Boekentrol71's 2017 Book Challenge

Hi all,

I'm Grada, living in The Netherlands with my husband and son. I'm back again for this challenge in 2017, because I like it a lot :-) I do realise that I haven't been exactly faithful in keeping my posts updated. But... still giving it a try in the same manner as I did things last year.

So.... in this thread I'll post books read (hopefully 75) and keep track of some other challenges I have thought about, all in seperate messages.

75 books and 20,000 pages read







January
01. De macht van meneer Miller by Charles den Tex, 349 pages
02. A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter, 464 pages
03. Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman, 263 pages
04. Arthur, koning voor eens en altijd by Terence H. White, 687 pages
05. De dochter van Salamina by Pamela Gien, 303 pages
06. The crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, 126 pages
07. Down Second Avenue by Ezekiel Mphahlele, 222 pages
08. Fiebre by Pablo Boffelli, 19 pages
09. Duister spoorby Inger Frimansson, 311 pages
Total pages: 2744

February
10. Spinoza's achtbaan by Erik Bindervoet, 144 pages
11. Blauwe wegen by William Least Heat Moon, 480 pages
12. The Woods by Harlan Coben, 509 pages
13. A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow , 199 pages
14. Kinderen van Moeder Aarde by Thea Beckman, 495 pages
15. PostSecret by Frank Warren, 360 pages
16. Het helse paradijs by Thea Beckman, 416 pages
17. Het Gulden Vlies van Thule by Thea Beckman, 423 pages
18. Tweede leven by SJ Watson, 398 pages
19. De brandweerauto die verdween by Sjöwall & Wahlöö, 220 pages
Total pages: 3644

March
20. De slaappop by Jeffery Deaver, 430 pages
21. Zo kwamen we aan het eind by Joshua Ferris, 415 pages
22. Forgotten Bookmarks by Michael Popek, 182 pages
23. De ijszee op by Mariska Mourik, 301 pages
24. The Empty Chair by Jeffery Deaver, 481 pages
25. Letter voor letter by Mikkel Birkegaard, 335 pages
26. Schemerogen by Dean Koontz, 400 pages
27. Het midden van de wereld by Andreas Steinhöfel, 399 pages
28. Ik mis alleen de HEMA by Manon Sikkel, 239 pages
Total pages: 3182

April
29. Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy, 551 pages
30. The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan, 100 pages
31. The Pearl and The Red Pony by John Steinbeck, 181 pages
32. Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter, 114 pages
33. Zweedse laarzen by Henning Mankell, 399 pages
34. Billy Straight by Jonathan Kellerman, 414 pages
35. Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, 416 pages
36. The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham, 213 pages
37. Ex Libris Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman, 132 pages
38. The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark, 142 pages
39. Deception Point by Dan Brown, 559 pages
Total pages: 3221

May
40. She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, 465 pages
41. Out of Africa by Karen Blixen, 364 pages
42. The Death Committee by Noah Gordon, 361 pages
43. The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon, 172 pages
44. Web van inkt by Cornelia Funke, 636 pages
45. Nacht van inkt by Cornelia Funke, 630 pages
46. Dracula by Bram Stoker, 414 pages
47. De zelfmoordclub by Arto Paasilinna, 239 pages
48. Wat je niet wilt zien by Steve Mosby, 319 pages
49. Niemand die je hoort by Steve Mosby, 287 pages
50. De huilende molenaar by Arto Paasilinna, 223 pages
51. Motorcycles & Sweetgrass by Drew Hayden Taylor, 348 pages
52. Texas by James A. Michener, 1117 pages
Total pages: 5575

June
53. The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama, 276 pages
54. Want to Play by P.J. Tracy, 481 pages
55. Duivelskloof by Jeanine Hoekstein, 292 pages
56. Geluidloos by Frank Schätzing, 591 pages
57. Pig Island by Mo Hayder, 352 pages
58. Het Motief by Herbjørg Wassmo, 171 pages
59. Gebruiksaanwijzing voor India by Ilja Trojanow, 158 pages
Pages Challenge completed!!
60. Moordmotieven by Elizabeth George, 251 pages
61. Sneeuwwitje moet sterven by Nele Neuhaus, 448 pages
62. The Complete Fables by Aesop, 262 pages
63. De vrouw in de blauwe mantel by Deon Meyer, 95 pages
Total pages: 3377

July
64. Makkelijk leven by Herman Koch, 95 pages
65. Arabian nights. The Marvels and Wonders of the Thousand and One Nights by Anonymous, 595 pages
66. Er gaat niets boven Zweden by Gerrit Jan Zwier, 189 pages
67. De poppenspeler by Camilla Grebe, 357 pages
Total pages: 1236

August
68. Het geheim by Anna Enquist, 203 pages
69. Wilde Zwanen drie dochters van China by Jung Chang, 561 pages
70. 1984 by George Orwell, 261 pages
71. Billard um halb zehn by Heinrich Böll, 236 pages
72. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, 531 pages
Total pages: 1792

September
73. De boekbindster by Anne Delaflotte Mehdevi, 220 pages
74. Gutenberg's Apprentice by Alix Christie, 406 pages
75. Hersenspel by David Ambrose, 290 pages
Challenge completed
Total pages: 916

October
76. Monogaam by Marek van der Jagt, 63 pages
77. Death of a Stranger by Anne Perry, 370 pages
78. How the Dead Live by Will Self, 404 pages
79. De echte Chinees-Indonesische keuken by Siok Lan Kwee, 126 pages
80. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, 282 pages
81. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong, 339 pages
81. Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys, 158 pages
82. Around the World in 80 Days & Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne, 158 pages
Total pages: 1900

November
83. Kristin Lavransdochter by Sigrid Undset, 1020 pages
84.July's mensen by Nadine Gordimer, 169 pages
85. Echte Amerikaanse jeans by Jan Guillou, 318 pages
86. Selfies by Jussi Adler-Olsen, 491 pages
87. Het kraaienmeisje by Jesper Eriksson, 381 pages
88. Het hongervuur by Jesper Eriksson, 396 pages
Total pages: 2775

December
89. De laatste aanwijzingen by Jesper Eriksson, 366 pages
90. Nooit alleen by Loes den Hollander, 95 pages
91. Bezeten schip by Alton Gansky, 255 pages
92. Hartendief by Chelsea Cain, 303 pages
93. Three breaths by Nancy Brady
94. De correcties by Jonathan Franzen, 503 pages
95. Switch Bitch by Roald Dahl, 140 pages

100. Iene miene mutte by M.J. Arlidge, 383 pages
101. Krebsstation 1. Teil by Alekasndr Solschenitzyn, 409 pages
Total pages: 1662

After checking my list of read books against the number in my collecftion 'read in 2017', I realized there were some missing. So... added additionally:
96. De draak ontwaakt China vandaag by ANWB, 224 pages
97. ?
98. Alex by Pierre Lemaitre, 382 pages
99. Over mijn lijk by Dennis Lehane, 384 pages
Total pages: 990

Grand total of pages: 31,352 (excluding December so far, since that month's not over yet)

40 books OFF my MTBR




(MTBR is a pile of 608 books that have been given to me over the years by various generous BookCrossers. All books received from others prior to January 1st, 2017 are considered MTBR.)

January
01. De macht van meneer Miller by Charles den Tex, 349 pages
02. A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter, 464 pages
03. Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman, 263 pages
04. Arthur, koning voor eens en altijd by Terence H. White, 687 pages
05. De dochter van Salamina by Pamela Gien, 303 pages
06. Duister spoor by Inger Frimansson, 311 pages

February
07. Spinoza's achtbaan by Erik Bindervoet, 144 pages
08. Blauwe wegen by William Least Heat Moon, 480 pages
09. A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow , 199 pages
10. Kinderen van Moeder Aarde by Thea Beckman, 495 pages
11. Het helse paradijs by Thea Beckman, 416 pages
12. Het Gulden Vlies van Thule by Thea Beckman, 423 pages
13. Tweede leven by SJ Watson, 398 pages
14. De draak ontwaakt by ANWB
15. De brandweerauto die verdween by Sjöwall & Wahlöö, 220 pages

March
17. De slaappop by Jeffery Deaver, 430 pages
18. Zo kwamen we aan het eind by Joshua Ferris, 415 pages
19. De ijszee op by Mariska Mourik, 301 pages
20. The Empty Chair by Jeffery Deaver, 481 pages
21. Letter voor letter by Mikkel Birkegaard, 355 pages
22. Schemerogen by Dean Koontz, 400 pages
23. Het midden van de wereld by Andreas Steinhöfel, 399 pages
24. Ik mis alleen de HEMA by Manon Sikkel, 239 pages

April
25. Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy, 551 pages
26. The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan, 100 pages
27. The Pearl and The Red Pony by John Steinbeck, 181 pages
28. Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, 416 pages
29. The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
30. Ex Libris Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman, 132 pages
31. The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark, 142 pages
32. Deception Point by Dan Brown, 559 pages

May
33. She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, 465 pages
34. The Death Committee by Noah Gordon, 361 pages
35. De zelfmoordclub by Arto Paasilinna, 239 pages
36. Wat je niet wilt zien by Steve Mosby, 319 pages
37. Niemand die je hoort by Steve Mosby
38. De huilende molenaar by Arto Paasilinna, 223 pages
39. Motorcycles & Sweetgrass by Drew Hayden Taylor, 348 pages
40. Texas by James A. Michener, 1117 pages
Challenge completed

June
41. The Language of Threads by Gail Tsukiyama, 276 pages
42. Want to Play by P.J. Tracy, 481 pages
43. Duivelskloof by Jeanine Hoekstein, 292 pages
44. Geluidloos by Frank Schätzing, 591 pages
45. Pig Island by Mo Hayder, 352 pages
46. Het Motief by Herbjørg Wassmo, 171 pages
47. Gebruiksaanwijzing voor India by Ilja Trojanow, 158 pages

July
48. Arabian nights. The Marvels and Wonders of the Thousand and One Nights by Anonymous, 595 pages
49. Er gaat niets boven Zweden by Gerrit Jan Zwier, 189 pages

August
50. Het geheim by Anna Enquist, 203 pages
51. 1984 by George Orwell, 261 pages
52. Billard um halb zehn by Heinrich Böll, 236 pages

September
53. Hersenspel by David Ambrose, 290 pages

October
54. Death of a Stranger by Anne Perry, 370 pages
55. How the Dead Live by Will Self, 404 pages
56. De Echte Chinees-Indonesische Keuken by Siok Lan Kwee, 126 pages
57. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
58. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
59. Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys
60. Around the World in 80 Days & Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne

November
61. Het kraaienmeisje by Jesper Eriksson, 381 pages
62. Het hongervuur by Jesper Eriksson, 396 pages

December
63. Bezeten schip by Alton Gansky
64. Three breaths by Nancy Brady
65. Switch Bitch by Roald Dahl

Lovely to see you back, Grada.

5 door stoppers

01. Arthur, koning voor eens en altijd by Terence H. White, 687 pages
02. The Woods by Harlan Coben, 509 pages
03. Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy, 551 pages
04. Deception Point by Dan Brown, 559 pages
05. Web van inkt by Cornelia Funke, 636 pages
Challenge completed!!
06. Nacht van inkt by Cornelia Funke, 630 pages
07. Texas by James A. Michener, 1117 pages
08. Geluidloos by Frank Schätzing, 591 pages
09. Arabian nights. The Marvels and Wonders of the Thousand and One Nights by Anonymous, 595 pages
10. Wilde Zwanen drie dochters van China by Jung Chang, 561 pages
11. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, 531 pages
12. Kristin Lavransdochter by Sigrid Undset, 1020 pages
13. De correcties by Jonathan Franzen, 503 pages

12 books off the 1001-list




(See this post for the list of 1001-books I have already read: http://www.librarything.com/topic/153142 )

January
01. Arthur, koning voor eens en altijd by Terence H. White
02. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
03. Down Second Avenue by Ezekiel Mphahlele, 222 pages

April
04. The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan, 100 pages
05. Suite Française by Irène Némirovski, 416 pages
06. The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark, 142 pages

May
07. Out of Africa by Karen Blixen, 364 pages
08. Dracula by Bram Stoker
09. The Complete Fables by Aesop, 262 pages

July
10. Arabian nights. The Marvels and Wonders of the Thousand and One Nights by Anonymous, 595 pages

August
11. Wilde Zwanen drie dochters van China by Jung Chang, 561 pages
12. 1984 by George Orwell, 261 pages
Challenge completed!

13. Billard um halb zehn by Heinrich Böll, 236 pages

October
14. How the Dead Live by Will Self, 404 pages
15. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, 282 pages
16. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong, 339 pages
17. Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys, 158 pages
18. Around the World in 80 Days & Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne, 158 pages

November
19. Kristin Lavransdochter by Sigrid Undset, 1020 pages
20. July's mensen by Nadine Gordimer, 169 pages

December
21. De correcties by Jonathan Franzen, 503 pages

Thank you! It's good to be back & making plans for next year's reading :-)

I am part of the group.
I love being part of the group.
I love the friendships bestowed upon my by dint of my membership of this wonderful fellowship.
I love that race and creed and gender and age and sexuality and nationality make absolutely no difference to our being a valued member of the group.

Thank you for also being part of the group.

Happy reading in 2017, Grada!

Welcome back!

Happy new year, Grada. I have starred your thread, because I'm also doing the 1001-challenge (no pressure). I checked your library (what I should 'borrow') and noticed you gave a 4-star-rating to De ontdekking van de hemel which I intend to read in February of so. Nice to know you liked it so much.

Hello Grada--since I'm working on the 1001 list off and on, I look forward to following your reading this year. I will try to comment occasionally instead of merely lurking.

Best wishes for a happy New Year!

>11 Trifolia: , >12 arubabookwoman: Thank you for starring my thread *blushes* I'm not doing anything very special, like other group members often do, I'm not so very creative.
But I hope to make progress with the challenges I set myself, especially of course the 1001-one :-)

Will check your threads to see if you keep a list of progress for your 1001-reads.

>9 FAMeulstee:, >10 drneutron:, >11 Trifolia: Thank you for the warm welcome! It's good to be back :-)

Wish you all a healthy 2017 with lots of good books to read! I hope to be around more often than last year, not only to quickly update my posts, but also find more time to read posts by others and interact more.

And number one is finished! An easy read in Dutch, good to start off with.

From now on I'll probably mostly stick to my habit to read a foreign language book (English, German ore something more exotic) during the day or after dinner if it's a working day. Often they are also 1001-books. Before going to sleep I switch to Dutch, something light (no romance though!) for example thrillers, Tom Clancy, Ludlum or James Clavell or even a 1001-book as long as it's not to much to digest.

A very short and psychedelic book in between the more serious tasks and readings: Fiebre by Pablo Boffelli

A more philosophical one finished: Spinoza's achtbaan by Erik Bindervoet.

Another book read: A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow an average detective in an unusual setting (Alaska).

And another one: Kinderen van Moeder Aarde by Thea Beckman. Liked it, so I'll now continue with book 2 and 3 from the series.

Forgot to mention book #15 (in order actually #14): PostSecret by Frank Warren

I think it is time I start another MTBR & 1001-book, to catch 2 flies in one stroke (as they say here). There's enough of those on my list, so no excuses! Chop, chop!

And of course I did completely the opposite... Read a book off MTBR, but ignored the 40 longest and 1001- books.
Excuse for that? Well I'm completely intrigued by the trilogy I started...

So you are enjoying Thea Beckamans trilogy, Grada, I loved the first two and liked the last.
At least you are reducing MTBR ;-)

>23 FAMeulstee: I agree with your description. The last one I found disappointing, compared to the other two.

And the last one in the trilogy Het Gulden Vlies van Thule has also been read. Now I need to find something else to read. Can't be too hard, I suppose, with a MTBR the size of Mt. Olympus...

Gave up on The Ragwitch by Garth Nix today. It lived on my shelf for a long time, ling enough to become one of the 40 oldedt books on my shelves that I received from others.

It was time to read it, but I found myself reading the Beckman-trilogy between chapter 2 and 3 of this book.
When I returned to this one today, I still found I wasn't interested, I couldn't get into it. So I now put it aside and will make sure it continues its BookCrossing journey soon.

And a other book that I wouldn't have kept this long had I known how much I'd hate it... De ijszee op by Mariska Mourik really wasn't worth it.

But... There's good reading news as well: loving two other oldies that I'm currently reading: one by Jeffery Deaver and one by Dean Koontz. So not all is lost!

Nice to see you posting Grada; have a lovely weekend.

MTBR is slowly getting lower, that's good news. But, the amount of 1001-books seems to lag behind. I really want to read more from that list, but with a lack of concentration and trouble at home and at work, I seem to be able to concentrate on easier books only.
Hopefully better times will come soon.

>29 BoekenTrol71: - Don't worry, Grada, many of us have experienced something similar, so take your time and enjoy whenever and whatever you want to read.

>30 Trifolia: Thank you!

Since I've read quite a few (oldies and less oldies) off MTBR already, I figured I could take a small detour and read one of my own books. Still part of a challenge, but one that'll take many years, if I'll ever be able to complete... The last book I've read is Out of Africa by Karen Blixen, one that's on the 1001-list of BTRBYD. :-)

My doorstopper challenge is complete :-) I've read 6 of them by now, so that makes it official (one past my goal). I won't stop though, because there are some other biggies that still call to be read. I'll keep updating my list when I make progress.

And another challenge completed: I have lowered my MTBR! 40 books that I received from others before Jan. 1st 2017 have been read (and partially moved on to new readers).
I'm happy that quite a few are from my 'dinosaurs-list'. I'll keep reading old books from others, see how far I can get before the end of this year. It would be great to cross out as many dinos as I can, both for me in terms of guilt, and for the givers who know that the book has been read and will travel on.

Getting close to my page target as well :-) The up side of being sick at home for several weeks it getting LOTS of reading done... Fortunately I'm better now, so the pace of ticking off books /challenges will slow considerably from now on.

Finally getting round to updating this thread :-)

I have completed my pages-challenge as well. Books are well on their way too, but not there yet.

Still, I'm happy to still be reading from MTBR as well, for it has been high for a long time already.

Just a few more books to read before I reach my target :-) That's good news.
Since I started working again, reading time has been significantly less than I would like. Add in a lot of trouble in the family, a book I've been struggling with Billard um halb zehn, and the result is that I feel like I've hardly read at all.

Soon I'll have a two week break, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to catch up on reading (or rather to ease the feeling of having read not nearly enough). We'll see!

I seriously need to update this thread... I have read a few more since my last post and today I abandoned a book. Still some days off from work after my holidays... Hopefully I'll get to it, in between washing and catching up on my home work for my course for Dutch sign language (NGT).

The lists have been updated. For some reason I get 85 books in my list 'read in 2017', but when I see the list in this thread, I only get to 82. Somehow the difference of three has appeared. I'm not sure I want to dig into that numbers etc. to sort it out.
Both are great: above my challenge and I have also read more off MTBR and off the 1001-list than I expected beforehand. Not all 40 oldest have been read, but I'll make a list like that again for next year, because for me it works well to see them listed and be reminded of them whenever I visit this thread (quite often).

Congratulations on reaching 75 and your other goals, Grada!

Congrats!

>40 FAMeulstee:, >41 drneutron: Thank you :-)

I liked July's People (in Dutch translation) a lot. Soberly written, but very powerful in communicating the feelings of the characters in the book and the background of violence in South Africa at the time.

It's a bit early to be looking back on this year and forward to the one that's coming, but that was exactly what I was doing this afternoon. All in all I'm quite happy with my progress. Met most of my challenges, only the 'read the 40 oldest off MTBR I did not manage.
Not because there was no time, but because I sometimes decided to read other books than the ones on that list. (Mostly still from MTBR, but not the oldest ones.) I managed to read 24 and did not finish another 3. So the list of 40 still has shrunk with 27 books. Not too bad.
I will try to do better next year and maybe I can squeeze one or two small ones in this month, so the list shrinks a bit more still.

Even though I sometimes read other books than those on MTBR (especially the oldest), I still kreep forward with the list. Today another one read... Bezeten schip by Alton Gansky Yay!