January List

So my first attempt at pulling 15 books randomly from the shelves was an interesting experience. One of them was a dud in the sense that I only have book 3 in a series. We'll fix that and try again but for time being I replaced it with something from the same shelf. The resulting 15 books are an odd assortment heavy on nonfiction. (They are all marked with RP on the list) About 2/3's of them I remember buying and why we have them. There are a few though that are complete mysteries so it should be interesting.

I'm not really sure how to tackle this. Part of the point is to work through the really old stuff and either read or release them. If I use a strictly random system, it's possible that it will miss all the random picks or will hit them one after another. Either could be bad. On the other hand, if I'm picking from the list, the tendency is going to be to pick the shiniest ones. I'll end up with the least enticing books languishing on the list month after month. It's a quandary. 

I think for now, I'll try the random system with a few caveats. 1. If I start a series, I'm allowed to keep going through the series until I'm ready to stop. 2. I'm allowed a free pick after a couple of random ones just so I can hit the things I'm most excited about.

As always it seems, I have an urgent list still that I can pick from any time I need to.

1. Complete Short Stories by Isaac Asimov (class prep)
1. Volume 1
2. Volume 2 (Christmas Gift)
2. The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi (Finished 1/21/2023)
3. Flavia de Luce Series by Alan Bradley
1. A Red Herring Without Mustard (Finished 1/28/2023)
2. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
3. Speaking from Among the Bones
4. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches
5. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust
6. Thrice the Brindled Cat Hath Mew'd
7. The Grave's a Fine and Private Place
8. The Golden Tresses of the Dead
4. How to Bake Pi by Eugenia Cheng (RP)
5. The Ghost Bride: A Novel by Yangsze Choo (TBR)
6. I by Zoraida Cordova (Christmas Gift)
7. The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
1. Abaddon's Gate
2. Cibola Burn
3. Nemesis Games
4. Babylon's Ashes
5. Persepolis Rising
6. Tiamat's Wrath
7. Leviathan Falls
8. Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick (RP)
9. Desert Flower by Earis Dirie (RP)
10. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (classic)
11. The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos & Sam Taylor(TBR)
12. Count Zero by William Gibson (RP)
13. The Mindwar Trilogy by Andrew Klavan
1. Mindwar
2. Hostage Run
3. Game Over
14. The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie - well, it's by Hugh Laurie so it's probably not leaving the house, but I officially have no interest in reading it any more. It's probably not awful, but narrator is winking at the audience way too much. It made it hard to get into the story.
15. Trader by Charles de Lint (RP)
16. The Color of Water by James McBride (RP)
17. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (RP)
18. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin (RP)
19. Themis Files Trilogy by Sylvain Neuvel (TBR)
1. Sleeping Giants
2. Waking Gods
3. Only Human
20. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Series by Louise Penny
1. The Cruelest Month
2. A Rule Against Murder
3. The Brutal Telling
4. Bury Your Dead
5. A Trick of the Light
6. The Beautiful Mystery
7. How the Light Gets In
8. The Long Way Home
21. The Bridgerton Prequels by Julia Quinn
1. Because of Miss Bridgerton
2. The Girl With the Make-Believe Husband
3. The Other Miss Bridgerton
4. First Come Scandal
22. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins (RP)
23. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
24. Cooking Light: Mad Delicious by Keith Schroeder (RP)
25. Villains by V.E. Schwab
1. Vicious (Finished 1/7/2023)
2. Vengeful (Finished 1/20/2023)
26. The Settlement Cook Book
27. White Teeth by Zadie Smith (RP)
28. Battle Royale: The Novel by Koushun Takami Translated by Yuji Oniki
29. Fruits Basket Another vol 4 by Natsuki Takaya (Finished 1/2/2023)
30. A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg (RP)

The Urgent List:

1. Kill All Happies by Rachel Cohn (YA, Library)
2. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (borrowed from Dad)
3. Maggie Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane (Finished 1/2/2023)
4. Circuit of Heaven by Dennis Danvers (Ryan Pick, because he really wants me to read it)
5. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (YA, borrowed from Amanda)
6. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA, Library)
7. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (borrowed from Stephanie)
8. Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventure's Guide by Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras (NF, finishing it up)