Dusting Things Off

[fenchurch]

Earlier this year, with my 55th birthday fast approaching, I realized I had a wonderful opportunity to read one book published in each year of my life, sequentially, with the hopes of being done by the time I reach my 60th birthday (I have five years, which means just one a month, so I'm hoping to pull it off), starting with Year Zero (which ultimately means I'll do 61 books for this endeavor). I set rules for it... in particular that the book has to be one I've never read before, with preference given to books I already own (the idea being that I'd obviously already wanted to read it enough to pick up a copy).

It also occurred to me that this would be an ideal opportunity to finally get around to dusting off my old Livejournal/Dreamwidth accounts. If you happen to follow me on Good Reads, you're probably going to end up seeing these things twice.
So, here are the first three months, all at once!

1969: The Camelot Caper by Elizabeth Peters
I've had the book on my shelves for ages, picked up either because I liked the cover and the blurb on the back or because someone recommended it (I no longer remember) and it was a delight. It had some issues in the storytelling... there was more than one occasion where I had to go back and make sure I hadn't accidentally turned two pages, because the narrative would completely skip over bits and then continue as if the reader should know what happened (eventually revealing the details, but it was such an odd way to tell the story). I loved the characters, but I especially loved the dialogue between the two main characters, filled with lots of snappy banter. I'm thinking I need to hunt down some more books by the author (or some of her other pseudonyms).

1970: Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz
I have been meaning to read this book since I met the author back when I was a teenager, but it has always somehow slipped by me when looking for something to read. It fit my need for a book published in 1970 that I had not previously read, though, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was actually not at all what I'd been expecting... more mystery and intrigue in a high fantasy setting, rather than the sword and sorcery swashbuckler I had somehow imagined it to be.

1971: The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett
Loved this one! A book I would term as "gimmick fantasy" but, unlike the gimmick fantasy book I finished just before it (Ella Minnow Pea, a more recently written book that was a book club pick), this one fully embraced what it was and delivered a wonderfully entertaining story. Really amazing to realize this was Terry Pratchett's first book. I enjoyed it thoroughly and had some good laughs along the way.

Crossposted from my Livejournal.

Comments

[goddess47]

::waves::

That is a lovely project... I love the books you've read and am looking forward to seeing what you pick up going forward!

[desdemonaspace]

Welcome back. Thanks for the rec. That is an Elizabeth Peters I haven't read yet. I'm currently reading Shattered Silk by Barbara Michaels. (Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels are one and the same.)

[fenchurch]

It's considered to be the first in her Vicky Bliss mysteries, even though Vicky doesn't show up (I saw it listed in a few places as Vicky Bliss 0.5). From what I understand, it does share some common characters, though. I've got Borrower of Night (the first one with Vicky) on my Teetering Pile to read at some point.

[codyne]

What a cool idea! Wondering if I should try it...

I absolutely adored the Deryni books back when they first came out. I thought the various followups and prequels declined the more Kurtz tried to wring out of them, but the original trilogy was brilliant.

[fenchurch]

It's funny because I've always wanted to read them. I met Katherine Kurtz at a small local convention when I was 15, got her to sign a couple of books and then proceeded to never read them. That's part of what this challenge is about, to some extent... getting me to read books I've always intended to read, but never gotten around to (as well as reading books I may have never even heard of, like The Carpet People).

[codyne]

Cool that you met her!

I found a list of "most popular books" from my birth year, and went down the list going, "Read it, read it, read it, nope not reading that, read it, read it..." Ha, need to do some more research to find my first read-by-year!

[silverusagi]

What a fun project!

I never do very well with themed reading lists of any sort, or lists where you do one book like this, one book like that, etc. I've just been trying to read more (which so far I'm succeeding at, so whatever works!)

[fenchurch]

I'm pretty horrible at those themed reading challenges (read one book translated from another language, read one book with a non-human protagonist, etc.), but this one gives me a LOT of leeway in my choices. I've been going through several online lists by book publication date and compiling my own lists from those years of the ones that look interesting to me... that way if I start reading one and don't like it, I have plenty to choose from if I want to move on. I generally don't finish books I'm not enjoying, which is why I have very few books out on Good Reads that I've given less than 3 out of 5 stars (in fact, I think the only one may be The School for Good and Evil, which I kept thinking just HAD to get better and, instead, got worse).

[avrelia]

Hi! I am just glad to see a familiar name! and it is a fun project.

somehow I never managed to read Elizabeth Peters beyond her Egyptology novels. I loved them, and read a lot of those, though.

I have a vague memory of reading Katherine Kurtz, but nothing of the text stayed in my head.

[fenchurch]

I had never read any of her books before this, although she'd been recommended by several friends (along with books published under the name Barbara Michaels). I'm definitely going to be reading more!

[jerusha]

What a cool project! That seems like a lot of fun.