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I thought I'd start my thread keeping track of my challenge (and making sure I follow it.
I had my kindle in February 2011. Rather than looking at all my backlist to choose one, it will be easier if I narrow it down to a month. And because I read so quickly, I'm aiming for a month per year. So that's 3 books a month out of my backlist.

I also want to clear out my tbr list, so will aim for a few books that I'll have a go at, so that I can clear them out into a "probably won't read" collection, so I've got to aim for 3 of them too.

January

by Lee Goldberg (Jan 2012)


Marty, a Hollywood executive, is one end of LA when a monster earthquake strikes. His aim is to walk home, a journey of 30 miles.
This was an enjoyable read, not too long and I read it on 2 sittings.

I did also clear out Invisible by Lorena McCourtney. That was February 2011, one of my first freebies

by Eva Hudson (Jan 2013)


Grandmother Jean goes to New York to meet up with her son, but her son has gone missing and nobody pays any attention to her.
Another enjoyable read. This is a bit of a not quite so cosy mystery.

Interesting way of doing it Joo. Invisible was one of my first freebies too! I'll have to keep an eye on this, some similar kinds of books

When I look at a pile of about 500 books, it looks so scary. This way, I've narrowed it down. I just go to My Orders on Amazon and you can list it chronologically - much better than MYK

MYK is so hard to work from when you have so many

Well done, Joo. That's a good way of organising the challenge.

I read Invisible last year, which was one of my early freebie downloads too! I was underwhelmed by it....

Go Joo!

I sat down today with my kindle and my amazon orders and went through January and February and put all the books I quite fancy in to a January and February challenge folder. One of the month/year didn't have much choice as I'd read practically all the books I'd bought then.
So when I want to do a challenge book, I don't have to go searching.

Today I chose by J.R. Rain (Jan 2012)

It seems OK at the moment. Reviews says it's a bit ludicrous, but I find the author an easy read.

J R Rain drives me crazy. I know some people who love their books but I can't stand them!

I don't mind him. He's an easy read.
There's no vampires in this one.

See I like books with vampires so someone suggested I try them but.. eh..

Joo, how many books are on your tbr list?

That's an interesting question. I shall have to get a calculator out as I have a few collections.

Or looking at my GR library, I have 473 books labelled "to read"

I've just checked no of pages and authors on the next 10 books (in the hope that I might get to read them this year!) and quite a few were either marked as to read, or read by you. One I would have dismissed as it only got 2 stars, but you gave it 3, so I'll give it a chance! The Taking of FLOTUS

I can't remember it, but looking at the reviews on GR, I'd not bother. IT seems to have been withdrawn off Amazon too.

Haha, I came here to update and for a minute I couldn't remember if I finished The Lost Ark. I did and it was a reasonable 3 star.

And I sneaked another one in

by C. A. Marriott (Jan 2013)


It's OK at best. Lots of typos. I nearly put it down for ever, but gave it another go. I'm at 64% with an hour and a half left. I'll persevere.

It improved a bit towards the end.

So I read 4 books and binned one.
These aren't the only books I've read this month. I've read 2 that aren't out for ages yet, a few short ones and a few new ones. I'm a little behind my schedule for my big year challenge of 180 books. Perhaps a bit ambitious :)

You might be behind, but sounds impressive for a month

And there are some books that are out but the author hasn't put them on GR. How dare they not do it straight away so I can keep my library up-to-date

January's summary

challenge books read:
The Walk by Lee Goldberg 4*
The Senior Moment by Eva Hudson 4*
The Lost Ark by J.R. Rain 3*
Trouble on the March by CA Marriott 3*

challenge books not read
Invisible by Lorena McCourtney

books discarded
Nascar First by Dakota Franklin

books re-read
Frame-Up by Eric Christopherson 5*
That Bear Ate My Pants! by Tony James Slater 6*

"other" books read
Phone Monkey 2 : The Takeover 3*
Phone Monkey: Declined 3*
Bad Doctor by John Locke 3*
Learn Me Gooder 3*
The Fandom of the Operator by Robert Rankin 3*

GR/KUF author books read
Ravenfold by Kath Middleton 4*
Butterfly by Elle Harper 4*
Vagabond Sky by Mark David Welsh 5*
Scary Scotland by Cecilia Peartree 4*
Infested by Mark Faulkner 5*
Kamikaze Kangaroos!: An epic trip around Australia in a van called Rusty by Tony James Slater 5*

Books not out yet :)
George Hamilton's


So in all, not a bad month for me. 18 books, 2 of them not available on GR yet

February

I've gone straight into my February challenge

by Douglas Lindsay (Feb 2012)

It starts a bit rough but I got into it after about 10%
It is a Scottish police procedural. The writing is first person, but without the "I"s eg "Nearly nine o'clock, still in the office" So not quite as nice a read as I'd like, but the story is OK.

He sounds familiar, glad your enjoying it.

Yeah, I finished it in bed last night at about 1am. I wasn't too fussed on the writing style, but it meant I could skim read it a bit. I have some more books by that author. I'll just have to work out when I bought them to know when I can read them.

I've updated my January list above.
Comparing the quality of "other" books to GR books, shows that GR rules :)

Oh dear. 2 days to go and I've not read a February book.
I did put some into my Challenge collection, but they all seem to have been moved to the Unfinished collection.
I can't remember what they were, I'll have another look to see if there's at least one I can read. I recall I'd read most of my Feb books anyway.

Oops, just scrolled up and at least I've read one book this month. Well, obviously I've read more than one book :)

Well at least you've read one Feb book

You're doing well, Joo. I like your end of month summary - I might copy that idea!

I haven't read any challenge books for the last few weeks but have been reading plenty of other books.

I suppose I cleared out some from my TBR list. I never delete them as I might peek in there at a later date and decide I might like them.
One of them was Allan Quatermain as I thought I'd quite like it, but it wasn't nice to read. Perhaps it was just a bit too old for me.

February's summary
challenge books read:
The Unburied Dead by Douglas Lindsay (2012) 4*
Unbreakable Bond by Gemma Halliday (2013) 4*
Chasing Spirits - The Memoirs of Reginald Weldon by Glynn James (2011) 4*

challenge books not read:
Allan Quartermain by H Rider Haggard (2011)
Cure to Die For by Stephen G Mitchell (2012)
Dead Medium by Peter John (2013)
Any Red Blooded Girl by Maggie Bloom (2013)

books discarded:
Practical Mischief by DD Scott
Stuck with a Slut by DD Scott


"other" books read
Pigeonwings by Heide Goody 5*
The Tenants by Andrew Webber 3*
Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor 4.5*
Picture Imperfect by Nicola Yeager 3*
The Cabinetmaker by Alan Jones 5*

GR/KUF author books read
The Bumpkinton Tales: Bittersweet by Matthew Drzymala 4*
The Undertaker's Cabinet by David Haynes 5*
My Granny Writes Erotica 2 by Rosen Trevithick 5*
A Tasteful Crime by Cecilia Peartree 5*
Sole Intention by M.A. Comley 4*
Off the KUF Volume 3: Novellas from the Kindle Users Forum 5*
Erasmus Hobart and the Golden Arrow by Andrew Fish 5*
Condition Black by Tom Barber 3*
Twisting the Night Away by David Hadley 3*

So that's 17 books for February. (and I've found some more that should have been in my challenge collection so I might add to this)

March

I've made an effort so far :)
by Vernon Baker (March 2012) 3*

I started off enjoying it, but it was a multi-timeline story and I got a bit bored with the past bit.

I have binned
Glamour - Penelope Fletcher (March 2011)
All the Young Warriors - Anthony Neil Smith (March 2012)
North of Hollywood - Rick Lenz (June 2012)
I'm in Heaven - Terry Ravenscroft (March 2012)
Boomerang - Alan Hutchinson (Feb 2012)

I have also binned
The Man in the Seventh Row - Brian Pendreigh (March 2012)

And read by Sam Kates (March 2013) 4*

I am now reading by Michelle Ann Hollstein (March 2013) very easy reading if a bit dull.

I have also read a book I bought this month
by Bo Brennan 4*

Haha, I'm certainly clearing out the trash today.
I'm halfway through one of the first books I downloaded by Linda Warren (Feb 2011)
I'm feeling like I'm coming down with a cold, so I don't want to be reading anything that needs thought or concentration.

by Douglas Lindsay (March 2012) 4*

This was an enjoyable political government conspiracy theory thriller. Some of the sentences were a bit off in that they seemed to be of a different tense to the others and there were a few typos. But on the whole an enjoyable read.

I've read by Edie Claire (March 2013) 3*


by Julie Morrigan (March 2012) 4*

by Kathy Love (March 2011) 3*

All enjoyable enough to stick with.
I've done well with my challenge this month. (I even did an April book that I'll not mention.

Glad you've done well.

by Rick Mofina (March 2012) 3*
I enjoyed the story, but it did need a bit of editing in the middle. That dropped it down a star.

And I've started one quick one before the end of the month.
by JA Konrath (March 2013). I've read a few of these and they are very easy reads.

Wow - you are doing well, Joo!

Fantastic Joo. I think I have a Rick Mofina book

March's Summary

Challenge books read:
Never Buried by Edie Claire (2013) 3*
What A Demon Wants by Kathy Love (2011) 3*
Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren (2011) 3*
Slow Boat to Purgatory by Vernon Baker (2012) 3*
Lost In Juarez by Douglas Lindsay (2012) 4*
Convictions by Julie Morrigan (2012) 4*
Cold Fear by Rick Mofina (2012) 3*
Cherry Bomb by JA Konrath (2013).
Pond Life by Sam Kates (2013) 4*
One Hell of a Cruise by Michelle Ann Hollstein (2013) 3*
The Mummy Case by J.R. Rain (2013) 3*

challenge books not read:
Glamour - Penelope Fletcher (2011)
The Man in the Seventh Row - Brian Pendreigh (2012)
All the Young Warriors - Anthony Neil Smith (2012)
North of Hollywood - Rick Lenz (2012)
I'm in Heaven - Terry Ravenscroft (2012)
Boomerang - Alan Hutchinson (2012)

GR/KUF author books read
Stealing Power by Bo Brennan 4*
A Darker Shade of Black by Ken Magee 5&
Enraptured: A Novelette About Lamias by Richard Martinus 4*

"other" books read
A Moral Dilemma by Zara Kingsley 4*

I make that 15 books, 2/3 of them challenge ones. Tidy :)

April

How spooky.
I downloaded and read Enraptured yesterday and rather liked it. On getting to the end, the author mentioned that this short story had characters from his other books. The title looked familiar so I had a look and yes, I had that book, so I started reading it and enjoying it. I then went to put it into my "current book" collection, only to find it was in my "April challenge" collection. How mad is that?

The book is by Richard Martinus.

Thanks Ignite.

That's a fantastic amount, and yes, that is spooky

My writing style is timeless, is what's causing that.

It's a good book, Richard
Ignite made me read it :)

Thank you. Now I'll have to get her to make me write another.

Just read by Brian M. Logan (April 2012) 3* An OK short read. I'm looking at the dots to clear out some shorter ones first.

And another
by Margaret Fenton (March 2013) 4*
I quite enjoyed this one. A little boy is killed,it points to his mother's drugs, but the social worker wonders if it's her fault, did she miss something.

I've been struggling to choose one from my list, but I've taken a long time to finish this one, even though I thought it to be very good.
by Chris Barraclough (2013) 4*
As it says on the tin, it was 3 novella length stories, all enjoyable. It doesn't seem to be on sale any more.

Well done, Joo! You're whizzing through your back list!

:0)