- Joined
- Jun 13, 2006
- Messages
- 6,381
At the start of last year, I set myself a challenge.
To be honest I thought I would fly through it and be finished well before the end of the year. I haven’t.
The challenge was to read books by Chronicles authors and review them in the same manner as I do the writing challenges.
At the time of writing, 1st January 2014 I managed to read 16 books in the entirety of the last year, one of which was not by a Chrons author.
I had fully expected to be reading material from my ever growing book pile again by now, and the fact that I am not is not really I wanted to be. But life, and death have the habit of getting in the way and I cannot argue.
The whole process was not meant to carry into a second year, but it does not seem fair to the other authors to not finish, and combined with the fact that I have really enjoyed most of what I have read it seems silly to do anything else but continue.
So looking back what can I say?
All the authors had to be members of Chronicles, whether active or quiet, it did not matter whether they were traditionally published or self-published; a physical format or e-book. All that mattered was that they had to have been written by someone on Chrons. I think I got one from each author as it stood at the start of the year with one added over the course of time.
As a whole I enjoyed the books. I am not going to pick a favourite because in one way or another they all stood out, all were magnificent and I enjoyed reading them. Except one. But that is something that has been talked about and I’ll leave it alone.
There is something about each of the books that I have looked forwards to and each in its own way has delivered so far, and I cannot help but look forward to the next couple of books, I just hope I can increase my reading speed somehow!
I find that my ‘must read’ authors list has been increased by doing this as a number of the books were so enjoyable that I want to read more, and having lost a ‘must read writer’ (an author whose books gets read as soon as it is published), with the conclusion of the Wheel of Time, I find that there might be a replacement waiting in the wings.
I’m currently reading The Hidden Stars by Madeline Howard (Teresa Edgerton) and really enjoying it, despite the time it has taken me to read it!
So I begin 2014 carrying on where I left off, but with the thought that I might change the rules a little as the year goes on.
As an aside just a reminder that in addition to the books by Chronicles writers, there are a series of small Chapbooks published by Spectral Press included in the pile – they’re only 20 pages or so each, and Spectral has a thread… that’s my excuse. And there is one book by one of my favourite writers included – Robin Hobb, which will be replaced by another when it is chosen. (Each book is chosen at random, using a random number generator).
Finally while this is still ongoing if anyone has a book published, or publishes something themselves and wants it added to the list, just let me know.
To be honest I thought I would fly through it and be finished well before the end of the year. I haven’t.
The challenge was to read books by Chronicles authors and review them in the same manner as I do the writing challenges.
At the time of writing, 1st January 2014 I managed to read 16 books in the entirety of the last year, one of which was not by a Chrons author.
I had fully expected to be reading material from my ever growing book pile again by now, and the fact that I am not is not really I wanted to be. But life, and death have the habit of getting in the way and I cannot argue.
The whole process was not meant to carry into a second year, but it does not seem fair to the other authors to not finish, and combined with the fact that I have really enjoyed most of what I have read it seems silly to do anything else but continue.
So looking back what can I say?
All the authors had to be members of Chronicles, whether active or quiet, it did not matter whether they were traditionally published or self-published; a physical format or e-book. All that mattered was that they had to have been written by someone on Chrons. I think I got one from each author as it stood at the start of the year with one added over the course of time.
As a whole I enjoyed the books. I am not going to pick a favourite because in one way or another they all stood out, all were magnificent and I enjoyed reading them. Except one. But that is something that has been talked about and I’ll leave it alone.
There is something about each of the books that I have looked forwards to and each in its own way has delivered so far, and I cannot help but look forward to the next couple of books, I just hope I can increase my reading speed somehow!
I find that my ‘must read’ authors list has been increased by doing this as a number of the books were so enjoyable that I want to read more, and having lost a ‘must read writer’ (an author whose books gets read as soon as it is published), with the conclusion of the Wheel of Time, I find that there might be a replacement waiting in the wings.
I’m currently reading The Hidden Stars by Madeline Howard (Teresa Edgerton) and really enjoying it, despite the time it has taken me to read it!
So I begin 2014 carrying on where I left off, but with the thought that I might change the rules a little as the year goes on.
As an aside just a reminder that in addition to the books by Chronicles writers, there are a series of small Chapbooks published by Spectral Press included in the pile – they’re only 20 pages or so each, and Spectral has a thread… that’s my excuse. And there is one book by one of my favourite writers included – Robin Hobb, which will be replaced by another when it is chosen. (Each book is chosen at random, using a random number generator).
Finally while this is still ongoing if anyone has a book published, or publishes something themselves and wants it added to the list, just let me know.
