All About Books discussion

Tell us about your planned reads for December!

Christmas books -and books about cold! I'm a "seasonal reader"!
Any suggestions?

LauraT wrote: "Christmas books -and books about cold! I'm a "seasonal reader"!
Any suggestions?"

Christmas Holiday I'll be trying to read this over Christmas, even though it didn't win our poll
Christmas Pudding
A Christmas Carol of course
The Snow Child I think you might have read this, but it's great for a winter read
Burial Rites or The Book Thief same reasons as above
Let It Snow for something more modern?

LauraT I'm with you on the Christmas books! Tis the season... And I love them!

I'm not a big fan of Christmas books and as I'll be spending much of December in Thailand I will be reading sunny books not cold books!

1.The Beach
2. Slaughterhouse-Five (went to an exhibition at the Tate Modern on conflict photography which included quotes from this so it's now a must read!)

and then a selection of other books from my kindle

Oh Heather, reading The Beach to coincide with your trip to Thailand sounds just perfect!

Pink wrote: "Oh Heather, reading The Beach to coincide with your trip to Thailand sounds just perfect!"

I've read it before a few times but it's a perfect time to re-read!

December plans -
Too many as usual

To continue -
Carmilla
Jerusalem: The Biography DNF
The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh
Les Miserables

Group reads -
Madame de Pompadour
Brighton Rock
The Waste Land
Pnin (found a free online version)

Library books -
The Old Man and the Sea
The Undertaking
The Lowland
How to be both
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Christmas Holiday

This is the tentative plan for December:

Finish up from last month:

Capital of Pain by Paul Éluard

New this month:

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Imaginary Invalid by Molière
The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

LauraT wrote: "Christmas books -and books about cold! I'm a "seasonal reader"!
Any suggestions?"

I recently read The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, an enchanting Christmas novel written by L. Frank Baum (author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), and I loved it.

Not the familiar Santa Claus of the North Pole. Baum's story places Santa's home in the Laughing Valley of Hohaho; a world of fairies, nymphs, and immortals. This book is in the public domain, free to read online or download to your device at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/520/52...

Hopefully reading Christmas gifts: "The Cellist of Sarajevo" and "The Confabulist" as well as finishing off "All Quiet on the Western Front".

Just finished Ironweed as part of the November Read-a-thon.

Monica, that book by L Frank Baum sounds good! That must have been the basis for the Rankin-Bass animated movie with the same name that I saw as a kid. I'm keen to read it!

Not much of a plan for December, other than I would like to read Christmas-y books...

Continuing from November:
Checkmate by Dorothy Dunnett (Lymond series readalong) and Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell

For group reads:
AAB Group - Vanity Fair (Classic) (audiobook) {reread}, Anna Christie by Eugene O'Neill (Play for Winter) and possibly Atonement (Fiction) (unsure if I will read this or not)
Pnin for readalong with Jenny
Other groups -
The Notting Hill Mystery if I can find a copy;
And Then There Were None {reread}

Personal challenges etc.:
Poetry - Tales of a Wayside Inn by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and misc. holiday poems
Short Stories - A Budget Of Christmas Tales by Charles Dickens and Others (I have previously read the Dickens and now I will read the rest) and More Favorite Stories of Christmas Past (Vol. 2) (audiobook & ebook)
Plays - Thespis or the Gods Grown Old by W.S. Gilbert
The Unquiet Bones for Read the Season mystery challenge
You Only Live Twice

and perhaps Christmas Holiday by W. Somerset Maugham if I can find a copy & have time...

Not really a 'seasonal' reader - I'll be starting Revival by Stephen King on Boxing Day. Its waiting on my Kindle - I do love a new SK at Christmas!

My primary objective is to finish The Luminaries - I'm at the half way mark but it is a giant book.

Next up:
Atonement - for the group reading
number9dream
Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West

I'm plugging away at Volume 2 of Edgar Allen Poe's complete works. It was supposed to be my Halloween read but I've been slow. I am reading The Fault in Our Stars for a book club I just joined here in Colorado. And I've got Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States and Vanity Fair on my phone.

I'm reading The Name of the Wind which is pretty good thus far and doing it as a buddy read at two book clubs here on gr. It's off to a great start thus far. :) will read more later though. I'll get to my other reads after I finish this one.

Rick wrote: "Hopefully reading Christmas gifts: "The Cellist of Sarajevo" and "The Confabulist" as well as finishing off "All Quiet on the Western Front".

Just finished Ironweed as part of the November Read-a..."

Loved The Cellist of Sarajevo!

I will be continuing my group read of Ulysses and will read The Winter People and On the Edge of Darkness. Any other reads depend on what comes into the library that I have ordered on inter-library loan - so it will be a surprise : )

Evelyn wrote: "Rick wrote: "Hopefully reading Christmas gifts: "The Cellist of Sarajevo" and "The Confabulist" as well as finishing off "All Quiet on the Western Front".

Just finished Ironweed as part of the No..."

Thanks Evelyn
I've heard a lot of good things about the book.m Looking forward to it. Hopefully, it's under the tree ...

Finish:
The Lemon Orchard

Then I will read:
The Good Girl
The Luminaries
A Wilder Rose
The Miniaturist


and if I have time:
Spin

Greg wrote: "Monica, that book by L Frank Baum sounds good! That must have been the basis for the Rankin-Bass animated movie with the same name that I saw as a kid. I'm keen to read it!"

Greg, I'm not familiar with the movie you mentioned. I'll have to look it up. Hope you enjoy the book as much as I did. I found that I was physically smiling as I read it. I'm surprised it isn't a more well-known story. It was very creative and well written.

Monica, this is the one I'm talking about: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Li...

Greg wrote: "Monica, this is the one I'm talking about: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Li..."

Thanks for the link, Greg! Wow, how did I miss out on this movie? It'll be interesting to see if the movie stayed true to the book. Let us know after you've read the book, please.

Amber wrote: "I'm reading The Name of the Wind which is pretty good thus far and doing it as a buddy read at two book clubs here on gr. It's off to a great start thus far. :) will read more later t..."

I'm reading The Name of the Wind too :D

Awesome Piret. Hope you are enjoying it too. :)

I'm planning to read:
Wuthering Heights
V for Vendetta
Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume I
Ficciones
Pandora

I'm trying to finish up The Lightkeeper's Wife which I had to re-request on interlibrary loan. Got two ongoing books for online groups: Ulysses and And Ladies of the Club. I'll be reading those all winter no doubt. I have Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good on audio to listen to while knitting socks, The Great Gatsby for my real-life bookclub. Oh yes, the recommendation swap read Longbourn, and that is probably more than I can manage, but am hoping to squeeze in something "Christmassy".

Laurel, I read ladies of the club years and years (more than 20) ago and it is one of those books that has stayed with me. I don't remember the character names or much about the story, but I do remember that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Pink wrote: "LauraT wrote: "Christmas books -and books about cold! I'm a "seasonal reader"!
Any suggestions?"

Christmas Holiday I'll be trying to read this over Christmas, even though it didn't w..."

Great Pink! Thanks!

Pink and Laura T, Christmas Holiday is NOT really about Christmas at all. I did like it very much though. I just don't want you expectations to be misdirected.

Thanks Chrissie. I'm not finding it at the moment ... I'll to look for it from home. But if it's on on Christmas I can put it up until January!

Laura T, I liked it better than W. Somerset Maugham's more famous Of Human Bondage!

Thanks.That is even easier to find; it's in Project Gutenberg

Chrissie wrote: "Pink and Laura T, Christmas Holiday is NOT really about Christmas at all. I did like it very much though. I just don't want you expectations to be misdirected."

From what I gather it has a loose Christmas connection, but then is quite a bleak story? I don't like typical Christmas stories, so I'm not bothered by the Christmas connection or not. I've only read Ashenden by Maugham, which I thought was okay, but I'd like to try some more by him.

By sure I will read 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami because I already borrowed it from the library and I must bring it back in three weeks.
I also hope to read Gatti d'autore: Le più belle storie di gatti scritte da grandi autori during the Christmas days. The English edition could be this one Greatest Cat Stories but I'm not sure. It it a book with short stories about cats written by famous authors.

Pink, the only connection is that he travels to Paris over the holidays. I really liked the book!

Good to know, thanks Chrissie :)

You are welcome.

Haven't got as much time off at Christmas as I usually do but I do have 2 weeks off from studying so planning to read these:

Christmas Holiday
Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall (going to try and finish from last month)
Atonement
The Marriage Plot

Katie, what is you reaction to Stasiland? I liked it very much.

I know I will be reading

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (read 3 stars)

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Group's non-fiction read (read 5 stars)

Brazzaville Beach (Read 4 stars)

No Place for Ladies: The Untold Story of Women in the Crimean War (read 4 stars)
This is by the same author that wrote and won the GR bio prize for 2014 for
The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra (Read earlier, in October, 4 stars).



ETA
Also these:
Train Dreams (read 1 star)
The Diary of Adam and Eve (4 stars) It is hysterical. About the differences between men and women. Soooo funny.

I will have to get some more books! More in message 72.

Chrissie wrote: "I know I will be reading

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (currently reading)

[book:Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of ..."

The Little Friend is on my TBR and a book that I am very much looking forward to reading.

As usual, my list of reads for December has my plate beyond full. These are the books I hope to be reading this month:

The Bone Clocks
Everything I Never Told You
A Place of Greater Safety
Miral
How to be both
The Little Friend
Vanity Fair
Pnin

And nonfiction:
The Other Brain: From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science
Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant

Beth wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "I know I will be reading

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (currently reading)

[book:Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and ..."

You get very attached to the characters. I am almost done with it. It is definitely worth reading. I have to see how it ends and what happens with Harriet!

Chrissie wrote: "Katie, what is you reaction to Stasiland? I liked it very much."

Only read a few chapters but I'm really liking it so far.

Nice, Katie.

I just picked up The Diary of Adam and Eve and
Train Dreams
so I will be reading them too this month.

I've also decided to read the series by Elena Ferrante - a nome de plume noone knows exactly who she/he is.
It has been quite a case cause for an Italian writer to be so appreciated aboard is not so common. At the moment I'm finishing the first of the four My Brilliant Friend. Liked it but didn't fin it so astonishing!

Laurel wrote: "I'm trying to finish up The Lightkeeper's Wife which I had to re-request on interlibrary loan. Got two ongoing books for online groups: Ulysses and [book:And Ladies of..."

Hi Laurel, the amazing thing about And Ladies of the Club is that the author wrote it at a very advanced age and she didn't have to do historical research, she just wrote about the time she had lived in.

December Park - done *****
Crime and Punishment
Holidays on Ice - done ***
The Turn of the Screw - done **