neverstopreading's FALL (& early winter) thread for 2018

Summer Thread.

2018 Categories Challenge

...the counters are moody...

Journey to 75 100 300


January - August total: 151




January - August total: 28685

September

1. The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
   
2. Voices of Recovery by Sex Addicts Anonymous (forthcoming)
   
3. A Poem on the Passion by Lactantius
   
4. 101 Secrets of the Freemasons by Barb Karg and John K. Young
   
5. The Long Utopia by Pratchett/Baxter
   
6. The Passion of the Scillitan Martyrs
   
7. Martyrdom of Habib the Deacon
   
8. Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae by Pope Leo XIII
   
9. Beyond Trans by Heath Fogg Davis
   
10. Sicut Dudum by Pope Eugene IV
    
11. Sublimus Dei by Pope Paul III
    
12. The Long Cosmos by Pratchett/Baxter
    
13. Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
    
14. The X-Files: Cold Cases by Audible/Joe Harris
    

October

1. ...Ish by Phil Pascoe
   
2. When Mountains Don't Move by Diana Weinberger
   
3. Ad Communionem
   
4. Liber Usualis
   
5. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
   

November

1. An Introduction to the Way of the Buddha: Buddhism for Beginners by Shalu Sharma
   
2. Timefall by Alison Lohans
   
3. Oxford New Revised Standard With Apocrypha
   
4. Confucianism and Taoism by Julia Ching
   
5. Edge of the Known Bus Line by James R. Gapinski
   
6. Lullaby by Jonathan Maberry
   
7. Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #0
   
8. Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #1
   
9. Divine Mercy Explained by Fr Michael Gaitley
   
10. History of the Quakers by Charles River Editors
    
11. Great Mythologies of the World by The Great Courses
    
12. Torchwood: Station Zero by John Barrowman
    
13. A Normal Turtle by Doug Reynolds
    
14. The Babylonian Genesis by Alexander Heidel
    
15. Jehovah's Witnesses: Reasons for Leaving and Not Joining by Russell Walker
    
16. Bad Religion - Ross Douthat
    
17. Proverbs (TLB)
    

December

1. Dave's Way - Dave Thomas
   
2. Mars Exploration Rovers - Steve Kortenkamp
   
3. Doctor Who: Dead London by Pat Mills
   
4. In Every Moment We Are Still Alive by Tom Malmquist
   
5. The Gospel and Adoption by Russell D. Moore
   
6. The Briefing by Sean Spicer
   
7. Walking with Christ by Andrew Gilmore
   
8. Have a Nice Day by Billy Crystal
   
9. Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #2 by Jody Houser
   
10. With the Immaculate Towards the Third Millennium
    
11. Rising Sun by Michael Crichton
    
12. Christmas Eve, 1914 - Charles Olivier
    
13. Hunger: A memoir of my body - Roxane Gay
    
14. Anatomy of Innocence - Laura Caldwell et al
    
15. Heaven Vs Reincarnation - "Dharma"
    
16. Dark Day In the Deep Sea - Mary Pope Osborne
    
17. Step One - COSA
    
18. Scottish History - Captivating History
    
19. Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Jules Verne
    
20. Apocalypse of the Virgin - Unknown
    
21. Nobody Said It'd Be Easy - Patty Blount
    
22. Revelation - Bill Creasy
    
23. Armageddon - Tim LaHaye
    
24. A Quick Look at the Rapture and End Times - Tim LaHaye
    
25. 43 misc shorties
    

Books of the Bible are classed as they are in The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha




39 Books of Hebrew Bible/Protestant Old Testament

1. Song of Solomon (April)
   
2. Genesis (April)
   
3. Jonah (April)
   
4. Nahum (April)
   
5. Exodus (October)
   
6. Leviticus (October)
   
7. Numbers (October)
   
8. Deuteronomy (October)
   
9. Joshua (October)
   
10. Judges (October)
    
11. Ruth (October)
    
12. Habbakuk (October)
    
13. Zephaniah (October)
    
14. Haggai (October)
    
15. Malachi (October)
    
16. Zechariah (October)
    
17. 1 Samuel (October)
    
18. 2 Samuel (October)
    
19. 1 Chronicles (October)
    
20. 1 Kings (October)
    
21. 2 Kings (October)
    
22. 2 Chronicles (October)
    
23. Daniel (October)
    
24. Hosea (October)
    
25. Obadiah (October)
    
26. Amos (October)
    
27. Micah (October)
    
28. Proverbs (October)
    
29. Joel (October)
    
30. Ecclesiastes (October)
    
31. {Hebrew} Esther (November)
    
32. Jeremiah (November)
    
33. Lamentations (November)
    
34. Ezra (November)
    
35. Nehemiah (November)
    
36. Job (November)
    
37. Ezekiel (November)
    
38. Isaiah (November)
    
39. Psalms (November)
    

20 Books of Deuterocanonical/Apocryphal Status

1. Wisdom of Solomon (April)
   
2. Prayer of Manasseh (April)
   
3. Tobit (April)
   
4. Baruch (July)
   
5. Letter of Jeremiah (July)
   
6. Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Jews (July)
   
7. Susanna (July)
   
8. Bel and the Dragon (July)
   
9. Psalm 151 (October)
   
10. 3 Maccabees (October)
    
11. 1 Esdras (October)
    
12. Judith (October)
    
13. {Greek} Esther (November)
    
14. 1 Maccabees (November)
    
15. 2 Maccabees (November)
    
16. 2 Esdras (November)
    
17. 4 Maccabees
    
18. Sirach
    
    

27 Books of the New Testament

1. Jude (January)
   
2. Colossians (February)
   
3. Ephesians (April)
   
4. Philemon (April)
   
5. John (July)
   
6. 1 John (July)
   
7. 2 John (July)
   
8. 3 John (July)
   
9. Matthew (September)
   
10. 1 Thessalonians (September)
    
11. 2 Thessalonians (September)
    
12. James (September)
    
13. 1 Peter (September)
    
14. 2 Peter (September)
    
15. Mark (September)
    
16. Romans (September)
    
17. Philippians (September)
    
18. Galatians (September)
    
19. 1 Timothy (September)
    
20. 2 Timothy (September)
    
21. Titus (September)
    
22. 1 Corinthians (September)
    
23. 2 Corinthians (September)
    
24. Hebrews (September)
    
25. Luke (October)
    
26. Acts (October)
    
27. Revelation (November)
    

Happy new thread!

Starred!

Wow, it's almost halfway through September.

I've mostly been reading some short, historical church documents. These include some first century texts telling the stories of martyrs and a poem on the passion. Naturally, no one knows for sure who wrote them and how historically accurate the hagiographies are.

Then there's some recent (by comparison) documents on slavery (specific, not general, condemnations), and one much more recent (1899) on "Americanism" - a vague collection of ideas condemned as heretical.

I finished books 3 and 4 of the Long Earth series (working on the fifth and final one now). I enjoy the series, but the first three are definitely not plot-driven books. There are many story lines that don't always seem to intersect (at least until much later), and they often are given equal importance. The stories focus more on world building and gradual character development. It's not until The Long Utopia - book four, that there is really an clear, overarching plot line for the whole book. That being said, I think they are excellent, and the first and fourth books especially captured my imagination.

Finally, there is the book Beyond Trans by Heath Fogg Davis, a transgendered university professor. I can't say that there are many areas of agreement between the author and me. That's not a surprise. I do recommend the book to those who would normally dismiss this community, not as a way of changing minds, but as a way to come to an understanding and a compromise when it comes to policy.

Many of Davis' policy suggestions are doable and reasonable, such as redesigning bathrooms, or designing future bathrooms, so that the toilet section is fully private, ceiling to floor, with the washbasins in a common area. Others are unenforceable (I hope), and potentially demeaning to some, such as the suggestion to require men through law or encourage through public information campaigns to sit down to urinate, especially in unisex bathrooms.

Then there is the beyond absurd, such as the suggestion to change "male" to "people with penises" and female to "people with uteruses" on forms, despite the fact that later in the book he notes that some transmen refer to their clitoris as a penis. We'd be left with the same problem but more cumbersome forms.

I finished The Long Earth series. While it looks like it has generally mixed reviews from most readers, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's true that the story line is often either missing or bouncing all over the place, but it's not a plot-driven series. This series is about exploration and world-building. We, the readers, are Lewis and Clark heading out west. We are exploring, and making note of what we find, but we cannot linger too long in any place. We are not settlers. Those who are not fond of the series tend to complain about this, but that is OK because that's not what the books intended. Star Trek would have been quite boring if all humans did after Zefram Cochrane was to travel to Vulcan and study logic, right? Not much trekking, at least.

Partial read review for Timefall by Alison Lohans - an ER book (I never feel like I'm all that good at writing these things):



I found it difficult to get started. I've read these young-adult-transported-into-fantasy-world books before, and this one felt like it was trying too hard to seem authentic by over-using some of the traditional tropes. But as I pushed through a couple of chapters, the story line started to draw me in.

Katie is a typical teenage girl, except that's she's also a mother of an infant child. When she, her, child, and a friend get lost, they learn they're...where? Another world? The distant past? The future? Somewhere other than where they were. Somewhere where there has been a disaster. Somewhere where her baby is called to be the savior.

There is a responsibility (isn't there?) to help these people out - but no one will explain to Katie what is going on. All she wants is to take her baby, go home, get her phone working, and be a normal teen mom again.

I would argue now that the over-use of the tropes I mentioned before is actually a success. The two extremes of Katie's teenage world and this bizarre future/past/alternate/disaster world are much starker, and this adds to the overall development of the setting and story.

...ish by Phil Pascoe - ****

I don't suppose this book is for everyone. It's quite strange. Imagine if James Patterson and Bertrand Russell teamed up to write a Doctor Who story, and you get a mix of linguistic terrorism and philosophy of language.

Happy new thread!

>9 figsfromthistle: Thanks :) Actually, I created this thread a month ago, I've just barely posted on it. So it might as well be new!

(1/2) - This was an Early Reviewer. Nothing redeeming about it.

>11 neverstopreading: I've had some of those, and some good ER books.

Well, it's over.

4-1

Thanks for a great season.

The long winter begins.

Aw, too bad. I know how you feel...I was a long-suffering Red Sox fan for years.

Well I've spent much of the last two months reading the Bible. It has certainly been rewarding in many ways. This is the second time I've read it through, previously in the New American Bible.

I've finished the Old Testament, and I have one book left in the New Testament, Revelation, which I will read last, as it was written last, concerns the "last things," and really does serve as a wrap up or epilogue to the overall story. Before that, I'll finish the deuterocanon/apocrypha. I have 1, 2, 4 Maccabees (I read 3 Maccabees already since it really is not connected to the Maccabees at all), 2 (or 4) Esdras, and Sirach.

Years ago, the church I attended had a wonderful bible study program. I learned a lot about the old testament! I seek the new testament though for solace. I especially enjoy the Psalms.

>16 Whisper1: I get a lot of comfort and encouragement from reading Psalms.

The Psalms are a timeless classic in their own right. While it's still popular to use them in prayer, in the middle ages, monks would pray the whole psalter every week, which is actually not as daunting as it sounds. If you structure it in the way that you have 7 times of prayer a day (like the traditional Matins, Lauds, Sext, Terce, None, Vespers, and Compline), and pray 3 psalms at each one, you would pray 21 per day, or 147 per week. You're left with 3, which can easily be fit in on Saturday night, Sunday morning, or any other time. The hardest part is setting aside the time each day. I don't remember who said it, but I heard once, "Everyone needs a half-hour of prayer every day, except for when you're busy. Then you need an hour."

>18 neverstopreading: I like that saying!

Well, I finished the Bible. And while it was meant to be a year-long thing, and I intended to spread it out evenly, most of the reading was done in the past 2-3 months, and I've barely touched anything else. That's OK. Binge reading the Bible has its benefits.

>20 neverstopreading: congratulations! And reading straight through helps with continuity and seeing how some verses relate to others.

(**** 1/2) - This is a strange book. It's fun, it's dark, it's scary, but above all, it is strange fiction. Hell on earth(?)/wherever? Check. Political/religious cults? Check. Worshiping foam fingers? Check. Spider-induced hallucinations? Check. People wearing nothing or things that aren't proper clothes? Double check. That's only some of the strangeness.

My 2019 75 challenge will be only for books I have at the end of this year. I've already created a To Read: 2019 collection that includes books I own that I haven't read. That's 380 to chose from.

That's not to say I will only read from those 380, but that only those (plus any I obtain from now until Dec 31) will count for the 75 book challenge. In short, my goal next year is to read 75 books that I own as of the end of this year, in addition to anything else.

>23 neverstopreading: sounds like a good plan, and a way to get some of those books off your shelves.

Happy holidays X

Thanks for the new years greatings! Happy2019 to you all!

2018 Stats

Total Read: 254 books (out of 75, 100, 300)

Total read: 45042 out of 45000

Total read: 39 books of 39 of Old Testament

Total read: 18 books of 20 18 of deuterocanon

Total read: 27 books of 27 of New Testament

Averages:

Mean pages per book: 178
Median pages per book: 104
Mode pages per book: 23

Percentages (Round numbers)

Books I owned as of 1 Jan, 12:01 AM 2018: 25% (65)

Kids picture books: 12% (30)

Comics 19% (49)

Children/YA: 9% (23)

Spiritual 38% (95)

Books I own: 58% (146)

Books I don't own: 43% (108)

Fiction: 43% (108)

Non-fiction: 57% (145)

Scifi/Fantasy: 29% (73)

Audiobook: 30% (76)

Physical book: 24% (61)

Ebook: 47% (119)

TIOLI: 47% (118)

Kindle First/Audible Exclusive: 3% (7)

Early Reviewer: 4% (9)

Member Giveaway: 6% (16)

Nancy P: 2% (4)

Multiple read: 14% (36)

Read with Kids: 14 (35)

Abridged: 2% (4)

best / worst coming sooon

Some of the best

Classics: Frankenstein - I've been wanting to read this for years. I listened to a fantastic audio version, though I'm not sure who read it.

Series: Tiffany Aching / Discworld - This is another that derives a lot of value from the audio version. The humor of the Nac Mac Feegols is brought out when you hear the Scottish voices.

Memoir: No Fourth River - I've read many memories and biographies. This one is a challenge because it is so tragic, but it helps expose the folly of shame as discipline and brings awareness to the problem of bedwetting (beyond what is typical).

Religion: The Rhine Flows Into the Tiber (The Inside Story of Vatican II) - This account of the council, written by someone who supported the reforms, but read and promoted by those who are less supportive, is dry at times, but is very enlightening as to what actually went on and how the council functioned. It helps dispel many of the myths (coming from both camps).

Some of the worst

Religion: Undercover Atheist - A person draws broad conclusions after baiting people in a single internet forum. Good for leaning what proper critical thinking doesn't look like.

Poetry: Hope is the Root - Bumper sticker poetry.

Fiction: Armageddon - I keep reading this series, though I don't like it. I guess I want to see how the make the audacious move of actually writing Jesus as an "on-screen" character. This has rarely been attempted piously outside the gospels. C. S. Lewis did so very well in the Narnia and Ransom series, but that was indirectly. Other attempts to have Jesus as a character is decidedly less pious (think Family Guy and South Park). I have this book 1/2 a star primarily because the writers fail to understand that, in their story as he has been written (I certainly don't say so in real life), God is the villain.

Overall, this was a good year. I read some awful stuff, some wonderful things, and I discovered how much I can read when I bring audio books into play (pun intended). I listened to many last year, but nothing like this year.

I think I need to temper myself, lest reading become purely escapist. (Bookaholics Anonymous?)

End of 2018 threads.

2019 thread is here