Karen's 24 Bombs for 2012

Well, tickerfactory seems to be having a problem tonight so that part will have to wait, but that doesn't mean I can't set forth my personal goal.

In 2012 I vow to remove 24 books from my TBR (preferably the shelves upstairs rather than down) and to acquire no additional books other than those chosen as group reads (for 2 book groups) or from Early Reviewers.

Further, at least 5 of the 24 shall be non-fiction. (I'm really good at buying non-fiction books, not so good at actually reading them.)

Finally, during the month of March I vow to read *only* books I already own.

Thus far this year I've read 18 books. Only one has been on my shelf for any period of time. Well, two if you count the one that was already on the Kindle when I bought it from a friend. What the heck -- let's count that one! I may really need it come December. ;)

The first of these was The Private Patient by P.D. James which I purchased shortly after it was released in 2008. Why did I wait so long? It was quite a good locked room type mystery about a journalist in early middle age who is murdered in a private cosmetic surgery clinic. P.D. James recently acknowledged that it is the last in her series featuring Adam Dalgliesh.

Second was The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames, a mystery featuring sleuth who owns a specialty cheese shop in a smallish Ohio town. It was quick, light, enjoyable and made me hungry reading about all the different cheeses and things offered in the shop, but I'm not sure I'd seek out more of this series. Although it quite pleasantly filled a few hours one weekend, it's not generally my kind of thing.

Karen, welcome aboard!

Since I reduced my intake of cheese for Lent I'm glad I haven't planned a Cheese shoppe mystery for March! I remember Long Quiche Goodbye making be want to try exotic cheeses too!

Love the ticker!

Thanks for the welcome! I'm glad to be here.

Finished a BOMB tonight! This one hasn't been on my shelves long but it is mine so I'm going to count it (plus it's my f2f selection for the month) -- The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey which I must say I liked well enough but did not love as I wanted to. That may well be the fault of my own rather distracting life at the moment but, for me, lovely writing just didn't save a so-so story and a sort of strange ending. I'll be interested to hear the opinions of others in my group -- they're sure to set me straight!

Just finished A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny, the March selection of my online book group. I've had it on the shelf since it was first released last August so it counts as a BOMB for me.

I think it's one of her better efforts with the mystery hanging together nicely and everything about the resolution making great sense. An excellent exampfe of a Who Done It? mystery. I am, however, growing a bit tired of her writing style -- too many sentence fragments designed to convey some level of drama leave me not anxious for the next sentence but annoyed by overuse of a style gimmick. Oh, well -- maybe I'm just too cranky!

I do *not* understand why this should be but it seems that every year I find myself reading less in March. I don't get it. I certainly FEEL as though I'm reading all the time; I can't think what else I might be doing with the time, but generally in March I ge to the end of the month and discover I've read half as many -- or less -- than I have in previous months or will in subesquent ones.

This bit of a whine is all about my current read which is both off my shelf and, in honor of St Patty's Day, set in Ireland concerning the wake of a son of a very large Irish family. I'm enjoying it quite a lot even though there isn't much story to it, but the writing is just delicious. I wondered if I'd lived in Ireland if I'd be so glib of tongue and ... thought. Ah, I'm thinkin' not so much. ;)

Finished The Gathering by Anne Enright this evening (I can't believee I didn't name the book in my last post!) and absolutely loved it! In some respects the writing and the tone reminded me -- distantly -- of The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. Or is that just because both are by Irish writers? Maybe... Or is this what it means to be an 'Irish writer'. Ach, questions too esoteric for my poor addled brain!

After I finished I read an Amazon review that truly captured the story for me:

The story of the Hegartys is indeed bleak, and hard, but it surges with tenderness and eloquent thought which, in the end, are the very things that help this family (or at least her narrator Veronica) survive. Through her eyes, and in Enright's skillful imagination, those small turning-point moments of life that we all know in some form or another--a petty fight, a careless word, an event witnessed--come together in an unshakeable vision of how you become the person you are.

One more down, Troubles by J.G. Farrell which I really quite liked so I'm at a total loss as to why it took me 10 freakin' days to read the thing! And I didn't even actually finish, I was just, finally, DONE with it... Couldn't read it any more. Had spent more time with it than I felt necessary. I skipped to the last few pages, discovered that things turned out pretty much the way I expected them to, and moved on.

But, I would recommend the book just be sure you actually have the *time* for it, which somehow in March I never seem to really have.

Finished last night, Mr Churchill's Secretary. Although it was received this year, I count it in my BOMB total because it is, and will remain, on my bookshelf -- albeit moving from the unread shelves to the read ones.

I'm hoping to finish one more before the month is officially over and thus have started what will surely be another quick mystery read, Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James.

Two for the month of April thus far: Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson, an enjoyable mystery set in England in 1780. This is the first in a series with the second having just been released.

Also read The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt which I liked much better than I thought I would. Admittedly it hasn't been on my shelf for long but both the purchase and the read were required -- it's this month's book club choice.

Well, this is a piss-poor showing. In the month of June I obliterated only two BOMBS, The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen and Calling Invisible Women by Jeanne Ray, neither one of which should even be included since both were recent acquisitions -- the first from the Costco table and the second as a RIF ARC.

I just takes my books wherever I finds them... :)

Not much better in July or August, darn it!

BOMBS for July were Jack 1939 by Francine Mathews which I received as an ARC from LTER and include only because it will hereafter live on my shelves. Also Color of the Sea by John Hamamura which I've had for a couple of years and read with my face group with much success.

Although August is not yet over I can already tell you that what will come in the next few days will be library books so the only BOMBS I can lay claim to for this month were The Orphanmaster by Jean Zimmerman, excellent mystery set in Colonial New Amsterdam, The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach -- very good but would have been even better at 100 pages shorter -- and The Widow's Daughter by Nicholas Edlin another selection of my face group telling the story of a US Marine Corps surgeon and his time on at an American military hospital in New Zealand during WWII. Did you know the U.S. had a military presence in New Zealand during WWII? Neither did we!

Unfortunately, the number of books I've added to my shelves in this same time period is far greater than the ones I've moved. :(

Alas, I also add more than I read. A curse? for all LTers I think.

LOL I don't know if it's a curse or not, either. Sometimes I feel almost weighed down by all these unread books sitting here staring at me; at other times it seems a blessing to have so many lovely choices!

I didn't realize I hadn't checked in here at the end of September. Even so, I have only two books to report in two months, The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny and The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright neither one of which I can recommend.

But that should put me at 17 for the year with only 7 more needed to meet my original goal. Now, if I can just stay away from reviews and the library for a few weeks, I might make it!

Five BOMBS for November and another four in December brings my total for the year to... Ta-Da ... 26.

So, I met my goal of reading at least 24 books from my own shelves but I shudder to think how many I added this year so I think it was a net gain.

Oh well, I have lots of lovely choices ahead for 2013!

Congratulations, Karen!