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RYO: End of March update
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dustydigger
Posted 2015-04-01 12:38 PM (#9989)
Subject: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



Elite Veteran

Posts: 1031
1000
Location: UK		Challenges
Detectives - 8/12
12 in 12 - 2/12
Have to read more - 7/12
Listomania - 5/10
The Unloved - 3/9
WoGF - 3/12
YA - 4/12
Clear the shelves - 7/15
Read the sequel - 6/12
Somewhere out there - 7/12
Space Opera - 3/6
Sub Genre - 5/10
1950s SF - 8/15
Solar system - 6/12
Pick and mix - 19/40
Books read 2015 - 23/75

total slots -276
slots filled - 116
total different books read - 28

Titles read this month;

Deborah Harkness - Shadow of Night
Simon R Green - Something from the Nightside
Simon R Green - Agents of Light and Darkness
Robert Heinlein - Double Star
Kate Milford - Greenglass House
John Wyndham - Day of the Triffids
A Van Vogt - Weapon Shops of Isher
Edmond Hamilton - City at Worlds End
John Scalzi - Redshirts
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spoltz
Posted 2015-04-01 1:59 PM (#9992 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		Books read this month:
Alas, Babylon - Pat Frank 5 stars
I Am The Messanger - Markus Zusak - 3 stars
The Last Policeman - Ben H. Winters - 3 stars
The Silmarillion - JRR Tolkien - 5 stars
Tales of the Perilous Realm - JRR Tolkien - 5 stars
The Tolkien Reader - JRR Tolkien - 5 stars

I joined a few more challenges at fairly low levels and up a few others:
12 Awards - 1/3
I Just Have To - 3/12
2nd Best - 1/3
Unloved - 6/12
Clear the Shelves - 4/15
Read It Again, Sam - 4/6
Pick and Mix - 5/40
Solar System - 2/3
Tolkien - 6/12

My standout this month was The Silmarillion. Armed with tolkienprofessor.com, "Atlas of Middle-Earth" by Karen Wynn Fonstad, and a less fearful approach, I found it incredibly moving.

Also wanted to mention that I failed to include Shakespeare's Planet in last months tally.

April might not show as many books since I'm picking up Tolkien's "Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth". 500 pages, small font for JRR's text, smaller font for Christopher's editing, notes, and commentary. And I'm going to be listening to as much as I can of tolkienprofessor.com's 20 hours of lecture on it. Plus I still have to get my taxes done :-P

Edited by spoltz 2015-04-01 2:00 PM
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justifiedsinner
Posted 2015-04-01 5:04 PM (#9995 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Some progress but hell it's only April, plenty of time.....

12 in 12 4/9
Listomania 0/3
Second Best 4/12
The Unloved 4/12
Read Around the World 4/5
Clear the Shelves 12/15
Literary Prizes 1/12
Read the Sequel 3/6
Books Read:2015 13/25

I really have to start Listomania.
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Weesam
Posted 2015-04-01 6:50 PM (#10002 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Posts: 613
500
Location: New Zealand		Nice progress made this month.

Detective SF: 6/12 - half way there
12 in 12: 8/12
Read more of author: 11/12
LGBT: 4/12
Listomania: 5/12
Around the World: 5/10 - no progress on this one this month
Second best: 6/12
Short fiction: 4/12
Authors of colour: 8/12
Unloved: 11/12 - nearly there!
Women: 13/24
Published 2014: Complete
Published 2015: 3/18
Clear the shelves: 12/15
Translation: 5/12
Read It Again: 5/6
Sequels: 5/12 - no progress this month
Somewhere out there: 6/12
Space Opera: 6/15
Sub-genre (time travel): 6/20
Definitive 1950's SF: 15/20 - clearly this is where most of this months reading went
Pick & Mix: 19/40
Solar System: 7/12

Books read 2015: 84/100
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Guest
Posted 2015-04-01 7:00 PM (#10003 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply


So, no books read for challenges in Feb., but I was busy writing things instead. Much better progress this month, but I am STILL working one writing project. I am on pace or ahead in all challenges except two.

March
1. Brown Harvest --Jay Russell (Detective, 2nd Best, Clear the Shelves)
2. The Quick--Lauren Owen (The Unloved, WoGF, 2014)
3. The Burning Girls--Veronica Schanoes (Short Fiction, Around the World)
4. The End of the Sentence--Maria Headley and Kat Howard (Short Fiction, 2014, Around the World)
5. The Just City--Jo Walton
6. The Color of Magic--Terry Prachett (Listomania)
7. Ancillary Justice--Ann Leckie (WoGF, Clear the Shelves)
8. Trouble on Triton--Samuel Delany (2nd Best, Solar System)
9. Scale-Bright--Benjanun Sriduangkaew (Short Fiction, Around the World, 2014)
10. The Merchant and the Alchemists Gate--Ted Chiang (Around the World, Short Fiction)

Detective 3/12
LGBT 5/12
Listomania 1/3
Around the World 4/5
2nd Best 3/12
Short Fiction 4/9
Unloved 5/12
WoGF 2/12
2014 Books 5/8
Clear the Shelves 3/15
Gaslamp 5/18
Sequel 1/6
Solar System 3/12
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Rhondak101
Posted 2015-04-01 8:20 PM (#10005 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: SC, USA		The above was me. Didn't realize I was logged out.
Rhonda
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daxxh
Posted 2015-04-01 8:55 PM (#10006 - in reply to #10005)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



Extreme Veteran

Posts: 556
500
Location: Great Lakes, USA		The Stars Like Dust -50s, Sequel, Clear, Out There, Listomania -ok
Alif the Unseen - WoGF, Subgenre, World (Middle East), 12in12 (WFA), Literary (Baileys/Orange), P&M - ok, a late coming of age for the main character.
Iceborn - Solar System (Pluto), Authors, Unloved, Short, Clear - good
Robogenesis - 2014, Sequel, Unloved - better than the first, but definitely a middle book. Waiting for the third book.
The Race - 2014, WoGF, World (England), Second (Red Tentacle)- Didnt like this one. Could have been really good, but there were a lot of errors - contextual and typographical.
The End of the Sentence - WoGF, P&M, Short, Unloved. - Decent story. Would have enjoyed it more if I was familiar with the mythology behind it.

Finished Challenges
Killer Bs 3/3
Elizabeth Noun 3/3
Gemmell 4/4
Published 2014 20/20
World 5/5


Ongoing Challenges
Readers Choice 3/5
Read it Again 2/6
SubGenre 2/10
Detective 9/12
Space Opera 0/15
Solar System 1/12
Clear the Shelves 4/15
Somewhere Out There 1/12
Read the Sequel 3/12
WoGF 4/12
More of That Author 7/12
Literary 1/12
Published 2015 0/18
1950s 2/10
Unloved 7/12
Pick and Mix 5/12
Fantasy Series 1/3
Second Best 1/6
12 in 12 2/6
Listomania 2/6
Short 3/12
Books Read 2015 18

I got 2/3s of the way through The Bone Clocks, which is excellent. Sadly, I had to return it to the library and will have to wait until I am number one on the list again to finish it.

I thought that if I made a Space Opera Challenge, I would read my backlog of Space Opera. Not happening. I think I will have to suspend all my library holds for a while so I can read some Space Opera!

I am also thinking of changing my Listomania list to Guardian, since there are now reading levels for the 1950s Challenge. I'm not sure if that's a wise idea, given how many Challenges I have signed up for. But, there are books on the Guardian list that I really want to read.

Edited by daxxh 2015-04-01 9:04 PM
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dustydigger
Posted 2015-04-02 4:05 AM (#10008 - in reply to #10006)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		@ Daxxh - Isnt the Guardian challenge finished? Pity,the list was fascinating,though there is a lot of heavyweight stuff on there,and that challenge pushed me into reading some of it! lol.With reading levels I would probably have taken on at least a few of those longer or more difficult but rewarding reads.I only have Sirens of Titan and The Einstein Intersection on my TBR for this year. But I am lazy,without a challenge there getting my attention,I am unlikely to get round to things like Foucault's Pendulum,House of Leaves,We,Voyage to Arcturus,Camp Concentration,Master and the Margharita and the like. Ah well,someday,someday......... So far I have only read 58/149 books on the list,its going to take a long long time ,probably the rest of my life,to finish that list!
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justifiedsinner
Posted 2015-04-02 10:10 AM (#10011 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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@dusty - you could always use the Listomania Challenge for that - just do 3, 6, 9, or 12 Guardian list books and you're home free.
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spoltz
Posted 2015-04-02 11:29 AM (#10012 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



Uber User

Posts: 370
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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		Sorry about Bone Clocks daxxh. I really loved it. I won a pre-release softcover copy from the publisher's website and saw Mitchell when he came through town. He's quite a nice fellow.
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pizzakarin
Posted 2015-04-02 12:00 PM (#10013 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



Veteran

Posts: 111
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Location: Austin, Tx		I've been keeping track of my reading via a spreadsheet, so here's the screenshot. I love this kind of data, so I can't wait until the year's over and I have my stats for the whole year.

Total progress:

1950s challenge: 2/10 (1 in March)
12 in 12: 3/12 (1 in March)
Listomania: 5/12 (3 in March)
Unloved: 0/3
Women of Genre: 4/12 (2 in March)
Clear the Shelves: 8/14 (2 in March)
Choose Your Own Winner: 2/5
New in 2014: 11/12 (1 in March)
New in 2015: 1/9 (1 in March)
Subgenre Focus: 6/10 (2 in March)
Short Story: 2/3 (1 in March)

Looking forward in April:

I've continued to be pretty slow with my print books. I'm bogged down in The Yiddish Policemen's Union to the point where I've had to start mandating a chapter a day. After that I have Brasyl in print and I expect that to be another challenging book. I'm hoping to get both finished before I'm induced at the end of the month so that I can take it easy with some fluff during that grueling newborn phase.
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Weesam
Posted 2015-04-02 4:37 PM (#10015 - in reply to #10013)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: New Zealand
I've been keeping track of my reading via a spreadsheet, so here's the screenshot. I love this kind of data, so I can't wait until the year's over and I have my stats for the whole year.


Wow. That's impressive. I keep track of all my challenges on a spreadsheet as well, but it's nothing like yours. I bow down to the master!
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spoltz
Posted 2015-04-02 5:24 PM (#10016 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Posts: 370
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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		Ditto Weesam. Oh Karin, we are not worthy!
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daxxh
Posted 2015-04-03 12:32 AM (#10022 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: Great Lakes, USA		@dusty - I am going to read books from the Guardian list for the Listomania Challenge. Now I just have to decide how many.

@spoltz - If the library takes too long, I may just buy a copy of The Bone Clocks. (I'm trying to use the library more and buy fewer books.) Had I known David Mitchell was going to be at Powell's (I think you mentioned that a while ago), I might have made the trek down. I love that place.

@pizzakarin - Wow! Your spreadsheet puts mine to shame.
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spoltz
Posted 2015-04-03 9:54 AM (#10029 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		Hey daxxh, where are you? My SF book club is at the Beaverton Powell's, not far from me. (I apologize if we've had I've asked before, but I'm old LOL) It seems like that's where most of the SF/F authors come, I think because it's a bigger space than downtown. I try to see all the SF/F authors who come through, even if I haven't read them, although I just missed Gail Carriger and Maria Doria Russell, although I think the latter was promoting a new mystery. I love to wander in both stores, but except for book club ooks, I usually get all my books at the library. The Washington County system is very quick with interlibrary loans, probably because most books only come from the Seattle system.
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Administrator
Posted 2015-04-03 10:35 AM (#10030 - in reply to #10029)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



Admin

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Location: Dallas, Texas

I'm stoked that I can post some progress with my reading challenges this year!

2015 WoGF:  1/12
"Read it again, Sam.":  5/6
Space Opera:  6/9
1950s SF:  2/10
Solar System: 1/3

Not so great on the WoGF but much better than last year already.  I'm getting lots of reading done whilst waiting for my daughter's volleyball practices to end and I've had a few sick days to get some serious reading time in.  That's lemonade from lemons my friends.

I don't know how everyone else feels about the reading levels but I find that setting them lower to start with has taken some of the pressure off me and made my reading more enjoyable.  I'm already looking forward to stepping up a level on the Space Opera and Solar System challenges.  I've even been contemplating starting an Audio Book Reading Challenge.  That will play nice with the other challenges.

As a 2 days late April Fools joke I told whargoul you guys were wanting us to build an interface to duplicate pizzakarin's spreadsheet on the site.  He was not thrilled with the idea... 

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daxxh
Posted 2015-04-03 11:15 AM (#10031 - in reply to #10030)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: Great Lakes, USA		@spoltz - I live just north of Tacoma - just across the county line, so my library system is probably the one you get all you interlibrary loans from. This place has the best library system of any other place that I've lived. I've only had to get 2 books through interlibrary loan and they were southwestern history books. It seems like more people up here read SciFi/Fantasy, so the library gets all the new books.

I go down to Portland at least once a year for either horse stuff or to visit relatives and I always go to Powell's. I can stay in there all day.
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Rhondak101
Posted 2015-04-03 12:19 PM (#10032 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: SC, USA		Congrats, Dave. I am so pleased to see that you are getting to do some reading. I always feel guilty that we keep coming up with ideas that keep you from reading.
I'm looking forward to you upping your level on the Solar System challenge.
Rhonda
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pizzakarin
Posted 2015-04-03 3:42 PM (#10033 - in reply to #10030)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: Austin, Tx
Administrator - 2015-04-03 10:35 AM

As a 2 days late April Fools joke I told whargoulyou guys were wanting us to build an interface to duplicate pizzakarin's spreadsheet on the site. He was not thrilled with the idea...


Man....the flashy stuff would be easy, I just like color coding things. The tough part would be allowing custom rules for people to be able to set their optimal average reading time so that it would color code the reading time to show falling below or above that level.

Ok, I say that would be the tough part, but the part that took me the longest wasn't even doing the spreadsheet, it was deciding on books for the 12 in 12 and Listomania challenges to where there were 12 awards and 12 lists represented (which I noted in that last column). Would be super cool to be able to input your books and it would do that calculation and highlight books that don't represent a unique award or list (while ignoring the fact that two books might have the same aware/list and still be unique because of another award/list). I wonder if I could do that in excel if I managed to put all the award/list correlations into my massive home-library catalog spreadsheet........... .......... ..............

.........this is a very dark road you've started me down. :P
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dustydigger
Posted 2015-04-04 1:45 AM (#10036 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		@ Steve - so jealous of your interlibrary loans speed and availability. Our ILL is hopeless. The library act as if they are doing you the greatest favour in the world,and it takes months! On top of that they charge an arm and a leg. I dearly wanted to read Simak's City for the Hugo list,but they wanted the equivalent of $12 to do get an ILL.. I can get it on my kindle to own for $8! As it is, just reserving books within the system for all my challenges (not just SF,lots of other genres too) will cost me about $60 this year. Blame me with my obsession with award winning books of the past instead of run of the mill stuff from the present! My library has done a lot better this last year,dont know if there is a SF fan in the central library,but they have at least bought a good selection of the SF Masterworks. I was disconcerted when I joined WWEnd 3 years ago to find that the library system only had 11 of the Masterworks series,numbering around 100 then I think,and I had already read all but 4 of them. Still problems with modern Hugos,they stock only 5 of the last 20 years winners! There is a bigger library system 7 miles away and I have managed to locate a few more there,but I cant afford to reserve there,its $2 per reservation fee,way out of an old age pensioners reach Oh well,I am able to buy about 3 a year from birthday presents,so I am determined to finish that list eventually! lol. 41/63 read so far,4 more pencilled in for this year,so I'm getting there - eventually
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Badseedgirl
Posted 2015-04-04 11:08 AM (#10045 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: Middle TN, USA		March update (yeah I'm behind my times, some of us are not as organized as others)

Challenges:

12 for 12 - 6/12 (all 6 reviews done, but I'm planning to review all my books, Who's the over achiever!)
2015 The Unloved - 5/12
2015 YA - 4/12
Clear the Shelves - 5/15
Read the Sequel - 4/12
Somewhere Out There - 5/12
SubGenre - 0/12 (I have not picked a sub-genre yet. I'm thinking Vampires, but I don't know that is not much of a stretch from my fav. subgenre, "Zombies"

Read in March
Neuromancer - Still shaking my head at that one! (12 for 12 )
The Culled - just because
Nos4a2 - cruise read
The Walking Dead: Descent - another cruise read
Insurgent - better than the first. (Read the sequel, the unloved)
The Girl With All The Gifts - I don't know how this was not nominated for something (The Unloved)
Death of a Gossip - just a little Cozy fluff I read at times
Gone Girl - i had to read this one now because my partner bought the movie and has been threatening to watch it (clear the shelves)


April has been designated by me "Everything old is new again" month. I am rereading some books I just love or felt I did not give a good shake the first time. Not sure how much challenge reading this will leave me. I am currently reading The Fall by Guillermo Del Torro and Chuck Hogan, Where Late the Sweet Birs Sang by Kate Wilhelm, The Doomsday book by Connie Willis, how much I get done we shall see!

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pizzakarin
Posted 2015-04-04 12:56 PM (#10046 - in reply to #10045)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: Austin, Tx		The Girl With All the Gifts was awesome. I agree that it should have been nominated. If the entire Newsflesh trilogy managed to get nominated, this one more than deserves it. Not that I didn't enjoy the Newsflesh triliogy, just that I love a self-contained story and it was a hell of a story.

Re: subgenre focus. I have really enjoyed picking up a subgenre that I had written off as "not for me" without having read any of it (steampunk), if that's worth anything.
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spoltz
Posted 2015-04-04 6:30 PM (#10053 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		Hey Beth, you can sign up for the Read It Again, Sam challenge. It goes until July. That way you'll still be working towards a challenge ;-)
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spoltz
Posted 2015-04-04 6:37 PM (#10054 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		Hey Dusty, our county library system has 12 or 13 libraries. There's also an agreement with the next county over so that we can get a library card there and vice versa. That encompasses the whole Portland, Oregon metro area, except for southern Washington, which is north across the river. When you request an ILL outside these systems, the form does say that on rare occassions there may be a charge, but I haven't come across one yet. I have a personal challenge to visit all the libraries in our county system and take a selfie in front of their SF/F section (see my profile pic) or if the library is too small for a separate section, in front of a bunch of books by an author of the genre. True geek.
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Badseedgirl
Posted 2015-04-04 8:09 PM (#10055 - in reply to #9989)
Subject: Re: RYO: End of March update		Quote Reply



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Location: Middle TN, USA		Spoltz: Took your advise.. signed up for Read it again. Know I will be reading Lucifer's Hammer and Handmaid's Tale in addition to Magic Kingdom. The other three I will just have to see.
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