OldDan's 75 Book Challenge for 2011

I usually lurk in the LT groups, but decided to take the challenge here. Here is my list of what I have read so far in 2011.

1. A Cat By Leonard Michaels
2. Buffalo Music By Tracey Fern
3. Chocolat By Joanne Harris
4. Different Strokes By Patrick Regan
5. Dashing Through The Snow By Mary Higgins Clark
6. Dewey's Nine Lives: The Legacy Of The Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions By Vicki Myron
7. Enter A Murderer (Dead Letter Mysteries) By Ngaio Marsh
8. Family Affair By Debbie Macomber
9. How To Knit A Love Song: A Cypress Hollow Yarn By Rachael Herron
10. Midnight Sons, Volume 2 By Debbie Macomber
11. Midnight Sons, Volume 3 By Debbie Macomber
12. Nebraska Legacy By DiAnn Mills
13. Outlander By Diana Gabaldon
14. Port Mortuary By Patricia Cornwell
15. Sins Of The Wolf By Anne Perry
16. The Dog Who Rescues Cats: The True Story of Ginny By Philip Gonzalez
17. The Pitchfork Patrol By Will Henry
18. The Sweethearts' Knitting Club By Lori Wilde
19. The Cat Who Sniffed Glue By Lilian Jackson Braun
20. Where Cats Meditate By David Baird
21. What's Heaven By Maria Shriver

Hi and welcome!

Welcome! Nice start to the year.

Hi and welcome. Great start

Welcome aboard!

Thanks, ALL, for the welcome. Glad to be here.

Welcome!

Welcome! I hope you enjoyed reading Outlander. I loved it.

Thank you, kidzdoc and mks27 for the welcome. My goodness, I thought I was so far down on the list that nobody would notice me.

mks27, Outlander was not my cup of tea, but I did read the whole book; had to find out what happened next. My husband read science fiction, so I was familiar with time travel. I often wondered how I would do if I traveled back in time. Don't think I would do too well, but would survive worse in the future. So, I guess I'll stay in the current time. Not that I'm doing so well here. Ha! But I must say that the author did an excellent job of composing the book.

Sorry you did not enjoy Outlander and it being a fairly long book...good for you for sticking with it! I look forward to learning more about the books you are reading!

mks27, Diana Gabaldon did an excellent job of writing and I understand that this was even her first book. That amazes me. That's probably why I read the whole book. The subject matter is the only thing I hesitate about. I'm of the generation that you didn't discuss sex, and I feel uncomfortable with it (even behind closed doors. LOL). I hope I didn't hurt your feelings. That bothered me all day as I was shelving books in the library today. Have you continued on in the series? I guess I would be curious if she comes back to her modern times.

Oh, no, feelings not hurt at all. There are no wrong opinions.

I do enjoy hearing other's opinions, even if they are different from my own. It triggers interesting discussions...here about generational differences in reading preferences. My mother did not enjoy Outlander for the same reasons, but interestingly, her sister (my aunt) loved them.

I read them all, but the first 4 were the best for me. I am sorry you were worried. Most of the books take place in the past, with some small parts in the present. There is more traveling in time by her and others and the sex slows down as Jamie and Claire age. The last one I read, they were in their late forties and early fifties.

So, no worries and happy reading.

Finishing up April, I read the following:

22. Cat People by Michael Korda and Margaret Korda
23. Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle

Hi, OldDan. Just stopping by to say "hello" and wondering ... did you choose your name from Where the Red Fern Grows?

Just found your thread. Welcome!

And mks27 is right -- there are no wrong opinions! If we all liked exactly the same thing, libraries and bookstores would be dull places. Please feel free to say what you think about books in this group -- and most especially on your own thread!

Thank you countrylife and tymfos for the warm welcome.

Countrylife, I laughed out loud when I read your question. I was raised on a farm in Nebraska, and our bull was named Dan. Dan would let my sister and me climb all over him with no retaliation. Picture this: at five years of age I'm trying to jump up on his back, miss, only to give him a good kick in the belly. He just stood there and took it? He sort of reminds me of Ferdinand (my favorite book as a kid because I thought he was so funny). Later bulls we had, well, I kept my distance from them. Ha!

Tymfos, I work in a library also, and in just conversing with the public about a book that I think is good, some of them have some pretty strong opinions and really bite your head off (verbally, of course). Guess I should just shut my mouth and check them out. Now, if I could only get them off their cell phones while at the check out counter. Sigh!

Well, a double welcome, then! I was raised on a farm in Nebraska, too. Our cattle were Angus. One winter day, when I was a youngster, after I'd tossed their hay over the fence, I decided to lay down on that sweet-smelling pile and watch them feed. Much trouble was I in, when my Papa saw me there, without a care or caution in my brain, surrounded by all those huge animals.

We had white-faced Herefords. My sister and I named the milk cows from grandmothers, sisters, mothers, daughters, down to the granddaughters. In the summer time when it was too hot to milk in the barn, we could just put our arms around their necks and lead them off away from the other cattle in the yard to milk. They would stand still while we milked, and didn't need a rope to lead them; just by touch and talk. They were our pets.

24. Cain His Brother By Anne Perry
25. Sugarplums and Scandal By Dana Cameron & Others
26. Killing Floor By Lee Child

A belated 'Welcome to the group!' from me :)

Thanks, Alcottacre, for the welcome. I'm not reading as much now as I use to, but I got hooked on crocheting and knitting and my reading has to share the time. Good Lord, just wait till I retire at the end of this year. I'll open up a jigsaw puzzle and everything else will be put on the back burner. Even sleep; none will get done till the puzzle is finished!

My knitting is in competition with my reading for my spare time, so I know how it is. Congrats on you upcoming retirement! Happy knitting, reading, and crocheting!

Congratulations on getting to retire! I hope the books, puzzles, and knitting do not wear you out too much :)

May:

27. Molly And The Storm By Christine Leeson
28. Weighed In The Balance By Anne Perry
29. Murder Past Due By Miranda James
30. Holiday Grind By Cleo Coyle

July:

31. Abiyoyo By Pete Seeger
32. Truly Madly Manhattan By Nora Roberts
33. The Cat Who Went Underground By Lilian Jackson Braun
34. First Garden: The White House Garden and How It Grew
By Robbin Gourley
35. Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired A nation
By Andrea Davis Pinkney
36. The Silent Cry By Anne Perry
37. Millie Waits For The Mail By Alexander Steffens Meier
38. Abiyoyo Returns By Pete Seeger and Paul DuBois Jacobs
39. Farmer Smarts Fat Cat By James Sage
40. If You Give A Mouse A Cookie By Laura Joffe Numeroff
41. If You Give A Cat A Cupcake By Laura Joffe Numeroff
42. The Truly Terribly Horrible Sweater...The Grandma Knit
By Debbie Macomber
43. Gideon's Sword By Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
44. The Goodnight Trail By Ralph Compton
45. Skein Of The Crime By Maggie Sefton

August:

46. In My Mother's House By Patricia Polacco
47. Yakov And The Seven Thieves By Madonna
48. The Heroine Of The Titantic By Joan W. Blos
49. Mackinac Bridge: The Story Of The Five-Mile Poem
By Gloria Whelan
50. A Breach Of Promise By Anne Perry
51. Classified As Murder By Miranda James
52. The Twisted Root By Anne Perry
53. A Crafty Killing By Lorraine Bartlett

54. Smokin' Seventeen By Janet Evanovich
55. Nine Lives Last Forever By Rebecca M. Hale
56. The Dancing Tiger By Malachy Doyle
57. Northern Lights By Nora Roberts
58. Swift By Robert J. Blake
59. When Pioneer Wagons Rumbled West By Christine Graham
60. 1901 By Robert Conroy
61. Rules of Prey By John Sandford

October:
62. Slaves of Obsession By Anne Perry
63. Chapter and Hearse By Lorna Barrett
64. Our Library By Eve Bunting
65. Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair By Patricia Polacco
66. The Berenstain Bears and the Double Dare By Stan & Jan Berenstain
67. Books Can Be Deceiving By Jenn McKinlay
68. Semper Fi By W.E.B. Griffin
69. 1022 Evergreen Place By Debbie Macomber

November:

70. 1862 By Robert Conroy
71. Black Cat By Christopher Myers
72. Party Animals By Kathie Lee Gifford
73. Goyang: Means Cat By Christine McDonnell
74. The Man With A Load Of Mischief By Martha Grimes
75. Funeral in Blue By Anne Perry
76. Hog Music By M. C. Helldorfer
77. A Puppy For The White House By Kathleen Smith
78. 1225 Christmas Tree Lane By Debbie Macomber

December:

79. 1105 Yakima Street By Debbie Macomber
80. Shane By Jack Schaefer
81. Call To Arms By W.E.B. Griffin

Congrats on your 75!