I have pulled together several LibraryThing challenges to compile my January reading list. The photo shows most of them but it doesn’t include the digital reads including The Big Burn, the story of the August 1910 fire that burned large parts of Idaho and Montana along with other states. A timely read that is part of a “natural disasters” challenge. I am also hoping to get in an Agatha Christie mystery, specifically Evil Under the Sun. (Checking that one out from the library via Libby.) It meets the alphabet challenge with both the A & the U represented! Plus, I want to read more of the classic crime mysteries, and Christie is the queen.

A disclaimer: I have no illusion that I will finish Annals of the Former World but the challenge was to read a challenging book. I have a scientist friend who reads this book often and almost exclusively and will be happy to know I have picked it up. My goal is to finish Book 1 by the end of the month. I don’t want to have to rush the reading just to meet a challenge. (It’s not like there are prizes or even badges for the LT challenges. They are friendly, pretty loosely defined and mainly there to encourage reading. I’d be happy just to finish Book 1.)

The collection of essays from Philip Pullman are meant for browsing. One particular essay led to my first read of the year: The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. I’ll post a review tomorrow but the short version is that it is a fascinating, radical “fictional” version of the life of Jesus Christ.