Here it is - the OFFICIAL 2014 READING GOAL CHALLENGE THREAD

[nemofans]

Finished book #93 - The Walled City by Ryan Graudin

I really enjoyed this book. It's fast paced & I was drawn to the characters.

DAI, trying to escape a haunting past, traffics drugs for the most ruthless kingpin in the Walled City. But in order to find the key to his freedom, he needs help from someone with the power to be invisible....
JIN hides under the radar, afraid the wild street gangs will discover her biggest secret: Jin passes as a boy to stay safe. Still, every chance she gets, she searches for her lost sister....
MEI YEE has been trapped in a brothel for the past two years, dreaming of getting out while watching the girls who try fail one by one. She's about to give up, when one day she sees an unexpected face at her window.....
In this innovative and adrenaline-fueled novel, they all come together in a desperate attempt to escape a lawless labyrinth before the clock runs out.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Can we do a challenge next year please I will have more time to read I will even host it if the host it if the current host is tired of hosting them

 

[Swimnoid]

Adding more to my list from yesterday.

78. God of Guilt by Michael Connelly
Mickey Haller #5. I have read some of the Mickey Haller books and most of them are pretty good. I like when Connelly crosses characters over in his different series. This one was pretty good.

From Goodreads: Mickey Haller gets the text, "Call me ASAP - 187," and the California penal code for murder immediately gets his attention. Murder cases have the highest stakes and the biggest paydays, and they always mean Haller has to be at the top of his game.

When Mickey learns that the victim was his own former client, a prostitute he thought he had rescued and put on the straight and narrow path, he knows he is on the hook for this one. He soon finds out that she was back in LA and back in the life. Far from saving her, Mickey may have been the one who put her in danger.

79. Sisters by Patricia McDonald
Alex Woods loses her parents in a car accident. While trying to deal with the house and estate she finds out that she has an older sister who was given up for adoption. She finds her...in jail. She tries to find out what really happened to put her sister in jail and how she can get her free.

Good book. The sister has some mental problems so you wonder if Alex is doing the right thing or not. It has some good action and twists to the story.

80. The 9th Judgement by James Patterson
Women's Murder club again. As usual there are two story lines going on but these get intertwined for an interesting read.

81. Mr Mercedes by Stephen King
This is not your typical King horror story. It is more a crime novel which it appears will be a series. It was a good story though introducing Bill Hodges, retired detective. Bill is obsessed with finding the mass murderer who drove into a crowd of people. I would continue with the series. The next book is set to be released in June '15.

82. The Target by David Baldacci
This is the third Will Robie book. I liked the first two but this one pretty much bored me. I was listening to it on a long car trip and my DH picked it out so I was stuck with it. It came together at the end but took forever to get there

83. The Last Noel by Heather Graham
My last Christmas book of the year. This was much more fun. A family is spending Christmas in their vacation home and are snowed in by a blizzard. Meanwhile a nearby jewelry store is robbed and the robbers crash their getaway car in the storm near this family's house. So they are taken hostage and are forced to go on with their Christmas traditions while being terrorized by the the thieves.

The book is predictable but good and very quick.

84. Shadow Puppet by Orson Scott Card
This is the third in the Ender's Shadow series. This book concentrates on Bean and Petra who have now married and trying to get pregnant. The problem is that Bean was genetically engineered and while he was precocious as a child he now has a disease which will kill him soon. Bean and Petra are in hiding but someone has tolen their remaining embryos. It also follows other members of Ender's army as well as his brother, Peter, and their sworn enemy, Achilles.

I struggled to get through this book. Parts of it were great but a lot of the political stuff lagged.

 

[Swimnoid]

OK, now TOP 5

A Dog's Purpose by W Bruce Cameron
Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card
Under & Alone by William Queen
Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer

Only 4 so far. I haven't decided on the 5th yet.

Cant wait to read everyone else's top picks!

 

[portia9]

Another one done.

#116 Emma by Alexander McCall Smith. Modern versions of Jane Austen classics. Loved this.

 

[kittengal13]

Hi everyone! Do we have a 2015 thread?

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

Hi everyone! Do we have a 2015 thread?

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

I was wondering the same thing.

I want one so badly please I will do anything to make that happen

 

[rigs32]

#49 - The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant by Dan Savage

An interesting story about the adoption process.

#50 - Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson

I have time at work where all I have to do is wait and there's only so much work I have that can go with me. So I've decided to start reading books that could benefit me at work rather than books that are just for fun. This was my first choice. It was definitely a bit self-helpy, and some things were common sense, but it did give me some skills to use and think about when having tough conversations so I thought it was worth my time.

I hit my goal for the year, so rather than rush through my current book, I may wait and finish it on Jan 1 to start 2015 with a bang.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I would go with
Fault in our Stars as the best book I read this year.

 

[portia9]

#117 The Reader by Bernard Schlink.

I always meant to read this and the movie was on the other night so I watched it and then read the book. I will say the movie is a very faithful adaptation of the book. I really enjoyed both the book and the movie.

 

[BonnieF]

Adding on to yesterday's post -
a quick list of my 2014 favorites - in no particular order -

The Museum of Extraordinary Things
(from Goodreads)
From the beloved, bestselling author of The Dovekeepers, a mesmerizing new novel about the electric and impassioned love between two vastly different souls in New York during the volatile first decades of the twentieth century.Coney Island: Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a boardwalk freak show that amazes and stimulates the crowds. An exceptional swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid in her father’s “museum,” alongside performers like the Wolfman, the Butterfly Girl, and a one-hundred-year-old turtle. One night Coralie stumbles upon a striking young man photographing moonlit trees in the woods off the Hudson River.
The dashing photographer is Eddie Cohen, a Russian immigrant who has run away from his father’s Lower East Side Orthodox community and his job as an apprentice tailor. When Eddie captures with his camera the devastation on the streets of New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes embroiled in the mystery behind a young woman’s disappearance.

Orphan Train
(from Goodreads)
The author of Bird in Hand and The Way Life Should Be delivers her most ambitious and powerful novel to date: a captivating story of two very different women who build an unexpected friendship: a 91-year-old woman with a hidden past as an orphan-train rider and the teenage girl whose own troubled adolescence leads her to seek answers to questions no one has ever thought to ask.
Room
(from Goodreads)
To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.
Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.
Me Before You
(from Goodreads)
Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

I really enjoyed all of these for many different reasons. The history in Museum and Orphan Train, the suspense in Room, and the deeply personal story of Me Before You ( I finished it in tears!). All would be good choices to begin a new year of reading!

 

[timsprincess]

Hello!

I have some catching up to do on posting. Yes for next year!

#45
Power Play (Kingdom Keepers #4)
by Ridley Peterson
5 stars

Love this series!

#46
Random Violence
by Jassy Mackenzie
3 stars

#47
What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures
by Malcolm Gladwell
3 stars

#48
100 Cupboards
by ND Wilson
5 stars

Great series!

#49
The Magic Thief
Sarah Prineas
5 stars

Looking forward to the other books in this series

#50
The Lady in Blue
by Javier Sierra
2 stars

I think others in this thread said that this was hard to follow, and I agree. I do not usually have issues jumping from character story to character story but this was hard to keep straight. The ending made me regret the time spent on the book.

#51
Shell Game (Kingdom Keepers 5)
by Ridley Peterson
4 stars

This clearly leads to the next book and doesn't finish the story so only 4 stars.

#52
Tor Loken and the Death of Chief Namakagon
by James A Brakken
3 stars

#53
In A Blink (Disney Fairies: Never Girls 1)
by Kiki Thorpe
3 stars

#54
The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Sutterfield
4 stars

#55
Dandelion Fire (100 Cupboards #2)
ND Wilson
5 stars

#56
Dark Passage (Kingdom Keepers 6)
Ridley Peterson
5 stars

I have missed a book somewhere along the line, as goodreads has 57 books. Anyway, I have met my goal of 50 and I am not done yet for 2014.

I will pick my favorites right after the first of the year. Sign me up for 2015!

Happy Reading!
Peggy

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Well I think my goal for the year was 24 books

According to my Goodreads Year in Books I have read 60 books and I think about 24 of them I won from Goodreads. All the others I probably won from blog contests.

I mostly read childrens books which I donate to my kids old school and christian romance, historical etc.

I have been wanting a kindle for the past 3 years and no such luck. I think I am going to buy one for myself!

 

[Pig Pen]

I went back and tallied my books. Doctor Sleep was #36 and I enjoyed it.

Since then I have read #37 - The Boys in the Boat - the story of the 1936 Olympic gold medal crew team. Nice story, very detailed. It took me awhile to get through it because I kept nodding off during all the technical descriptions. It's similar in style to Unbroken and Seabiscuit but not quite as compelling as those two books. I think it would make a good movie though. The references to Nazi Germany, host of the Olympics, were interesting.

#38 - One Plus One by Jojo Moyes. This book sort of reminded me of Little Miss Sunshine. Jess is a single mom to a troubled teenage boy and a genius elementary school daughter, Tanzie. Tanzie has been accepted into a prestigious private school but Jess needs to come up with part of the tuition. They learn about a student math competition, hundreds of miles away, with a $5000 prize. The family sets out in a dilapidated car, no money, and the family dog. It's part feel-good with some gritty situations thrown in. I liked it.

I just started Harlen Coben's Stay Close. I am on the waiting list for several e-library books plus I picked up a few hard copy books at Goodwill today - Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes and The Kitchen House.

#39 - Wild by Cheryl Strayed. I saw the trailer for the movie a few days ago and then noticed my library had the kindle book. I read the whole thing in 2 sittings (stayed up till 1 a.m. last night then finished today). This is by far the best book I've read this year.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Yay! I just finished #60 of my pledge of 60 books. It was "Life in the Land of IS". It was supposed to be the story of the longest-living quadriplegic. However, for me it was a BIG disappointment. I thought they'd focus more on her struggles and her life philosophy of "IS" rather than what was or will be. However, it was more a plain list of what she did. Not at all what I'd hoped for.

 

[penguin1102]

Please sign me up for 2015

 

[threeboysmom]

OK, here is the link to our new thread for 2015:

2015 Reading Challenge thread

Hope to see you all over there soon!!

 

[threeboysmom]

Adding on to yesterday's post -
a quick list of my 2014 favorites - in no particular order -

The Museum of Extraordinary Things
(from Goodreads)
From the beloved, bestselling author of The Dovekeepers, a mesmerizing new novel about the electric and impassioned love between two vastly different souls in New York during the volatile first decades of the twentieth century.Coney Island: Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a boardwalk freak show that amazes and stimulates the crowds. An exceptional swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid in her father’s “museum,” alongside performers like the Wolfman, the Butterfly Girl, and a one-hundred-year-old turtle. One night Coralie stumbles upon a striking young man photographing moonlit trees in the woods off the Hudson River.
The dashing photographer is Eddie Cohen, a Russian immigrant who has run away from his father’s Lower East Side Orthodox community and his job as an apprentice tailor. When Eddie captures with his camera the devastation on the streets of New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes embroiled in the mystery behind a young woman’s disappearance.

Orphan Train
(from Goodreads)
The author of Bird in Hand and The Way Life Should Be delivers her most ambitious and powerful novel to date: a captivating story of two very different women who build an unexpected friendship: a 91-year-old woman with a hidden past as an orphan-train rider and the teenage girl whose own troubled adolescence leads her to seek answers to questions no one has ever thought to ask.
Room
(from Goodreads)
To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.
Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.
Me Before You
(from Goodreads)
Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

I really enjoyed all of these for many different reasons. The history in Museum and Orphan Train, the suspense in Room, and the deeply personal story of Me Before You ( I finished it in tears!). All would be good choices to begin a new year of reading!

Love your choices! I forgot about Room! I would add that to my list of favorites along with Me Before You. Oh, and Unbroken... and Orphan Train...

 

[Colleen27]

Still going! Christmas break is a wonderful time to read.

#72 - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

I think everyone has an idea of what this one is about. I picked up the ebook a while ago but just didn't have time for it, but once I started it I just couldn't put it down. I am anxiously waiting for the second book to become available from the library and I have a feeling that this is another series I'll devour, much like I did Game of Thrones.

#73 - Better Together by Robert D Putnam

A follow-up to Bowling Alone, which I read a couple months back, this was much less scholarly and much more enjoyable reading. The format of the book is a collection of case studies in building community and social capital in a variety of contexts, from union organizing to church congregations to non-profit organizations, all of which address the themes of Bowling Alone in a more "storytelling" tone that made for an easier read.