to read what's available and strikes my fancy at the time. I try to throw in some Swedish and French language books here and there, too. I'd like to think I have somewhat varied reading tastes, but lately I find myself opting for 'safe' reads. By that, I mostly mean going for books by authors I've read and liked, or that seem like slam dunk, up my alley stories. I'll try to shake things up a bit now and then, but increasingly find comfort in comfort zones.

Even though I don't comment as much as I'd like, I really enjoy reading the threads here in Club Read, seeing the discussions, and thus constantly adding to my wish list. Happy reading!

My name is Edwin, I teach English in China and write EFL textbooks. My home in is Nanning in the south of China, but I am only there during the holidays. Most of the time, I spend in Beijing.

Due to the Great Firewall of China, my participation on LT has become a bit irregular. I often cannot post or comment.

My inability to reach the site has not affected my reading, but is does affect my motivation to write reviews. Just writing them off line is not as much fun, even though I could post them later on.

Moving my books recently, means it is more difficult to locate books in my TBR, to which I will, for the time being also only have access twice a year. This means, I will participate less in read-athons and challenges, and simply focus on the books I left behind in Beijing.

I hope I find a solution to my access, and look forward to an active year of reading, and hopefully sharing ideas about books with all of you on Club Read 2016 and Literary Centennials 2016.

Hi, I'm Karin and am one of the Shelfarian refugees. I have heard great things about LibraryThing from a long time member of both places. I like to read a variety of books, do a few book challenges every year and be involved with people who like to discuss reading even if we aren't all reading the same book. The number of books I read yearly varies (schedule, ages of children, reading slumps from time to time, etc).

Expat is not a term I ever heard in Canada, but I am a dual citizen now living in the States (mainly because my husband wasn't going to leave the US) but don't consider myself no longer patriotic to Canada (since they are strong allies and trading partners, I feel I can be patriotic to both).

>106 Karin7:
Hi, Karin! And don't worry, being an "expatriate" has nothing to do with giving up patriotism. Probably the opposite, in fact: if you call yourself an expat it's usually a way of saying "I'm not an immigrant, I'm going back to Shelfarria one day". An assertion that gets less and less credible with each year that passes...

Hi I'm Lorena. I was in Club Read, oh, years ago. I see some names around here I knew then, and am enjoying all your threads very much.

I live in Sydney, Australia. I work at a medical school, at the moment writing stories to fit the curriculum which is actually hugely fun: students study fake patients, and I write their stories. Also students do role plays with actors, so I write the actor scenarios too.

I've been in a reading slump for a few years now. Can't keep reading anything serious. Keep turning back to rereads of childhood favourites - comfort reading spun out of control. I'm wondering if Club Read might be a kind of AA for my Little Problem. But at the same time I want to avoid being put under reading pressure, which if applied is enough to send me running for a security blanket and The Secret Garden and quite possibly a little woolly stuffed lamb. It seems to me this place will provide the right combination I'm looking for - encouragement without pressure.

I haven't started a thread yet, still working up the courage. But hello :)

Come on Rena, get that thread started. You can always be like me and barely post on it for months on end!

Well, you know that I'm glad to see you. Hope to see that thread soon.

>106 Karin7: Like Thorold said, it's not about patriotism. As Merriam-Webster states
"Definition of expatriate : living in a foreign land," "to withdraw (oneself) from residence in or allegiance to one's native country," "to leave one's native country to live elsewhere."
You are not at all required to stop caring about said native country, but also no, it also doesn't mean anything about going back, haha. I'm an American expat, because I am American but no longer reside there, I live permanently in Belgium. Granted, if I had to pick between them to "have allegiance to" one, it would be Belgium, for many reasons. But, you know. ;P

>108 ChocolateMuse: Hiya, welcome back to the group! Definitely start a thread, no pressure on how much you read/post in it, it's all up to you! :))

Hi all -- a belated introduction here, as I have overlooked this thread and have gone ahead with setting up mine. I'm deebee, based in Portugal which has been my adoptive home for many years now. I've been around Club Read since its early years but have been away for some time because of heavy work commitments. This looks to be another tight work and travel year (I'm a development consultant) but I hope to get a little leisure reading done -- and of course, post my thoughts and interact with fellow CRs. I enjoy translated literature, and together with a novel, always have a non-fiction, as well as a short story collection going. Great to see a cooking and food thread in CR -- will certainly try to put in a few favourite traditional Portuguese recipes in the pool. Nice to see old familiar names here again and new ones too.

>108 ChocolateMuse: Hi Lorena nice to see you here

Thanks for the welcome guys, you really do me good.

deebee I guess I'm newer than you, but welcome anyway :)

>108 ChocolateMuse: yay! Nice to see you around here Muse.

>112 deebee1: Ooh, love to see that! My parents lived in Portugal for a few years (diplomatic service) and I visited them there. I like a lot of Portuguese foods - well, particularly desserts, because I prefer baking to cooking. I'll keep an eye out for your recipes. Welcome!

>114 ChocolateMuse: Nice to see you here, ChocoMuse.

>116 jjmcgaffey: Not desserts please... doces conventuais (literally convent sweets if you remember) are best left to the experts. I cook the simpler typical Portuguese recipes, often varying the recipe as I love to experiment, but have never dared make a Portuguese dessert -- the techniques look deceptively simple (some of them are not even baked) with the barest of ingredients, but the execution requires special skill. So I'm happy enough to walk the few meters to my neighborhood cafe/pasteleria to satisfy my sweet tooth. Aren't you missing the pastel de nata yet? :-)

>117 deebee1: Oh, yes! I'm currently reading The Taste of Conquest, about the spice wars - and the Lisbon section (the middle one - the first is Venice, the third is Amsterdam) is all about the cinnamon-and-sugar desserts that are still so common in Portugal (including specifically the pastel de Belem/nata). Made my mouth water! And then I saw your post about Portuguese recipes...

Hi ! I'm crazeedi73! I just joined yesterday and am glad to find you all. I am a very eclectic reader, and a voracious one! I like to go from deep books to light reading. I a, currently readin Judge Deborah Knotts series by Margart Moran. Just finished number 5, Killer Market. So now I am going to read Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett. I am trying to outdo my last years book total of 81 books read! So glad to be with fellow book lovers !
So a little about myself I guess you might be interested, don't know :), any way, I love with my hubby and chocolate lab Mojo, and two kitties Spuddie and Rosie, on a farm in western PA, USA. We love our 50 acres. We are both retired, and we have a big vegetable garden every year. Also apple trees, and strawberries. Our grapevines have been disappointing so far. And my blueberry bushes really haven't produced much yet anyway a couple years ago we decided to plant Frazier and Douglas firs so we could cut our own Christmas tree! I love living in the country, we don't have a big social life, but we have everything we need. God has blessed us. I also have two grown up daughters.

Welcome to Club Read crazeedi73. I think you will like this group. We like to read, and we like to see what others are reading. Start your reading thread, and don't forget to include your user id in the thread name. That will help people when they try to find you. Have fun!

>119 crazeedi73: Welcome to CR! My neighbour has a huge fluffy white dog (don't know the breed) called Mojo, so picturing a chocolate Lab of the same name will play tricks with my mind. My blueberry bushes didn't produce much for a few years. I thought I was doing something wrong, but they are doing well now.

Hello, my name is Monica and I live in the Flemish (northern) part of Belgium. I am historian, working as an archivist and I love to read and discuss books with anyone who has something sensible to say (or write) about them.
I've been following the threads of quite a few members of this group for a few years now and Lisa (labfs39) has tried to convince me to join this group a couple of times, but so far, I've been reluctant to do so because this group is so well-read and I feel a bit of an amateur in your company. But since I can relate to the kind of books many of you read here and I'd like to comment on some of your threads, I thought it is the polite thing to do, to join this group and add my own thread.
I'm also active in other groups on LT as well but for different purposes. You're very welcome to visit my thread.

Welcome, Monica.

>122 Trifolia: Hi, Monica. Happy to have you with us!

Hi, Monica and crazeedi73. I hope you'll like this place as much as I do.

Thank you I will. I guess I start a separate thread for my reading list?

VivienneR, I will preserve with my blueberries, I love them too much to give up. I thought about moving them. Can you post pics? I will post one of our Mojo

How do I make sure my comment to a specific person is connected to them? I want to answer the ones who welcomed me but the comment just went to the bottom of the thread instead of to the person

>128 crazeedi73: Replies always appear at the bottom of the thread. But you can link to a specific post by using the greater than sign > followed by the post number (no spaces) and that will automatically create a link to the post.

>129 ELiz_M: thank you!

>121 VivienneR: thank you for your comment! I love my blueberries so I won't give up!

>129 ELiz_M: one more dumb question, how do I highlight the link to my book thread?

>108 ChocolateMuse: hi! I was in a reading slump for over a year after my sister died. Till then there was never a time that I didn't have a book on my stand. Or reading more than one. But I couldn't pick up a book. So have hope, your love for your books will return. Be patient!

>132 crazeedi73: Not a dumb question. Not all things internet are intuitive and easy to discover -- it helps to be taught/have a guide. Many LT groups have variations on How To Do Fancy Things In Your Posts.

>133 crazeedi73: Thanks CR. I've managed to finish one book so far, and now the million dollar question is, will I manage to write a review!?

I'm so sorry about your sister. It's not surprising at all that you couldn't read for a year. I can't imagine what would happen if I lost my sister, but I know it would send everything haywire for a very long time.

>132 crazeedi73: If you mean just make it a link, if you copy the URL (the thing in the location bar, starting with http) when you're in your thread, it will automatically become a link when you paste it into any Talk post. If you want to do more, like make a link displaying words instead of just the URL, follow the link in >134 ELiz_M: for the fancy stuff.

>122 Trifolia: Monica please do not feel shy at all about posting here - there is a great variation of reading tastes in Club Read. We've read and chatted about everything from mass market novels to Greek writers to kids books to erotica to recipe books and just about everything in between. We don't do the book snob thing - as long as it's reading we're happy to hear about it and throw in our thoughts. :)

>123 janeajones: >124 Cariola: >125 RidgewayGirl: >137 AlisonY: Thank you all. I'm still warming up, before I dive in completely, but I'm getting there.

Hi. I'm Andromeda and I just joined yesterday. I'm still navigating.

Hi Andromeda, welcome to CR and LT! :)

Hello everyone, my name is Kimberly. I live in Sacramento, California. My book list includes both my books, along with my mother's. Her name is Donna. I found LibraryThing (LT) a few years ago because I was sick of buying the same book twice. Thinking there must be some kind of book database on the web I started to search, and before I knew it I found LT. Now it is such a breeze when I go to the bookstore, I just have to open my LT app to see if I already own the book. The marvelous of the world, you have to admire them!

Well to get back on track, I am obsessed with history, to be more specific the American Revolution. I tend to read only non-fiction books, but can be persuaded to read a fiction book, if the story can captivate my attention. But for the most part my book subject loves are history, biography, political and current events, and wartime stories.

My mother, Donna is definitely the fiction type of reader, you will catch her reading a non-fiction once in awhile, but only if it has to do with World War II. She tends to enjoy authors like Karen Kingsbury, Debbie Macomber, Susan Mallery, Susan Elia MacNeal, and Irene Hannon.

We both write reviews, but I being the tech-savvy one (and I use that word loosely), I have the pleasure of posting everything to LT. I am lucky enough to work (cue the sarcasm) for an online company, so after a long day at work the last thing I enjoy doing is sitting at a computer typing up a review. So I do have to admit that I can't keep up with the amount of books my mother reads (since she is retired) and reviews she has written. That doesn't even include the books I have read and reviewed too. I've been trying to carve a little time on my days off to catch up on all the reviews. You have to love that quite time in the morning before anyone else in the house is awake.

I am still trying to get the hang of the groups and all the posting, so please bear with me. I obviously enjoy to write and of course reading, so I should really enjoy this group. Thanks for taking the time to read my post, sorry if I went off on a long tangent.

Kimberly

Welcome to Club Read!

Hello everyone! I'm new to Club Read and also new to LT. My name's Michelle and I live in London, UK. I work as a freelance book editor (non-fiction, mostly connected with natural history or botanical art) and as a writer (three non-fiction books published, one on the Victorian traveller and nature painter Marianne North and two on the sculptor David Nash). I'm also working on a novel that I really *really* hope I'll actually finish someday... I'm a keen cook, knitter, touring cyclist and a very out of practice pianist.
I'm suffering from too many books in my life - don't get me wrong I love books - but I can't fit any more in this flat! I guess my large collection is partly the result of working in publishing, also studying English for undergrad and postgrad, then topping it off with a creative writing MA, and partly ... well, lack of control. Anyway, for me, 2016 the year to stop buying more books and start reading more of the ones I already have!
I hope to use my thread here not only to note what I read but also to reflect on them. I plan to write reviews for books I particularly enjoy. I tend to read in spurts, some months I read a lot and others little, depending on my work. Sometimes when I'm deep into editing I can't face reading much, and gravitate towards graphic novels (I was so happy when I discovered these!) With fiction I mostly read 20th century and contemporary literary fiction, I also enjoy memoir and life writing, travel writing, social history and nature writing. Basically I'll read anything that takes my fancy!
Looking forward to chatting with you all,
Michelle

Welcome, Michelle! I'm a sucker for contemporary literary fiction, so I'm eager to follow what you're reading.

Hello, Kimberly and Michelle!

>141 JCGirl: Being tired of accidentally buying the same book twice and wanting a catalog of my books I could access on my phone while book-shopping is one of the things that most attracted me to LT too! It hasn't entirely stopped me from ending up with duplicate books, but it has at least reduced the frequency.

>143 MsLdnReads: I like to say that when my previous place filled up with books, I just moved to a bigger house. Unfortunately, there's a limit to the practicality of continuing to do that...

>145 bragan:

Well... there are some pretty big castles in UK or France for example...

Thanks for the welcomes RidgewayGirl & bragan!

I would so dearly love to move to a bigger place to accommodate my towering stacks of books ... unfortunately, here in London I'd have to sell a kidney or something to finance anything bigger than my tiny 1-bed flat. My approach so far has been two-pronged: 1)occasional mass donations to charity shops, and 2) sweet talking my other half into putting up more and more bookshelves. Problem is there now no more wall space for shelves or bookcases...

Hello from Indiana! I've been using LT from years, but haven't jumped into a group before. I hope to hear about some great books and also find some conversation about things that I have read. I work as a Youth Services Librarian in a small public library, but also lead an adult book club, so I'm always reading a wide variety of things. The last book I read was Youngblood by Matt Gallagher, which was a bit different for me. Although it took a while to get sucked into the story (Iraq War), I ending up loving the book. The weird thing was that it reminded me of an old World War II story I read last year (The Mountain Road by T. H. White), mostly because of the problems in both books with leadership issues. I am just starting Deep South by Paul Theroux. I've been working on a Book Challenge for 2016 that I found at:
http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-Challenge-2016-39126431

At some point, I'll post the things I've read so far this year.

Hi, my name is Lisa Ann and I am relatively new to LT. Since I recently found an opportunity to set up my profile, I am now looking for a few groups to participate in.

Even though I am a long-time fan of historical fiction, I read books from a wide variety of genres. This year my initial plan was to focus on reading books I own. So far, I've had some success in reaching that goal. (Plus, it has made me much choosier about the books I buy.) It is also important to have some flexibility in my reading plans, because I definitely like to read based on my mood or current interests.

On a personal note, I live in California. I have worked in various professions including library technician and media editing services. Reading and books have always been an important part of my life, providing entertainment, information and sometimes an escape. Although there were periods of time I had to set aside my personal reading endeavors, I always returned to it.

Hi Lisa! Nice to see you over here. Welcome!

Thanks for the words of welcome and for recommending this group, Daniel. Now I just need to get back on track with my reading plans.

I am late to this party. My name is Benita Strnad. I have been a member of Librarything since January of 2008. I did not join any of the Groups until a few years ago. My main base of operations has been the 75 Challenge group. I don't have my own thread on LT because I simply don't have the time to create and maintain one. The only thread I do have is a ROOT thread where I keep a list of the titles I have managed to read and get off my shelves in the last year.

I live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama but I came here from Munden, Kansas. I love Munden. It is the Center of the Universe as I know it. It has a population of 100 and declining, but it is a great place to live. It is full of my relatives and friends. The only thing it didn't have for me was a job, so 30 years ago I left to find work. As soon as I leave work behind I will return to Munden.

I am a librarian at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Al and have been here for 23 years. What has kept me in this god-forsaken backwater up until the last two years was my job. I loved it. I had great bosses and a wonderful supportive crew with which to work. That changed when my boss retired in 2012 and the retirement of another key member of our crew. Life changes so I am working on dealing with those changes.

I am a long time yoga practicer and the only thing that Tuscaloosa has that Munden doesn't is my wonderful yoga teacher. I think that Yoga would solve many of western cultures health woes. It would certainly lessen the numbers of chronic back pain sufferers.

I love to cook, and will probably catch up with the Club Cucina group sometime. Baking is were I put most of my efforts but I am a fairly good overall cook and somewhat adventurous in the kitchen in that I am willing to try varied and different recipes. I have recently ventured into the world of Indian cooking.

I have plans to travel more this year and so far I have been to Montana and Florida. I also made a short trip to that tourist capital Scottsbluff,, Nebraska and thought the drive out there was amazingly beautiful. I spent almost a week in Seattle, Washington picking blackberries and cooking blackberry recipes with my cousins. The Pacific Northwest is beautiful country.

I also do knitting and crocheting and listening to podcasts and watching PBS are excuses to sit down and pick up my needles. The Olympics were one long marathon session of knitting.

I have a large home library as well as access to other libraries so my reading list is long and growing daily. I am trying to read more translated books so I think the reading globally group will suit me just fine. There are great books out there waiting for me to read them.

Welcome, Benita! I also enjoy watching PBS, although I currently do not have a clue how to knit. Like yourself, I practice yoga on a regular basis and am lucky enough to have a welcoming yoga studio nearby that has some experienced instructors. Namaste.

Welcome Benita. Munden is quite far out there. The closest I've come is Manhattan (Kansas). I was a grad student at KU in Lawrence in the 1990's.

Hello, Benita! I spent some of my childhood in Kansas, but in the SE corner in Iola.

I'd like to see more of Montana, I've only seen the small part of it around Yellowstone.

I'm a knitter too, although I haven't done a lot of it in the last couple of years. I suspect that the long, cold winter I'm in for this year might inspire me to pick up the needles again. (I've just moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.)

#154
Glad to hear about you (even if you did go to "that school down the river). I got my bachelor's degree from K-State and a master's from Ft. Hays State, and one from Emporia State. My father often said that my goal in life was to get a degree from all 5 Regents schools in the state. (That was back then I think there are now 7 Regents schools in Kansas.)

#153
Namaste. I had a nice session yesterday and am not sure what pose we did that left my shoulders sore today. But class tomorrow night should lesson the soreness.

#155
I just started on a neck scarf, hat, and mittens set, but don't like the scarf so think I will ripe it out tonight and start over.

>156 benitastrnad: Emporia State has a really nice library and information science program. I seriously thought about doing that program and still wonder if I made a mistake by not (although, realistically, I couldn't have, since I would have had to turn down a job offer).

>152 benitastrnad: >155 ursula: We have a needlearts group on LT too! Always looking for more crafters.

Recently came to LT with the BookBalloon group, browsing to see what else is here. I live in Arizona, have taught children with special needs for 30+ years, I dont remember not being able to read. Used to come home from the local library with the maximum number of books allowed, and returned to get another stack.....I don't read that many any more but I always stop at libraries and bookshops when I'm traveling. Love a good story that I can fall into, doesn't matter the genre. Also love reading biography, travel narratives, history.....anything that looks intriguing

Welcome Cindy. Since the year is almost over, come join our 2017 group too, here: https://www.librarything.com/groups/clubread2017