What did you read in January 2016?

[dorothyinAus]

How is 2016 starting for your reading?

What was your favorite of the month?

If you have a yearly goal, how are you doing?

How are you going with any challenges?

[dorothyinAus]

It was a slow start to the year for me:
1. Death in the Truffle Wood, Pierre Magnan (star) (star) (star)
2. Cat's Claw, Susan Wittig Albert (star) (star) (star) (star)
3. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, Trenton Lee Stewart (star) (star) (star) (star)

I'd have to give a slight edge to Cat's Claw as favorite for the month.

I'm not doing any challenges this year, but according to Goodreads and my personal goal of 4 books a month, I'm 1 book behind schedule.

[checkmeowt]

What was your favorite of the month?

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

If you have a yearly goal, how are you doing?

No yearly goal.

How are you going with any challenges?

I'm trying to do the Read Harder Challenge. I still need to read a lot harder

[2curlydogs]

How is 2016 starting for your reading?


The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau - 4
The Counterfeit Heiress by Tasha Alexander - 4
Duchess of Aquitaine by Margaret Ball - 3
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman - 5

What was your favorite of the month?

Obviously The Magician's Land.

[ally]

How is 2016 starting for your reading?
 Slowly!  It was a busy month.
Nora Roberts - The Collector
Donna Tartt - The Goldfinch
Jennifer Niven - All The Bright Places

What was your favorite of the month?
  All the Bright Places was my favorite, even if it was sad.


If you have a yearly goal, how are you doing?
 I have a goal to read 30 books.  I expect I will make it!


How are you going with any challenges?
 No, I always think about it, but I have so many books purchased (and I just keep buying  ) that I need to focus on reading what I have.  Plus, reading for my IRL book club.

[marigoldgirl]

How is 2016 starting for your reading?


I think I am doing pretty good.
I read: 
The Nightingale 5 
Looking for Alaska 3 
The Girl on the Train 4 
We Were Liars 3 


What was your favorite of the month?
The Nightingale 5


If you have a yearly goal, how are you doing?
I did make a yearly goal this year. I am on track. I set a low goal. 


How are you going with any challenges?
No challenges. 


 

[mrspez07]

Hell's Corner by David Baldacci 3*
In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume 4*
And I'm nearly done with Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld 4*

[dorothyinAus]

Feb 1, 2016 17:06:15 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

The Counterfeit Heiress by Tasha Alexander - 4

I have the first three Lady Emily books on my Kindle (got them one day when they were free) and I haven't started the series yet.  Do you recommend the series?

If it helps, I do like historical mysteries, but prefer them to be not too graphic or too dark.

[2curlydogs]

Feb 1, 2016 22:21:16 GMT -5 dorothyinAus said:

Feb 1, 2016 17:06:15 GMT -5 2curlydogs said:

The Counterfeit Heiress by Tasha Alexander - 4

I have the first three Lady Emily books on my Kindle (got them one day when they were free) and I haven't started the series yet.  Do you recommend the series?

If it helps, I do like historical mysteries, but prefer them to be not too graphic or too dark.

Then this should be right up your alley.

They're fun. Light hearted. Bit of Victorian romance thrown in for fun. I love them.

[aurora]

I'm off to a pretty quick start, but only because I was close to finishing the first two at the end of 2015.

At the Water's Edge - Sara Gruen
Rose Daughter - Robin McKinley
Taming of the Queen - Philippa Gregory
The Red Tent - Anita Diamont
Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee

I just realized I had a 100% female author month! Interesting.

Hard to pick a favorite, but probably At the Water's Edge or Taming of the Queen. It was interesting to read how Katherine Parr managed to survive Henry VIII.

I never did finalize my challenge list; maybe I should do that today.

[aurora]

Feb 1, 2016 19:50:35 GMT -5 ally said:

...

How are you going with any challenges?
 No, I always think about it, but I have so many books purchased (and I just keep buying  ) that I need to focus on reading what I have.  Plus, reading for my IRL book club.

I have this problem, too, with too many books on my shelf. But, it was still fun to try to fit the books I was reading to the challenge last year, and mostly I used the challenge to help guide audiobook picks from my library when I wasn't sure what I wanted to read given what happened to be available to borrow. Of the 49 books I read in 2015, I think I only bought 5 of them (27 were library books).

[rootbeerfloat]

The Fifth Wave, Patrick Yancey - 4*
Grave Surprise (Harper Connelly #2), Charlaine Harris - 3*
Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates - 4*
The Rosie Effect, Graeme Simsion - 3*
Modern Romance, Aziz Ansari - 4*

[Wallflower]

Books read in January - American Gods (Neil Gaiman), Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri), The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Laurie R. King), Named of the Dragon (Susanna Kearsley), and several series romances.

What was your favorite of the month? Hmmm, not sure. I enjoyed a lot, but nothing stands out particularly.

If you have a yearly goal, how are you doing? No overall yearly goal.

How are you going with any challenges? Pretty well ... I'm challenging myself to read more outside the usual series romance and mysteries. Gave myself a very low goal of 6 books beyond my usual reading, and I've done 2 (America Gods and Interpreter of Maladies). Next one is "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn and it's pretty big, so it'll take a while. And the first three pages covered a bunch of racist, misogynistic, and murderous behavior by Columbus et al., so I put it down for a bit because I got pissed off. I'm thinking I might have that problem at several points in the book.

[msmerymac]

American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Lila - Marilyn Robinson
The Sandcastle Girls - Chris Bojalian
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz
Room - Emma Donoghue

I only have a goal of reading 50 books this year, after not meeting my 75 book goal last year, so I'm doing well. My new commute will be good for audio books.

[MrsAxilla]

The Nightingale - 5 stars
Finders Keepers (Stephen King) - 4 stars
Marie Antoinette: The Journey (Antonia Frasier) - 5 stars
The Color of Magic, Discworld 1 (Trry Pratchet) - 3 stars

Marie Antoinette was my favorite this month.

[spedrunner]

How is 2016 starting for your reading?

STRONG. I have a few great reads under my belt!!!

Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid - 4 stars
You Never Called Me Princess - 2 1/2 stars
George - 5 stars
Body Image Remix: Embrace our body and unleash the fierce confident woman within BY summer innanen - 5 stars
Fates and Furies - 5 stars
The Kind Worth Killing - 4.5 star
Eye Contact - 4 stars


What was your favorite of the month?

I think The Kind Worth Killing for my suspense read
and
Maybe In Another Life for my light fluff read


If you have a yearly goal, how are you doing?

I do have one. 50 books. IM off to a good start


How are you going with any challenges?

see above

[BlackCanary]

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King 5 stars.

Yes, it was my favorite of the month. 

I haven't set a goal yet.

[MadamePresident]

I read a ton.
Where'd you go Bernadette?
Dragonfly in Amber
Bridge to Haven
The Martian
Luckiest Girl Alive
Ready Player One

I read 54 last year, so this year I'll probably aim for 60. I'm off to a great start, but I go through periods where I read very little.

[Wallflower]

Feb 4, 2016 2:27:15 GMT -5 MadamePresident said:

I read a ton.
Where'd you go Bernadette?
Dragonfly in Amber
Bridge to Haven
The Martian
Luckiest Girl Alive
Ready Player One

I read 54 last year, so this year I'll probably aim for 60. I'm off to a great start, but I go through periods where I read very little.

I just loved The Martian!  I even bought the paperback (I'd read the kindle version originally), just cause my brain works that way with books I really enjoy.  I really didn't know what to expect but that it had good reviews and I was in the mood for something different, so I think that added to the enjoyment.

Hope you liked it!

[charlatti]

Two five star books this month that I really loved and adored and think you all should read:
The Longest Night by Andria Williams
Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse by Faith Sullivan

Some four stars:
Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch
Foreign Eclairs by Julie Hyzy (the last of the White House Chef books!)
And Again by Jessica Chiarella
Flyaway: How a Wild Bird Rehabber Sought Adventure and Found Her Wings by Suzie Gilbert

[MadamePresident]

Feb 4, 2016 8:20:42 GMT -5 Wallflower said:

Feb 4, 2016 2:27:15 GMT -5 MadamePresident said:

I read a ton.
Where'd you go Bernadette?
Dragonfly in Amber
Bridge to Haven
The Martian
Luckiest Girl Alive
Ready Player One

I read 54 last year, so this year I'll probably aim for 60. I'm off to a great start, but I go through periods where I read very little.

I just loved The Martian!  I even bought the paperback (I'd read the kindle version originally), just cause my brain works that way with books I really enjoy.  I really didn't know what to expect but that it had good reviews and I was in the mood for something different, so I think that added to the enjoyment.

Hope you liked it!

I did like it. I've been reading a lot of books that will become movies and now I'm itching to see the movie.

[whitemerlot]

The Memory Box-4
The Martian- 3 1/2
Rogue Lawyer-3

Reading challenge is on track. I'm hoping to read 35 books this year.

[AJL]

I read five books in January -

Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider - 3 stars
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell - 5 stars
I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios - 3.5 stars
The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati - 4.5 stars
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton - 3.5 stars

What was your favorite of the month?  Oooh that's probably a tie between The Sparrow and The Gilded Hour. I thought both were excellent. The Sparrow really challenged me, though.

If you have a yearly goal, how are you doing? I've committed to read 75 books this year. So far, I'm on track to meet that goal.

How are you going with any challenges?  I'm not doing any specific challenges but I am trying to incorporate more non-fiction into my reading queue this year.

[charlatti]

Feb 6, 2016 20:08:01 GMT -5 AJL said:

What was your favorite of the month?  Oooh that's probably a tie between The Sparrow and The Gilded Hour. I thought both were excellent. The Sparrow really challenged me, though.

I read The Sparrow at least 10 years ago and it still comes to mind not infrequently. Definitely a book that sticks with you, at least for me. Challenging is  a great word for it.

[Wanderista]

How is 2016 starting for your reading?
It is great. I pretty much kicked it into gear exactly as I wanted to.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy - Beautifully written and moving, quite depressing though.
Started and put aside some Emile Zola which I will return to at some point here. His works are ongoing for me right now.
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - Fantastic, 5 star book. This caused me to drift back towards Pride and Prejudice which lead to my drift into a bit of the better Austen fan fiction out there. I think that Gaskell's work was a type of high quality 1850s fan fiction. It was well-done though with a lot of depth and stands very much on its own.

What was your favorite of the month?
Tough one, but North and South. 

If you have a yearly goal, how are you doing?
Don't have a goal except to be reading more which I am doing.

How are you going with any challenges?
Not too applicable except that I am periodically working my way through some Emile Zola. I am reading Pot-Bouille in French. I have a bit of a crush on Octave (a main character) but the book is a little jaded so I want to intersperse my reading of it with less misanthropic stuff.

[booknerd]

How is 2016 starting for your reading?
The Lake House by Kate Morton
Midnight Betrayal by Miranda Leigh
Cold Pursuit by Toni Anderson
Cold Light of Day by Toni Anderson
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (reread)

What was your favorite of the month?
Since P&P was a reread, I'll say The Lake House. The other three were just series books I got cheap on Kindle over the holidays. Any stress makes me reach for easy romance or romantic suspense reads haha.

If you have a yearly goal, how are you doing?
I've read 5 out of 50. I always set a goal of 50, but I'd like to get to 60 this year. I am on track for 50.

How are you going with any challenges?
I'm not doing any official challenges. I just want to read more books that I already own and read at least five classics this year, preferably one per month. So far I'm on track with both.

[gibbinator]

-The fifth wave - pretty good take on the alien invasion thing. Kept reminding me of animorphs though lol.

-The Passage - rereading this series since the 3rd book comes out in May if iirc.