Anyone else have project to complete a bunch of books by end of the year?

[Extollager]

There are some books, such as short story collections and volumes of poetry, that we might well take a long time to finish, without regrets, since the items in those books are more or less independent of each other. Thus I started reading the complete Grimms' tales back in 2009, and still haven't finished it; but, since I'm not doing a study of the tales, why worry about it?

But whether or not that's your attitude towards story collections and collections of poems, perhaps you have a number of books in various stages of being read, and the idea of finishing them by the end of the year might seem to be a worthwhile goal. I know I do. Thoughts?

 

[Toby Frost]

I'm tempted to do a re-read of the M.R. James ghost stories, especially as Christmas is coming up, although I might get tired of them before the end. I suspect they'd get very samey, read end-to-end, which would probably spoil them.

Non-fiction wise, I've also got two biographical books to finish: Mervyn Peake's Vast Alchemies by G. Peter Winnington and Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit. Both are interesting so far.

 

[Deathbird]

Non-fiction wise, I've also got two biographical books to finish: Mervyn Peake's Vast Alchemies by G. Peter Winnington and Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit. Both are interesting so far.

Duly noted.

 

[Extollager]

Books to finish! They include More New Arabian Nights by Mr. & Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson and Twain’s Life on the Mississippi. The Hawthorne volume includes The Snow-Image, which is what I want to finish, and the I. B. Singer is a collection of stories that I’m near having completed. The Truth Is in the Telling is a collection of pieces by my mentor U. Milo Kaufmann. The book near the end on the left is Joan Bennett’s study of Sir Thomas Browne. The thin book with a reddish-orange dust wrapper is about English inn signs. I hope that posting these will help me to see to it that I finish at least most of them by year's end.

 

[Randy M.]

There are some books, such as short story collections and volumes of poetry, that we might well take a long time to finish, without regrets, since the items in those books are more or less independent of each other. Thus I started reading the complete Grimms' tales back in 2009, and still haven't finished it; but, since I'm not doing a study of the tales, why worry about it?

But whether or not that's your attitude towards story collections and collections of poems, perhaps you have a number of books in various stages of being read, and the idea of finishing them by the end of the year might seem to be a worthwhile goal. I know I do. Thoughts?

Off an on for the past several years around the holidays I've dipped into The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries, which is like comfort reading. I may well pick off a few more stories towards the end of the year. Like Toby, I consider re-visiting some of M. R. James stories, or to continue in my half-read volume of collected ghost stories of E. F. Benson.

I have the week between Christmas and New Years off, and every year I debate between getting a solid start on something I know will need my full attention, continuing in a partially finished collection or to just dig into an anthology that's too heavy to cart around outside the house. One such book has Richard Marsh's The Beetle included, and I've been considering that for the break.

 

[Extollager]

This is the book of ghost stories I mean to finish soon.

 

[Rodders]

One of my reading goals was for two books a month. I've started cycling to and from work, so reading time is now reduced and i need to start reading at home.

I also wanted to finish the Expanse series this year. That aint gonna happen this year.

 

[Bick]

No, not really Extollager. I have several short story collections on the go, and dip into them on occasion, but I won't beat myself up for not finishing them by year's end, as that's unlikely to happen. I quite like having them "on the go" as opposed to novels, which I always feel a need to finish in a prompt and timely manner. Short story collections currently underway include: Hawthorne's Mosses from an Old Manse, a huge H.P. Lovecraft omnibus entitled Necronomicon, and collections of Balzac, Maugham, a volume of 19th century ghost stories, and so on.

 

[BAYLOR]

View attachment 94817
Books to finish! They include More New Arabian Nights by Mr. & Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson and Twain’s Life on the Mississippi. The Hawthorne volume includes The Snow-Image, which is what I want to finish, and the I. B. Singer is a collection of stories that I’m near having completed. The Truth Is in the Telling is a collection of pieces by my mentor U. Milo Kaufmann. The book near the end on the left is Joan Bennett’s study of Sir Thomas Browne. The thin book with a reddish-orange dust wrapper is about English inn signs. I hope that posting these will help me to see to it that I finish at least most of them by year's end.

The Everlasting Man by G K Chesterton ? Never heard of that one . Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Arabian Night Tales ? Fascinating , Did not know that.

 

[Extollager]

Baylor, RLS's New Arabian Nights and its sequel are basically collections of short stories set in his own time. I think the "Arabian Nights" tag is meant to suggest they are meant to be read as fanciful entertainments -- good what-happened-next stories, nothing profound.

 

[Astro Pen]

I started Perry Rhodan1 but I thought it was awful and won't be finishing it.
Recently I have been getting into Scandinavian writers, having read the incredibly dark "The Crow Girl" by Erik Axl Sund, flavour of this month being Yrsa Sigurdardottir
The bedside stack is below, Mortal Engines might be good or kids stuff, I have no idea.

ps A quick article on the Dark Matter- Poems of Space, for the poets among us.

Dark Matter: Poems of Space

Poets have long been stargazers, moved by the strange infinities of the universe to translate them into metaphor and song. But what do they know of the science of astronomy? And what do astronomers know of poetry?

gulbenkian.pt

 

[Extollager]

I've finished seven of the books in the photo at #4 above. Looking at the Hawthorne volume, though, I saw I have more to read in The Snow-Image than I'd thought, so I've removed that one from my by-end-of-year project list. However, I did, this week, finish three books not pictured: two collections of I. B. Singer stories that I'd started in 2003 plus the Sherlock Holmes collection His Last Bow.

 

[smellincoffee]

I have a towering TBR pile and need to focus on that, but finishing it is a year -long project. I've barred myself from buying new titles this past month and will continue to do so until I make some progress.

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

There's never enough time. And then, there's something else you MUST read, current MUST is Erik Davis' "High Weirdness"