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twohectobooks

twohectobooks

Joined April 2016

Swimming, Star Trek, Stories | I blog about books at www.twohectobooks.com
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twohectobooks
Dubliners | Joyce, James
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Not too long after my last post, I started seeing someone and my reading progress fell off a cliff. I now have this huge accumulation of unread #library books (this isn‘t even all of them!).

While I‘m certainly not complaining and am happy to report he‘s a fellow reader, I‘m also not sure when my reading or posting will increase in frequency again.

In the meantime, if you‘re reading this, how are you? Is 2021 off to an ok start?

mcipher Congrats - and a reader too!! 💕2021 has been odd and busy but I‘m happy to say my reading game has picked back up this year so I guess my brain is working better than last year 😂 3y
twohectobooks @mcipher Thanks! And that‘s good to hear! I had a pretty good year of reading in 2020 but I know a lot of others struggled. Glad things are going better for you now! 3y
30 likes2 comments
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Before I Go to Sleep | S. J. Watson
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First two books of the year! Trying out reading paired fiction and non-fiction selections for the first time. Ill definitely finish the novel before the non-fiction however. #12hppofxmas

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Dragon Hoops | Gene Luen Yang
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Book 7️⃣ of the #12booksof2020

I just love Gene Luen Yang‘s comics. They‘re so clear while still maintaining a sense of movement and excitement, and he‘s such a good, thoughtful writer. Have to admit I teared up a few times while reading this. 🥺

Caryl I just finished this one. I ❤️ Gene Luen Yang so much! 3y
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Dogsbody | Diana Wynne Jones
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Hoping to have these two finished by the end of the day as my last two books of 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣0️⃣

46 pages to go between the two of them

Suspect I might cry at the end of Dogsbody but we‘ll see.

#12hppofxmas

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Book 6️⃣ of #12booksof2020

Was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book about cars. It‘s about a lot more than cars, though. Covering vehicles from the Ford Model T to the Toyota Prius, it examines how these different vehicles shaped and responded to their times. Listened to this on audio and it felt like all the times I‘ve been to car shows with my dad (who was able to guess most of the vehicles when I told him about this book).

Andrew65 Interesting choice. 3y
Nute This sounds interesting to me! Sometimes I am surprised that I am drawn to books with off-the-wall topics like this as well.🙂 3y
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Book 5️⃣ of the #12booksof2020

An incredibly propulsive novel told in two separate timelines, one of which is related in reverse. I‘ll caution that the ending of one timeline is a bit unsatisfying. This is a story about a young woman named Jake who is running from something, all the way to a sheep farm on a remote island off the coast of Great Britain. When I finished it I immediately added Evie Wyld‘s other works to my tbr.

Andrew65 Looks good. 3y
vivastory Read this years ago & still think about it. Can't wait to read Wyld's latest 3y
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'Salem's Lot | Stephen King
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Book 4️⃣ of the #12booksof2020

This is the most fun I‘ve had with a Stephen King novel in quite a long time. This is a pretty straightforward vampire story that‘s super creepy and super exciting. Some of the character work is not QUITE as strong as I know King is capable of but his characters on a bad day are still head and shoulders above what a lot of authors can do at their best. Reignited my appetite for King!

Andrew65 A popular choice I would imagine. 3y
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Castle Waiting Vol. 1 | Linda Medley
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New #library book day! I had to expand onto a second shelf again, thanks to my decision to browse a little after picking up my book on hold (tagged).

I‘ll certainly be prepared if the library has to close again, though I really hope that doesn‘t happen.

KathyWheeler I loved Castle Waiting. 3y
twohectobooks @KathyWheeler excellent! I flipped through it quickly and I think I‘ll be picking it up once I finish the current graphic novel I‘m reading. 3y
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Equal Rites | Terry Pratchett
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Book 3️⃣ of the #12booksof2020

This is a sentimental selection, falling as it does in what I‘m calling my #discwhirled (re)read. There are better Discworld books and better books featuring the Witches (IMO this book is a prototype for the eventual Tiffany Aching subseries). However, I needed Granny Weatherwax this year. Looking forward to continuing my Discworld reading at a faster pace in 2021.

Andrew65 Can‘t beat Terry Pritchett. 3y
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Hot Nashville Nights | Sheri WhiteFeather
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A couple new reads for #12hppofxmas day 3

Read in bed for a while this morning but now it‘s time to get up!

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Book 2️⃣ of the #12booksof2020

I‘ve gotten a slow start on the Aubrey-Maturin series over the past few years, but I have a feeling my progress will pick up beginning in 2021, after reading this terrific third entry in the series this year. This book is packed with nineteenth century nautical thrills and adventures, and populated by characters who feel true to their time while remaining likeable.

MsMelissa I 💕 this series. 3y
Andrew65 I need to get back to these. Well done 👏👏👏 3y
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Book 1️⃣ of #12booksof2020

I just read this a few days ago and I absolutely loved it. The author is an anthropologist telling of his time with the people in Gapun village, who are the only people who have ever spoken a unique language called Tayap. This book has made me think very hard about my own privilege, colonial/imperialist forces still at work in the world, and the loss of indigenous languages in my own country.

@Andrew65

Andrew65 Looks good. 3y
34 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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Armed in Her Fashion | Kate Heartfield
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For the last several years I‘ve been doing my own personal readathon for Xmas that I call #12hppofxmas where I aim to read at least 100 pages per day for the 12 days of Christmas. This year, these are my current reads for the first day.

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Just one new #library book today, and it‘s about a library!

Sadly today‘s library visit also involved overhearing one of the staff trying to get a difficult patron not following public health regulations to leave.

MsMelissa We are about to go into lockdown again, sadly. Mainly because too many people refuse to pay attention to public health advice. 3y
hoppeduponbooks All our libraries are closed but I am still able to borrow e-books and audiobooks. That is good. 3y
twohectobooks @Book_Fiend_Melissa yes, I saw that news. We have more restrictions here than earlier in the fall including no indoor social gatherings. I think part of why I‘m getting so many library books lately is a bit of paranoia that the libraries will be closed again soon :( 3y
twohectobooks @hoppeduponbooks I was so thankful for the digital collection earlier this year but I do really love my paper books. 3y
Mccall0113 I‘ve had this one in my shelf for ages. 3y
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Just starting my first book of Christmas holidays! #catsoflitsy

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Golden Witchbreed | Mary Gentle
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I finally finished Golden Witchbreed today and it‘s most likely going to be my last #tbrbingo book of the year. I have a bunch of new library books that I‘m way more interested in! Still trying to decide what to do for next year. I have twelve physical #TBR books on my shelf but otherwise I‘d like to just read whatever I want for a bit after finishing the #modernlibrarytop100. Stay tuned to see what happens!

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Armed in Her Fashion | Kate Heartfield
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I continue checking out #library books at a frankly absurd rate. I returned two unread today but have overall managed to still finish them, so that‘s something! I also had to expand up to a second shelf (not shown). Tagged is the book I‘m most excited about and will likely start as soon as I finish the current two (Golden Witchbreed and His Bloody Project).

PandaPanda This is me! I am going to pick more up tomorrow since they came in with a shelf unread at home! 3y
twohectobooks @PandaPanda Need to keep those library workers busy somehow! 3y
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Golden Witchbreed | Mary Gentle
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1️⃣ Tagged and His Bloody Project
2️⃣ I haven‘t read a single five star book this year apparently. Last one on Goodreads was Bastard Out of Carolina.
3️⃣ I don‘t think I have one!

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

MsMelissa I‘m just starting His Bloody Project today 😊 3y
twohectobooks @Book_Fiend_Melissa I just started it yesterday! I‘m at about the 1/3 mark and liking it so far 3y
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Just getting started on a new book.

Lucy_Anywhere Oooh - I liked this one! Hope you enjoy it 3y
twohectobooks @Lucy_Anywhere I got about 50 pages in yesterday and am liking it so far. I‘m a bit nervous about where the story may go but we‘ll see! 3y
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Before I Go to Sleep | S. J. Watson
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New #library book day already! Tagged is my latest #bookclub book but I‘m not quite ready to pick it up yet.

Really happy to have several of these because I placed my holds prior to the March lockdown and they‘ve finally made their way to my shelf!

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Jane Eyre | Charlotte Bront
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1️⃣ Saskatchewan 🇨🇦
2️⃣ tagged
3️⃣ Discworld
4️⃣ hm, don‘t think I have one
5️⃣ Star Trek in general
6️⃣ don‘t have a specific one of these either
7️⃣ blue
8️⃣ sf
9️⃣ sort of construction estimating
🔟 a little grey tabby named Jacques who technically belongs to my brother

#meetthelittens

MsMelissa I‘m currently binge watching Enterprise on Netflix. I‘m a huge Star Trek fan, too, but this is my first time watching this series. It gets dissed a lot, but I‘m quite enjoying it. 3y
twohectobooks @Book_Fiend_Melissa awesome! Enterprise is very flawed but it pretty quite good in the later seasons and I really loved Trip Tucker. 3y
MsMelissa Archer will never win favourite captain for me (my loyalty lies with Captain Kirk), but Tucker has become one of my favourite Star Trek characters ever. He‘s awesome. I‘m halfway through season 3. 3y
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twohectobooks @Book_Fiend_Melissa I love him so much! I‘ve also been loving the Enterprise references in some of the newer Trek series. 3y
MsMelissa I‘m not sure I‘ll watch Discovery until it‘s over. I‘m a fan of binge-watching 🤣. My favourites are TNG and DS9, and I love the recent movie reboots of the original show — the casting was spot on. I think I‘ll probably rewatch the original series after I finish Enterprise. 3y
MsMelissa I‘ve finished Enterprise, except I refused to watch the very last episode! I already knew how it ended, and since I refuse to accept that they killed Trip off, I prefer to imagine my own ending after the end of Terra Prime. 3y
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Catherine House: A Novel | Elisabeth Thomas
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New #library book day! I think I‘ll have to start with Catherine House since it seems to be in quite high demand.

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Little, Big | John Crowley
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Mehso-so

Another success on my #tbrbingo!

Unfortunately I didn‘t like the book that much and would‘ve probably DNF‘d it if I hadn‘t purchased it. As is it‘s not going to stay in my collection. I‘m learning that I should really only purchase books I already know I love.

Anyway, this one starts off like it‘s going to be a slow burn family saga with fairies and tarot cards but then basically nothing happens till the end.

More thoughts in comments ⤵️

twohectobooks The ending ALMOST saves it. I kind of get what Crowley is doing here, which is portraying what it would really feel like to be a member of a family that‘s chosen by the fairies to take part in a grand tale. No one would really know what was going on and no one would really want to talk about it either. But I just don‘t think that the way it‘s done really works as a book. Or maybe it just wasn‘t for me. I usually love this sort of thing though? 3y
twohectobooks It reminded me a bit of Mythago Wood, which is better. Still bewildering, no fairies, but things actually happen. 3y
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The Tor.com Sampler | Nnedi Okorafor, Seanan McGuire, Melissa F. Olson, Victor LaValle, Malka Older, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Cassandra Khaw, Matt Wallace, Guy Haley, Daniel Polansky, Ruthanna Emrys
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Tor.com is definitely my #favouriteblog for book stuff. I like that they not only promote their own new releases, but also lots of backlist sff. #forevernovember

(I was very tempted to just post my own blog. It‘s at www.twohectobooks.com)

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Glad the weekend is here so I can get some #rest. I‘m currently reading these three books and hoping to finish the tagged one tonight. #forevernovember

TheNeverendingTBR Love your edition of 'salems Lot! 👌 3y
twohectobooks @TheNeverendingTBR it‘s a library copy with most of the art rubbed off of both covers! Normally I don‘t think they‘d still have it in circulation but with the way the library system works here I think they‘ve been putting some old stuff like this back on the shelf due to COVID. 3y
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The Whole Family: A Novel | William Dean Howells
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The Whole #Family is a stunt novel — 12 authors contributed one chapter each. I‘ve never heard of most of them but the book came to my attention because Henry James participated, and sometimes I love him. This one may or may not be on my #tbr for next year.

#forevernovember

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 🙌🏻📚 3y
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It‘s been over a decade since Wil Wheaton released his #Memories of the Future working on TNG. I have to admit I‘ve basically given up hope of ever seeing Volume 2 :( #forevernovember

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I got to #vote twice last month, in my provincial and municipal elections. The municipal election is next week but I voted at an advance poll. It was an extra democratic time.

I‘ll be avoiding the American election news today as much as I can. Not even sure what to say.

#forevernovember

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks That‘s a wise decision!! I can‘t though 🇺🇸 3y
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A book on the concept of #home from my #TBR. I‘ve been spending more time there than usual, even though I‘m normally a homebody anyway. Maybe I should move this further up the list. #forevernovember

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I‘m also a homebody!!! 3y
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Night Shift | Stephen King
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I think this is the only book I own that #startswithn. More of an October book though ;) #forevernovember

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I had a hard time finding one too!! 3y
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I only finished one of my #tbrbingo books in October, though I read several books that aren‘t on it, and HMS Surprise was excellent. Every time I return to the Aubrey-Maturin series I wonder why I‘ve been away so long. I‘ve also been reading Little, Big since October 2. It‘s a slow burn and several unrenewable library books have taken precedence.

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Old children‘s books are slowly evolving into a niche interest of mine, and this one has everything that I love about the genre: death and darkness, blatant moralizing, and a heavy dose of religion. I just find it so interesting what has been considered appropriate for children over the decades/centuries. The intro to the edition I read was by EV Lucas who clearly sort of hated the book, but I loved his shadiness.

twohectobooks This book is available on Project Gutenberg! https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36507 3y
Lindy An intro by someone who hated the book? That‘s intriguing. 3y
twohectobooks @Lindy Hate may be a bit of a strong word but it also reminded me of the time I read The Woman in White and the introduction was mainly about how Dickens was a better writer than Collins! 3y
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Remembered to snap a pic just before returning this.

An excellent pop-science non-fiction book about past mass extinctions and possible future ones. This is the hundred million mile (year) high view so the author doesn‘t get into a ton of detail about each but I love his style which is a mix of awe and sarcasm.

‼️ WARNING ‼️ It did put me in a pretty dark headspace by the end.

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It‘s been many months (almost a year!) since I last shared my #bedsidetablebooks

Did some Sunday morning reading but now it‘s time to get to work on my chores for the day and come back to these in the evening.

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Went a little wild with spooky/mysterious/disturbing library holds for October. I‘ve read one already and am currently reading the tagged.

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The Prestige | Christopher Priest
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Got a bingo last night when I finished The Prestige! #tbrbingo

So I honestly think the movie improves on the source material and I wouldn‘t‘ve enjoyed this as much if I hadn‘t seen the movie first. Of course, without magic, there‘s no way of knowing for sure.

A story of two rival magicians in the late 19th century. They‘re both willing to go too far in order to be at the top of their fields. I liked some of the verbal and narrative antics.

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My latest #konmari project is still in progress so no updated #shelfie just yet. But! I will be getting rid of a whole bunch of books.

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Ulysses | James Joyce
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200 pages left!

AshleyHoss820 GET IT!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 4y
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It Will Just Be Us | Jo Kaplan

My sister has an ARC and recommended this to me last night - hopefully I can find a copy soon!

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The Prestige | Christopher Priest
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Next #bookclub book! I just started and it‘s so intriguing to read after already seeing the movie version! I‘ve always heard that this is a rare case of the movie being better, but as usual book club gets me to pick things up that I wouldn‘t bother with otherwise.

Jacques making an appearance as well #catsoflitsy

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#konmari book sorting continues. So far I have about thirty books that won‘t be staying in my collection. Tomorrow or later today I‘ll be looking at my “practical” books like cookbooks, reference books, dictionaries, etc. I‘m also including music books in this category, and that‘s going to be tackled on Tuesday.

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And here are all my #booksonthefloor. Books currently on the shelves are my Nancy drew collection which I will NOT be parting with, my brother‘s books, yearbooks, and photo albums.

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Doing an eight week #konmari tidy challenge and this week is BOOKS. I did go through my books a few years ago using this method but I‘m going to be a bit more ruthless this time because I‘m running out of shelf space since my brother moved in. This is my before #shelfie. The living room is a bit messy due to other things that are ongoing in my life (ha).

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Radiance: A Novel | Catherynne M. Valente
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It‘s taken me WAY too long to get to this novel that first caught my attention and made it onto my shelves in 2017, but here we are at last!

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Ulysses | James Joyce
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My feelings about Ulysses are ambivalent at best but this is beautiful.

mirnas After reading Ulysses the way I read, perceive and value literature has changed. Reading it is difficult, I agree completly. 4y
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Ulysses | James Joyce
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Reading on the deck, first day of my summer staycation holiday. 1/3 of the way through Ulysses.

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Ulysses | James Joyce
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James Joyce can K.M.A. honestly. 20% done with Ulysses! #modernlibrarytop100

SamAnne 😂 😂 😂 4y
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Excited to see that @DeweysReadathon has announced the Summer #ReverseReadathon, which is honestly my favourite one of the year. This year it falls August 7-8, which will be the perfect ending to my summer holiday!

https://deweysreadathon.wordpress.com/2020/07/17/summer-2020-reverse-readathon/

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Returned these babies to the #library today after hanging onto them since mid-March. I‘d had Sons and Lovers since January and renewed it a couple times prior to the lockdown.

I‘ve taken out three books since my library reopened. We have to put them on hold and pick up at the door without entering the library building, so no browsing, but it‘s better than nothing.

vivastory Evie Wyld has a new one coming out in a couple of months. Looking forward to it 4y
BookishMarginalia I have a bagful that I need to return, also borrowed in mid-March! 4y
twohectobooks @vivastory after reading All the Birds, Singing, I immediately added the rest of her books to my TBR. 4y
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Ulysses | James Joyce
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Here we go!

This is the number one book on the #modernlibrarytop100 list, and I‘ve finally gotten to this point over a decade after starting to read from the bottom of The List.

Only read five pages of very tiny font and already exhausted, but I‘m trying to keep an open mind.

ImperfectCJ I read this one a few years ago and was helped immensely by reading the chapter on Ulysses from Joseph Campbell's Mythic Worlds, Modern Words alongside it. My sister did fine without the Campbell, but I needed the help. :-) (Just tossing this out here in case your experience is more like mine.) 4y
BarbaraBB You‘ve read all other 99? Impressive! I am looking forward to your thoughts. I had a hard time with Ulysses 😀. I had Shwoop‘s explanations nearby! 4y
twohectobooks @ImperfectCJ thanks for the recommendation! There are a ton of annotations in this edition so we‘ll see how I handle those. 4y
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twohectobooks @BarbaraBB I‘ve read 98 - I skipped Women in Love by DH Lawrence because I hated The Rainbow. There are also a few series on The List and I didn‘t complete them if I didn‘t enjoy the first book or two or three. 4y
SamAnne I have yet to tackle Joyce 4y
BarbaraBB I have to check it out. I am reading the #1001books to read before you die. Women in Love and The Rainbow are both on them as well. I haven‘t read them yet but I did like Lady Chatterley and Sons and Lovers when I read them - ages ago! (edited) 4y
twohectobooks @SamAnne I‘ve only read one story from Dubliners but I feel like that might be the place to start. Definitely don‘t start with Finnegans Wake like I did! 4y
twohectobooks @BarbaraBB honestly from reading the synopsis of Women in Love, it sounds like it‘d be better than The Rainbow. I didn‘t mind Sons and Lovers and haven‘t tried Lady Chatterley. 4y
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