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Yes, me to Valerie. Very excited to read The Tale of Genji

I have found that if you want to know if your group has been active, since GR is no longer sending out email notifications (if you had elected to receive them). You can click into Community at top, then groups. It will tell you which of your groups have had new posts.

Just putting you on notice that I am seriously considering stopping my involvement on this site, following the actions of Amazon executive chairman, Jeff Bezos, in preventing the Washington Post to publish an endorsement in the US elections, and following the imminent return of Mango Mussolini in the White House. These events will have worldwide consequences (e.g. continuing inflation through reintroduction of tariffs, among several others) and I cannot in principle provide any (in)direct support, financial or otherwise, to people who have supported/are supporting the return of this regime. I've already cancelled my Prime membership and do not plan on using Amazon ever again (in fact, I will gradually de-Americanise my lifestyle). I'll let you know my final decision in the coming days. I hope you understand.

Patrick wrote: "Just putting you on notice that I am seriously considering stopping my involvement on this site, following the actions of Amazon executive chairman, Jeff Bezos, in preventing the Washington Post to..."

Oh believe me, as a Canadian just waiting for the elephant to roll over on us, I totally understand. I do want to say though I will miss your reviews and perspective on the books on the list.

>53, so sorry to here this Patrick. We need you. Why can't reading be just about reading. But whatever you decide, I wish you the best and I will miss you.

I am so sorry to hear this. I am not the best reader in French, but I really appreciated having a native French speaker in the group, which encouraged me in my second language efforts. But I understand the principles here.

De toute facon Patrick je te souhaite tout le meilleur et je te remercie pour ta présence et tes interactions.

Kristel wrote: ">53, so sorry to here this Patrick. We need you. Why can't reading be just about reading. But whatever you decide, I wish you the best and I will miss you."

Ditto but will respect your decision.

I can see a box at the bottom of discussions that says "notify me when people comment", doing this manually will be so annoying, but I'm going to do that for major threads right now/as threads pop up.

Amanda wrote: "I can see a box at the bottom of discussions that says "notify me when people comment", doing this manually will be so annoying, but I'm going to do that for major threads right now/as threads pop up."

Let me know if it works. I am not getting notifications. I have to check the group for new comments.

It worked on this thread, I got a notification for your comment when I opened GR right now. I saw the notification on the mobile app, but heads up, the option to to enable notifications for the thread seems to only be on the website version. Hope this works for other people.

I think some of you have jumped to conclusions a bit quickly. I said I was THINKING of leaving and that I would make my decision known soon. That time has come. I've decided to stick around parasitically a bit longer: it costs me nothing to be here, and I can still decide NOT to shop with Amazon ever again.

However, I believe that we should find another location in the short/medium term, as I suspect the type of migration to friendlier sites (e.g. from Xitter to Blue Sky) might also happen here and this place is at risk of disappearing (plus it might no longer justify the expense that Amazon/Bezos is putting in this site; the now-disappeared e-mail reminders are one convincing hint). One possible alternative (from a recommendation I saw on Blue Sky) is The Storygraph ( I have not yet explored it and I can't confirm whether this would be suitable for us. Yet, I think now is the time to seek and weigh our options.

Finally, I will try to post the questions for the Christmas Oratorio buddy read this weekend. I've been quite busy the last few weeks and I am still chasing my tail on a work project that might require me to relocate to Europe next year (no guarantees and definitely not confirmed yet; I'll let you know).

I also think that Amazon doesn’t provide much help with the site and uses it mostly for advertising. I also am on LT. I don’t know anything about Storygraph. We’ve been down this road before and I really hate the thought of migrating.

I am very happy that you’re staying around for now Patrick.

I checked out Storygraph and did not see that groups were supported by that platform. I am active on LibraryThing which I have been for a long time. (2010). You do not receive notification of group activity there either. You can star topics that will show up in your feed if there is new activity. They also use something like a wiki and I really do not understand that at all. I can record stuff on wiki but I just don’t understand it. I like the people at LT. They are great lovers of reading.

Kristel wrote: "I checked out Storygraph and did not see that groups were supported by that platform. I am active on LibraryThing which I have been for a long time. (2010). You do not receive notification of group..."

Yeah, I did a quick tour of Storygraph, they don't seem to have any support for groups. I saw a Book Clubs tab, but I couldn't find a way to search for any book clubs on the site. They have been criticised for the lack of social features on their site. Looks like there is no other suitable alternative to match the functionality we have here, despite the lack of upgrades/maintenance that is required. It's a pity...

Currently taking nominations for 2025 quarterly review. See Quarterly review topic. Voting will start the 25th of November.

I HAVE FINISHED JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS! (the full caps are a mixed expression of exasperation, relief and exhaustion)

Patrick wrote: "I HAVE FINISHED JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS! (the full caps are a mixed expression of exasperation, relief and exhaustion)"

Congratulations!

Patrick wrote: "I HAVE FINISHED JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS! (the full caps are a mixed expression of exasperation, relief and exhaustion)"

I totally get that! :)

Patrick wrote: "I HAVE FINISHED JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS! (the full caps are a mixed expression of exasperation, relief and exhaustion)"

I sadly made no progress so someday, maybe. Congratulations.

Congratulations Patrick

I have just received the Penguin Classics unabridged deluxe edition of the Tale of Genji (translated by Royall Tyler). It is another brick-cum-murder weapon that can also probably be used as implement for light musculation exercises. However, it contains several illustrations to accompany the story, as well as maps of certain locations/buildings, a detailed glossary and a thorough explanation of offices and titles used in the novel; it also has loads of footnotes to help with the text. It looks quite promising, and I recommend this edition for those who will join us for this annual read.

Good to hear! That is the one I “asked for�� for Christmas 😁! I did expect it to compliment my exercise endeavours as well��.

I have the W.W.Norton edition. Translated by Dennis Washburn. Does not have illustrations. It does have notes. The font is small. I fear it is going to be work to read. Hard to hold and hard to see. I did buy the audibles from Audible to read along which hopefully will help me stay on task.

I have this one too! IT'S ENORMOUS! I have been reading the introduction to prep for the new year. Likely I will get the audiobooks as well.

On another page, Valerie recommended this lecture and I found it very helpful in establishing a context for the book:
...

Kristel wrote: "I have the W.W.Norton edition. Translated by Dennis Washburn. Does not have illustrations. It does have notes. The font is small. I fear it is going to be work to read. Hard to hold and hard to see..."

Jane wrote: "I have this one too! IT'S ENORMOUS! I have been reading the introduction to prep for the new year. Likely I will get the audiobooks as well.

On another page, Valerie recommended this lecture and ..."

The link tells me that the video is no longer available. Too bad.

Kristel - when I am home (flying back late tonight) I can look for it again.

See if this works:

Jane wrote: "See if this works:

"

Yes. I do like Benjamin's videos. He does such a good job.

There may have been discussion about this that I missed..... -> Are we having the randomized lists in 2025? (I hope so!)

Valerie wrote: "There may have been discussion about this that I missed..... -> Are we having the randomized lists in 2025? (I hope so!)"

Yes, Valerie, I'm currently preparing for these, there will be an announcement later this week.

Patrick wrote: "Valerie wrote: "There may have been discussion about this that I missed..... -> Are we having the randomized lists in 2025? (I hope so!)"

Yes, Valerie, I'm currently preparing for these, there wil..."

Yay! Thanks, Patrick!

Doing my annual wrap up of reading and viewing of the year, and I was shocked to see how much progress I made on the list. At the beginning of 2024, I had read 175 of the books. Now I'm up to 220!

Thanks to everyone for motivating me, and best wishes and happy reading to all in 2025. :)

Jane wrote: "Doing my annual wrap up of reading and viewing of the year, and I was shocked to see how much progress I made on the list. At the beginning of 2024, I had read 175 of the books. Now I'm up to 220!
..."

Congratulations!

Jane wrote: "Doing my annual wrap up of reading and viewing of the year, and I was shocked to see how much progress I made on the list. At the beginning of 2024, I had read 175 of the books. Now I'm up to 220!
..."
Jane, congratulations and thank you for joining us here at Reading1001. You are truly what makes this group great.

You can now request for a randomised reading list by putting your request in this topic. I will generate the lists on January 1st.

I have just completed my last book of 2024 and I am feeling accomplished. I completed my goals of reading all TBR and Monthly Key Word challenge books. I also read 2 of 4 quarterly reads which was my goal but I am feeling a little list burn out. The quarterly reads I read were long and I did not like them so it was 1500 pages of torture so next year I am only reading one. I have also decided not to tackle the annual read. I need some distance from the list so my next book will be a non-list book and I have a new goal of reading one non-list book monthly. Happy Reading to you all!

I'm probably at the exact opposite of Diane in terms of satisfaction. This was my worst year since I joined this group in 2012. I've only managed to read 27 books, instead of my normal 40-45. True, I read all my TBRs plus the annual plus the four quarterlies, but not much else outside that. While there were some personal factors at play, the lengthy and dour annual and quarterly reads meant that I had less time for shorter reads and that I fought "List burnout" for most of the year. I put an end to my List reading for the year on Xmas day, giving myself a week of enjoyable non-List reading. At least, the next annual is something that I want to read instead of having to, and I only have one quarterly on my plate. I should be able to stack in more books in 2025, especially books I want to read in French; given what I have left to the read off the List, I should be reading one book in French for two books in English. I'm currently nowhere near that.

I love that this group is encouraging me to read more list books. I hope to reach 1001 books - I am not expecting to read all 1300+. I seem to have read 55 list books this year, which is an incredible number! If I continued at this rate, I would only have to live another 4 years to reach 1001. I don't really expect to read that many every year, but even at half that rate, my 1001 goal is looking more possible. I am in my 60s so I may not have very many years of intelligent life... unpredictable.

I have to say I find the discussion questions overwhelming. There seem to be more every month. I just looked at the questions for the January book The Circle, which I am planning to read. There appear to be 19 numbered questions, but most include more than one actual question, so altogether there are 37, and most of them could be the subject of a high school level essay. I do wonder if it's worth answering these questions when I could spend the time reading and only drop one point ;)

Rosemary wrote: "I love that this group is encouraging me to read more list books. I hope to reach 1001 books - I am not expecting to read all 1300+. I seem to have read 55 list books this year, which is an incredi..."

Rosemary, you can get by with only answering one of the questions, or making a comment that fits under one of the topics for discussionto get your 1 pt.
Feel free to do so. The purpose of the discussions is to try to get some talking back and forth between us. Not an exercise in taking a school test.

Thank you, Kristel! I will do that.

This year was good for me. I think I read 45 books from the list this year. I did not succeed in reading the annual read and I was so looking forward to it. Oh well. Not sure if and when I will manage it. I had read some of the quarterlies previously and did not reread. I enjoyed the monthly word game and I think I completed every month. I also completed every TBR month. I only read the botm that I had not previously read. I’m in my 70s and always knew that I probably could not finish this list not only because I can’t read other languages but I also just don’t want to read some of them so I will die before I read them all. I’ve gotten further in the list than I ever thought I would. My plans for 2025 remain about the same as they were in 2024. Whenever I can read a 1001 book for other challenges and if I can find them free on Libby or Hoopla then I read them. I do hope to keep up with the annual this year. I have read 50% of the quarterly and do not plan to reread any of them.


I am thankful for all of you who make reading these books a shared experience. Happy new year. (I am on my way to Florida. Had a good first day of driving. The weather was cooperative, traffic wasn’t bad.

Kristel wrote: "This year was good for me. I think I read 45 books from the list this year. I did not succeed in reading the annual read and I was so looking forward to it. Oh well. Not sure if and when I will man..."

Safe travels.