Annual Update 2023

 Two years in a row, I made my Reading Challenge target. Why break a winning streak? Once again, therefore, I have set myself a target of 50 books.

2023 Reading Challenge

Mr Muir has read 1 book toward their goal of 50 books.

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1 of 50 (2%)

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For a summary of my reading in 2022, see Goodreads' My Year in Books.

New Year's resolution: (again, same as last year!) cross-post more of my Goodreads reviews hear and on my social media accounts. I will add: make some posts about the school's progress towards Gold accreditation in the Scottish Book Trust's Reading Schools initiative.

Read This Year: 2023

 New year, and new challenges. This year, the school is going for Gold accreditation in the Scottish Book Trust's Reading Schools initiative, I have a "Currently Reading" poster on my door and will soon put the first book of the year on display. This is the page that the QR Code for "Read this year" will link to and the widget below should update automagically as the year progresses.

Mr Muir's bookshelf: read-in-2023

The Two Towers

by J.R.R. Tolkien

The first time I read this, I was so caught up by the Battle of Helm’s Deep that, when I reached the conclusion, I couldn’t believe I was less than half way through the trilogy. It felt so massive, so conclusive, I couldn’t believe it wa...

tagged: read-in-2023

Read This Year - 2022

Thanks to our wonderful librarian's project to promote a reading community in the school, I have a "Currently Reading" poster on my door. The first poster of the year has been prepared:

This is the page that the QR Code for "Read this year" will link to. The widget below should update automagically as the year progresses.

Mr Muir's bookshelf: read-in-2022

Burning Chrome

by William Gibson

A collection of short stories from the man who defined cyberpunk. Some (inevitably) were better than others. For example, I couldn’t quite get my head around “New Rose Hotel” but “The Winter Market” conjured up believable technology and ...

tagged: read-in-2022

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 1910

by Alan Moore

tagged: read-in-2022

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen

by Alan Garner

tagged: read-in-2022

Around the World in Eighty Days

by Jules Verne

Good fun and not quite what I expected. One surprise is that there is no balloon trip ! Also, crossing Europe is barely mentioned; we go from London to the Suez Canal in pretty much a single bound. Clearly, travel in Europe was considere...

tagged: read-in-2022

Annual Update

 Time for the annual update...

2022 Reading Challenge

Mr Muir has read 4 books toward their goal of 50 books.

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4 of 50 (8%)

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I was pleased I made my target in last year's reading challenge, so I've left it the same this year. As always, too many distractions get in the way of reading, so it's as well I have this challenge to turn it into a game! For a summary of my reading in 2021, see Goodreads' My Year in Books.

New Year's resolution: cross-post more of my Goodreads reviews hear and on my social media accounts.

Reading Challenge 2021

The widget below should automatically update every time I finish a book in 2021. 

 

2021 Reading Challenge

Mr Muir has read 9 books toward their goal of 50 books.

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9 of 50 (18%)

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I like the way Goodreads can be used to track what you read and I especially like the challenges - that it prompts me to keep reading and to move onto the next book, or finish the one I'm on. It makes it a bit like a game, and while the purist may despair at the gamification of reading, it works for me. I also like the sense of community that Goodreads supports. I don't interact with that community as much as I could but I must admit to being pleased whenever a like or a comment appears.

And while on the subject of community, I have written before about our school librarian's "Currently Reading" initiative (see Keeping Track). The posters that appear around the school create a sense that the school is a community that values reading. 

Over time, I have refined the poster I use to display what I'm currently reading. I now include a brief note about the book and a couple of QR codes that link to this blog... but perhaps that’s a subject for another post. 

What I want to mention here is what is happening at the moment because, during lockdown, the pupils can't see the posters... Our ever resourceful librarian, however, has gone digital. Every month, she sends out an email with thumbnails of what the staff are reading. I wouldn't like the posters around disappear, and I assume we'll start updating them again as pupils return, but I do like getting a list of what is being read all in the one place. I'm hoping that, post lockdown, we will see what is being read both in hard copy and electronically.

Goodreads Reading Challenge 2020

Didn't quite make it to target last year: 48 books read out of a target of 50. Was working on two books right up to the wire and finished one on January the first... In my defence, I started the year with a target of 40, upped it to 45 and then upped it again to 50, so I smashed my original target!

2020 Reading Challenge

Mr Muir has read 1 book toward their goal of 40 books.

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1 of 40 (2%)

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Interestingly, I read more books but wrote fewer reviews than in 2019. I suppose that's the right way round but I'll try and do better this year.

2021 Reading Challenge

Mr Muir has read 1 book toward their goal of 50 books.

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1 of 50 (2%)

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And here's the list of books I read... in case you are interested!

Mr Muir's bookshelf: read-in-2020

No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories

by Lee Child

tagged: read-in-2020

Where's My Cow?

by Terry Pratchett

tagged: read-in-2020

The One True Story: Daily Readings for Advent from Genesis to Jesus

by Tim Chester

A reading and a thought for every day in Advent. Often brought out details that had never thought about despite dealing with, what were often, well-known stories.

tagged: read-in-2020

Immortal Hulk Book One

by Al Ewing

tagged: read-in-2020

Darkness There: Selected Tales by Edgar Allan Poe

by Edgar Allan Poe

tagged: read-in-2020