Most read author: Kerry Greenwood because all 10 of those audiobooks were Miss Fisher mysteries and no other author got on the list more than once because there were a lot of states to tick off…
Books bought: 2 preorders, 6 ebooks, 1 book. Most of the six were to fill in missing states, although Kindle Unlimited did a lot of that work for me.
Books read in 2024: 413
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 756
A month spent frantically ticking off the missing states in the 50 states challenge because that was infinitely more achievable than the idea of me carrying around physical books the whole month to try and finish that challenge, or in fact buying the kindle versions of books on the shelf to do it that way (because that is Defeating The Point). But I got there in the end, and the full list of what ticked off what is coming up in the next few days. All in all, a pretty good year in reading – 413 is my highest ever total, but I’m under no illusions that that’s because of the sheer number of cozy crime novella series I’ve read this year. But I couldn’t have completed the 50 states without them this year, so goodness knows what I’ll do next year if I do it again. I will try and pace myself better if I do it again – the mad dash in December isn’t a lot of fun and it meant I didn’t finish any NetGalley books last month because they didn’t fit the missing states. I need to work on that. I think I have done better at keeping my requests there down, but I always say that and I’m not sure it’s true. Anyway: here’s to a fresh start and a fresh slate in January!
Bonus picture: Goodreads tells me over 100k pages last year. Wowzers.
*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including 7 this month!
Lets start with the big news: I have finished my read across the US challenge for the year – a whole day and a half earlier than I did last year. What a result. For once I managed to get a bit of discipline together – and spend most of December working my way through the remaining states, rather than just the last 10 days… It does mean that I haven’t read all the Christmas books that I wanted to this year, but I’ve got two days left before New Year to sort that out. I should probably be trying to clear the long runners of the list though, but I think I’ve been disciplined enough for one month. It can be my New Year’s resolution…
Surprisingly, only one and it was a pre-order. Kindle Unlimited has been my friend in ticking off those last few states and my wallet thanks it for that!
Bonus picture: my second Christmas jigsaw…
*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.
I’m down to the last few states. It’s going to be close but I might just do it. Maybe. If I don’t get distracted. And it’s Christmas this week so chance of distractions is high. We will see. And as it’s Christmas I’m taking a couple of days off this week – so the normal pattern of posts will resume next week.
Less than you might expect given the way I’m working my way through the final states. Two total – but only thanks to the sterling efforts of Kindle Unlimited.
Bonus picture: some Christmas graffiti from the park on Saturday
*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.
A fairly solid list, but the real achievement is that I got four more states ticked off the list as I once again attempt to read a book from every US state. Still a few tricky ones to do, but I’m getting there. And in the real world, it’s fully Christmas now – the tree is decorated, presents are bought (some even distributed) and as well as the trip to A Midsummer Night’s Dream this week, I also went to the kids Christmas show at the local theatre – which is the Jolly Christmas Postman and was excllent.
It’s Tuesday again and as I said yesterday we are hurling towards the end of the year and I’m trying to finish the Reading challenges. Today’s pick covered me off for South Dakota…
It is well know that laws in the US can vary from state to state. And most people have probably read a book or watched a movie where someone goes to Reno for a quickie divorce, but what you might not have come across is the period in time where South Dakota was the location of choice for obtaining a divorce. April White’s The Divorce Colony looks at this time and some of the women who went to the frontier of the US to end their marriages.
This focuses on four society women who made the trip to Sioux Falls and the different challenges they faced. I found the women themselves fascinating as well as the quirks and tribulations of divorce laws. As social history it is fascinating and an illustration of how much has not changed as well as how much has.
My copy has is a hardback, and it’s probably going to be a special order and the Kindle price has dropped since I bought a hard copy!
The end of the year continues to hurtle towards me, as I desperately scramble to tick off those final states for read the USA 2024 – four more off the list this week but there are still a few to do. But a doable number if I keep myself at it! A good week in reading though all in all. So that’s good.
This is actually the final part of last month’s bumper crop of arrivals – I’ve been holding back in case I impulse bought any more festive books, but I think I’ve done the lot now, so I’m risking it. Here we have the Christmas Three Dahlias, the new Martha Waters Christmas book and the Most Wonderful Crime of the Year aka a locked room Christmas mystery, which since I bought it has gone into KU which is a tad frustrating but hey, the paperback is pretty.
Books bought: we will continue to not talk about it, although I did have a clear out of the bookshelves so that has improved things a little despite the amount incoming..
Books read in 2024: 375
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 741
Genuinely a really solid month in reading, mostly, but not entirely down to the holiday. I’m still quite a long way short of my 50 states though, and a fair few books short on the beat the to-read pile challenge in my journal, so I’m not sure I can complete both of them this year. Doesn’t mean I won’t try though…
Bonus picture: After writing about Avenue Q, this is from the night after that Q concert – with two of the stars, Jon Robyns and Simon Lipkin doing a late night show together in the West End. It was also wonderful.
*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including 6 this month!
A mega list this week because we’ve been on holiday. It was warm and sunny and there were plenty of comfortable places for me to read books. And there was a plane ride there and back to read on too. Generally most satisfactory. Less satisfactory is the situation with the various reading challenges, but I’m going to give them my best shot in the month that I’ve got left. I’m back at work tomorrow and I’ve got a theatre trip planned this week and it’s starting to get a bit Christmas-y so we’ll see how the list looks this time next week…
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 