UPDATED: Added Star Rating Stats

I can't believe I posted this yesterday without them!

2020 Reading Goals

Pretty much the same as this year: Read more books by women writers than by male authors, diversify my reading, and keep on exploring the world of Golden Age mystery fiction.

The Around the World reading challenge -- which is also to be continued in 2020 -- this year has taken me to places of the world that aren't exactly part of my normal reading fare, and I think visits to 46 countries (8 in Africa, 10 in the Americas (11 if Puerto Rico were counted separately), 13 in Asia and the Middle East, 2 in Oceania, and 13 again in Europe) is a pretty decent tally for the first year. I hope things are going to continue in a similar vein next year.

My Golden Age mystery reading plans are probably going to cross the "diversifying" aims to a certain extent -- they already did this year -- for the simple reason that the vast majority of Golden Age mystery writers were Caucasian.  But that just can't be helped, I suppose.

The 2019 Stats

Books begun: 250

Books finished: 247

Average Rating: 3,8

 Genre Breakdown by Subgenres

The key, obviously, is in the intersection of genres and ethnicity: 25 of the 27 books by non-Caucasian authors I read were something other than mysteries; or put differently, virtually all of the 124 mysteries were by Caucasian authors (including all of the 92 Golden and Silver Age mysteries, which in themselves account for 2/3 of all my mystery intake).  I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do much about those statistics -- nor do I very much want to, as long as I manage to make decent progress with my Around the World challenge and manage to get in a fair amount of non-Caucasian books in all the other genres.

Favorite books of 2019: HERE

Least favorite books of 2019: HERE

Bibliomancy

 My question: Is 2020 going to be a good reading year for me?

Miss Austen's Collected Novels are one of the larger volumes on my shelves, so I decided to seek my answer there.

The answer: "[impor]tance in assisting the improvement of her mind, and extending its pleasures."

That sounds rather promising, doesn't it?

(And I'm taking it as an additional good sign that the answer is from Mansfield Park, wich was the first novel by Austen that I read -- and the book that made me fall in love with her writing in the first place ...)

Dreidel Spin for First Book of the Year

This is a pick from some of the books that my BFF, Gaby, gave me for Christmas and my birthday this year:

נ (Nun) - Craig Adams: The Six Secrets of Intelligence

ג (Gimel) - Isabel Colegate: The Shooting Party

ה (Hei) - Preet Bharara: Doing Justice

ש (Shin) - Sarah-Jane Stratford: Radio Girls

... and the dreidel picked:

 So, Sarah-Jane Stratford's Radio Girls it is!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Door 22

Task 1: Tell us: What are your reading goals for the coming year?

Task 2: The reading year in review: How did you fare – what was good, what wasn’t?

Task 3: Bibliomancy: Ask a question related to your reading plans or experience in the coming year, open one of your weightiest tomes on page 485, and find the answer to your question in line 7.

Door 18, Task 1: Spin the dreidel to determine which book is going to be the first one you’ll be reading in the new year.

Find a virtual dreidel here:

https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/make-a-dreidel

http://www.jewfaq.org/dreidel/play.htm

http://www.torahtots.com/holidays/chanuka/dreidel.htm

I was just going to do an "Ask Auntie Jane (Austen, not Marple)" ... but as BT pointed out, you can never really ask Will Shakespeare for his comment too often, so I've decided to call upon him for a second opinion.  Not that I mistrust Miss Austen of course, but these are serious questions, after all, so it seems justified to make doubly sure.

So, here we go:

• A.   Will I read all the books on my TBR?  (page 378, line 29)

Jane Austen's response (from Pride and Prejudice):

"... their vice.  He was fond of the country and of books, and from these tastes ..."

William Shakespeare's response (from Romeo and Juliet):

"Prodigious birth of love it is to me"

Umm.  This is seriously spooky.  You guys can't possibly mean my entire TBR --  or if you do, you've both answered this one completely blindly.  So I'm going to interpret this as meaning I'll at least read all the books on any TBR I might create for a special purpose in 2019 (e.g., for my new spin on the Women Writers challenge).

B.   Will any of my 2019 reads be 5 stars? (page 227, line 31)

Jane Austen's response (from Sense and Sensibility):

"... judged it wisest, from the experience of the past, to submit -- and therefore, ..."

 

William Shakespeare's response (from Venus and Adonis):

"At this Adonis smiles as in disdain"

What?!  I'm supposedly going to finish off my TBR, but not a single book is going to be a 5-star read?  You've got to be kidding me!  That's some motivation to keep on reading ...

C.   Will I discover a new favorite book / author / series? (page 309, line 23)

Jane Austen's response (from Pride and Prejudice):

"... be soon down again and soon dining at Longbourn, and the conclusion of ..."

D.   Will I discover that a major twist (hopefully, for the [even] better) has occurred in one of my favorite series? (page 459, line 16)

Jane Austen's response (from Pride and Prejudice):

"'I can easily believe it.  You thought me then devoid of every proper ..."

Aha!  This makes more sense.  A new twist, especially one for the even better, is surely going to keep me reading, because I'll want to know how it ultimately plays out.  Seems now we're (finally) getting somewhere.

E.   Will I finish all of my reading challenges in 2019? (page 69, line 7)

Jane Austen's response (from Sense and Sensibility):

"... regret that they were only eight altogether."

Jane Austen's response (from Sense and Sensibility):

"... pleasure at seeing them in London, making the usual enquiries about their ..."

Task 1:  Bibliomancy: Grab one of your larger books and flip to the indicated page and line number to answer the following questions - then post those answers for us:

I'm not officially participating in the 24 Tasks of the Festive Season thing, but this particular one looked too fun to pass up. I decided to see what Fuyumi Ono's The Twelve Kingdoms: Skies of Dawn (originally two books, but released as a single giant brick of a book in the US) had to say about my bookish future. I did the best I could as far as the line numbers went - the pages didn't always have as many lines as the task required. I also discovered that the full-page illustrations are part of the page numbering - the pagination doesn't skip them.

Will I read all the books on my TBR? - (page 378, line 29)
 

"It is part of the Way."

That sounds promising, I guess. However, I have a feeling the book is actually telling me that I'm supposed to finish them all. Meanwhile it refuses to comment on whether or not I actually will.

Will any of my 2019 reads be 5 stars? - (page 227, line 31)

"She entered the stables, spotted a kitsuryou, and threw a saddle on it."

I think that might be a yes?

Will I discover a new favorite book / author / series? - (page 309, line 23)
 

"'I really don't know anything,' Shoukei said suddenly."

The wishy washiest of answers.

Will I discover that a major twist (hopefully, for the [even] better) has occurred in one of my favorite series? - (page 459, line 16)

"Suzu's eyes went wide, and Sekki nodded."

That sounds like a resounding yes.

Will I finish all of my reading challenges in 2019? - (page 69, line 7)
 

"It seems you kept yourselves busy while I was away."

My interpretation of this: "I'm not sure, but I know you'll try really hard."

Will I stay within my book budget in 2019? - (page 98, line 5)

Uh. There is no text on page 98, only an illustration of a frightened girl riding a flying tiger-like beast. Sounds like I'm going to blow my book budget out of the water in 2019.

Tasks for Winter Solstice and Yaldā Night: Read a book in one night - in the S. Hemisphere, read a book in a day. –OR– Grab one of your thickest books off the shelf. Ask a question and then turn to page 40 and read the 9th line of text on that page. Post your results. –OR– Eat a watermelon or pomegranate for good luck and health in the coming year, but post a pic first!.

Who better to turn to for this than Shakespeare?

I asked a question on behalf of Teddy: Will he remain the only cat around this place, or is there another (of course, also FIV positive) feline in our joint future?

I think the Bard's answer is unequivocal -- and I'll make a note of that new nickname for Teddy, for whenever we find out who "she" is going to be):

Merken