The 2021 Annual Reading Challenge List Thread (2024)

2021 Goals

3,000 pages per month: Jan; June, July, August
Ebooks - TBR Reduced by 10; Current: +147
Audiobooks - TBR Reduced by 10; Current +13
Magazines - TBR Reduced by 10; Current -6
12 Books over 600 pages: 1

Magazines Read So Far: 6

Spoiler:

2021 Purchases Read:
Bought: 213 Read: 16
Free: 60 Read: 2

Spoiler:

Short Stories, Novellas, Short Dramas: 19

Spoiler:

Books
January - Pages Read:3138
01. 5/5 A Quiet Gentleman - Georgette Heyer (audio)

Martin/Gervaise interactions are so hilarious. Love this.

02. 5/5 Pines - Blake Crouch (audio+ebook)

Reread. Lots of suspense. A bit violent, but not excessively so.

03. 5/5 Wayward - Blake Crouch (audio+ebook)

Lots of action going on.

04. 5/5 The Last Town - Blake Crouch (audio+ebook)

Suspense at a rapid pace.

05. 5/5 McNally's Secret - Lawrence Sanders (audio)

Reread - still love this guy. Cozy featuring a playboy Floridian

06. 1/5 Reluctant Adventures of Fletcher Connelly - Felix Savage (audio)

Quit after an hour. YA? I'm clearly not the intended audience.

07. 5/5 McNally's Luck - Lawrence Sanders (audio)

Archie is such a treasure. A potential disappointment to his parents, yet succeeds

08. 5/5 Edited to Death - Elizabeth Spann Craig

A manuscript is stolen from Myrtle's house; author is then murdered

09. 5/5 The House Guest - Mark Edwards (audio)

Two Brits housesit in NYC accept that a woman is a friend of the owners.

10. 4/5 Hushed Up - Elizabeth Spann Craig

Florist is murdered after Wanda's warning.

February Pages Read: 1591
11. 4/5 One Man Massacre - Jonas Ward

Tom goes for a night of cards and maybe dancing and ends up in a war.

12. 4/5 The Dreaming Void - Peter F Hamilton

A man who gets visions from inside the Void threatens the Universe.

13. 1/5 Off To Be A Wizard - Scott Meyer (audio) RETURNED

YA quit after an hour. Narrator was good.

14. 5/5 McNally's Risk - Lawrence Sanders (audio)

Murder and a prenup; Archie gets in the middle.

15. 3/5 The Door With Seven Locks - Edgar Wallace

Good story but ebook is full of typos which was very distracting.

16. 5/5 The Hobbit - J R R Tolkien (audio)

Wonderful retelling with narrator Andy Serkis.

March Pages Read: 1650
17. 4/5 McNally's Caper - Lawrence Sanders (audio)

Too much time taken by non-plot elements.

18. 2/5 Working Stiff - Annelise Ryan (audio+ebook)

Not for me but narration was excellent.

19. 5/5 Fine Art of Murder - Donald Bain (audio)

Art and murder; a little Italian as well.

April Pages Read: 2132
20. 4/5 Sphere - Michael Crichton (audio)

Science is sometimes iffy, but enjoyable anyway.

21. 3/5 Stephen Fry's Victorian Secrets - John Wolff (audio)

Non-fiction entertaining discussion of Victorian era

22. 2/5 Evelyn, After - Victoria Helen Stone (ebook+audio)

Dark romance more than suspense. Not for me. Narration excellent.

23. 4/5 Lost Fleet: Dauntless - Jack Campbell (ebook+audiobook)

Good story. Captain Jack Black wakes up a century after his last battle.

24. 5/5 Lost Fleet: Fearless - Jack Campbell (audio)

Plot was better. Battles are excellent as last book.

25. 3/5 Black Beauty - Anne Sewell (audio)

Autobiography of a horse. Good story.

26. 3/5 Sourcery - Terry Pratchett (audio)

Good book but not as good as other Diskworld novels.

27. 3/5 Gateway - Frederick Pohl (audio)

A bit of a drag for me. Good story, but adventure was not really sustained.

May Pages Read: 2808
28. 3/5 A Robot Named Clunk - Simon Haynes (ebook + audio)

Humerous scifi, but not hilarious as billed.

29. 5/5 In Farleigh Field - Rhys Bowen (audio)

Excellent story based in WW2.

30. 4/5 Devil's Deep - Michael Wallace

Thriller that goes from Vermont to Costa Rica. Good story.

31. 5/5 Faithful Unto Death - Caroline Graham (audio+ebook)

Midsommer Murders. Excellent.

32. 3/5 Clouds of Witness - Dorothy L Sayers (audio)

Audio on this book was rather low, so a bit hard to hear for me.

33. 4/5 A Morbid Taste of Bones - Ellis Peters (audio+ebook)

Good story; monks want to take over a Saint from a parish in Wales

34. 4/5 Pandemic - Robin Cook

Good story although the main character is a bit of a arrogant jerk.

35. 4/5 Echoes in Death - J D Robb

Still like this series, but prefer random over in order now.

36. 4/5 A Body In The Attic - Elizabeth Spann Craig

Another body found by Miles and Myrtle. Serious gnome army going on too.

June Pages Read: 3705
37. 4/5 McNally's Trial - Lawrence Sanders (audio)

This time it's funeral homes. And a bad assistant.

38. 5/5 The Princeling - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (audio+ebook)

Another excellent story.

39. 4/5 Animal Farm - George Orwell (audio)

Still a cool book. Narration was fabulous!

40. 4/5 Small Gods - Terry Pratchett (ebook)

Good story.

41. 4/5 McNally's Puzzle - Lawrence Sanders (audio)

Good story but I got lost somewhere in there hence 4 stars.

42. 5/5 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey (audio)

Both funny & distressing. Abridged/read by author.

43. 2/5 Dead Wrong - Leighann Dobbs (audio)

Just not for me.

44. 3/5 Sourdough - Robin Sloan (audio)

Paranormal sourdough starter. My baking heart loved this.

45. 4/5 McNally's Gamble - Lawrence Sanders (audio)

Faberge eggs during Christmas season.

July Pages Read: 4136
46. 5/5 The Paper Princess - M C Beaton (audio)

Really loved this. It's been awhile since I've enjoyed a Regency romance.

47. 5/5 Friday the Rabbi Slept Late - Harry Kemelman (audio)

Excellent start to this series. Rabbi implicated in murder of young woman.

48. 3/5 Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny - Garrison Keilor (audio)

PI starts out well but fizzles a little over 1/2 through. Still good.

49. 5/5 Elantris (Graphic Audio) - Brandon Sanderson (audio)

Great!! Enjoyable presentation!

50. 5/5 Long Time No See - Ed McBain (audio)

Great story. Unexpected.

51. 4/5 Ghostly Paws - Leighann Dobbs (audio)

Pretty good, mostly sensible cozy with a paranormal element.

52. 5/5 The Last Train - Michael Pronko

Excellent murder mystery set in Tokyo.

53. 5/5 Memory - Lois McMaster Bujold (audio)

Excellent mid series story! Simon & Gregor feature.

54. 2/5 Dust Angel - Jutta Profijt (ebook+audio)

While improved towards end, this was boring.

55. 5/5 Dead Game - Michael Avallone (ebook)

This was more of a thriller than pulp crime novel. This was great!

56. 5/5 A Great Deliverance - Elizabeth George (ebook)

Conflict between investigators and beheading of man in barn.

August Pages Read: 3020
57. 5/5 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J D Rowling (audio)

Stephen Fry narration. Excellent!!

58. 2/5 The Barbarian Prince - Michelle Pillow (audio)

Rewrite is awful. Gave one extra star for the narrator.

59. 5/5 The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven & Jerry Pourelle (audio+ebook)

Excellent first contact story!

60. 5/5 Death of a Hollow Man - Caroline Graham (audio)

Death on the stage. Excellent story.

61. 5/5 Spellbound - Larry Correia (audio)

Way better than book one. Loved this.

62. 3/5 Murder on Main Street - Judith Ivie (audio+ebook)

Cozy. Group of women who have a real estate office investigate murder.

63. 3/5 Waiting for Armando - Judith Ivie (audio+ebook)

This first book of the series was only so-so.

64. 4/5 Skeleton in the Closet - Judith Ivie (audio+ebook)

Good cozy. Stronger plot than previous books.

65. 3/5 Drowning in Christmas - Judith Ivie (audio+ebook)

Turkey, wedding and I'm tired of main character's whining

September Pages Read: 1724
66. 4/5 The Hangman's Daughter - Oliver Potzsch (audio+ebook)

Torment of women will make you angry, but mostly historically accurate. Good story.

67. 4/5 Dying Wishes - Judith K Ivie (audio+ebook)

Good story with focus on legal issues around end of life.

68. 4/5 Warbound - Larry Coreia (audio)

Good end to trilogy. Lots of battles.

69. 4/5 Trouble at High Tide - Jessica Fletcher (audio)

Jessica finds a body while on vacation in Bermuda.

70. 4/5 Domestic Malice - Jessica Fletcher (audio)

Good story focuses on domestic violence

October Pages Read: 419
71. 3/5 Host - Robin Cook (audio)

Some odd stuff here, but the plot was mostly good.

November Pages Read: 812
72. 5/5 Goodbye Piccadilly - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (audio)

Good intro to historical fiction series on WW1

73. 4/5 Hades Project - Robert Ludlum & Gayle Lynds

Weaponized virus

December Pages Read: 1467
74. 5/5 Misery - Stephen King (audio) *

This was excellent and chilling.

75. 3/5 Golden Age of Science Fiction - Various

Anthology - a few outstanding, most good.

76. 3/5 Elizabeth II: Life of a Monarch - Ruth Cowen (audio)

I enjoyed early life as I was not familiar with those details.

77. 3/5 Last of the Magpies - Mark Edwards (audio)

* - unowned
=======
TBR = owned books
TBR (audio) Jan 1: 1017 (includes freebees)
TBR (ebooks) Jan 1: 1513 (includes magazines, no freebees)
Audiobooks listened: 66 (including 00 freebies, 1 abandoned, 6 re-reads)
Books Read: 29 (including 1 freebies, 1 abandoned, 4 re-read)
Books otherwise removed from TBR: 0

Book Rating/Comments:
1: Awful, or did not finish
2: So, so, or not to my taste
3: Good book
4: Very good book; possible reread.
5: Wonderful book! A keeper.

The 2021 Annual Reading Challenge List Thread (2024)
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