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Another month just about on track! 14. The Soldier's Wife (Margaret Leroy) A woman’s time in Guernsey during WWII. Easy read and interesting enough. 15. The Lions of Al-Rassen (Guy Gavriel Kay) A fantasy retelling of the Reconquista, but more about the relations between the three religious groups (not-Jews, not-Muslims and not-Christians) as told through the friendship of Jehane, Ammar and Rodrigo. I felt the pace was perhaps a bit slow through the middle section of the book, but altogether a compelling read which really got across the feeling of the end of a world. I felt genuinely sad and unsettled by the end, given that the book is essentially inspired by the end of real life Al-Andalus. 16. Ward Number Six and Other Stories (Anton Chekhov) As well as Ward Six, this collection included The Butterfly, Ariadne, A Dreary Story, Neighbours, An Anonymous Story, Doctor Startsev. I read the stories of the course of a couple of months, all of them were interesting in some way - although I can no longer remember what Ariadne was about. Most of the stories had a doctor as the main character – from the introduction this choice was intentional – this made Neighbours and An Anonymous Story a nice change of pace. My favourite here was The Butterfly. I read slightly out of order, ending on An Anonymous Story, this seemed a better close than Doctor Startsev and worked for me. 17. The Sword of the Lictor (Gene Wolfe) Third book in the series. I have resigned myself to being confused at the start of each book in this series, as they seem not to start up where they left off. The best of the series so far for me, really managed to shock me with the sudden death of little Severian and it was pretty amusing when I realised that the horrible ruler of the lake people was Ballanders. Took me way too long to put two and two together about the destroyed castle. Booklord Challenge 1) Vanilla Number: 17/52 2) Something written by a woman: Humber Boy B (Ruth Dugdale) 4) Something written in the 1800s: Persuasion (Jane Austen) 8) A work of Science Fiction: Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) 9) Something written by a musician: Wonders of Life (Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen) 10) Read a long book, something over 500 pages: The Lions of Al-Rassen (Guy Gavriel Kay) 13) Read Something YA: Only Ever Yours (Louise O'Neill) 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now: At Swim Two Birds (Flann O'Brien) 17) The First book in a series: The Shadow of the Torturer (Gene Wolfe) 21) A Short Story collection: Ward Six and Other Stories (Anton Chekhov) 22) It’s a Mystery. The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)
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May 1, 2016 19:53
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April~ 28. My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan Novels #1) - Elena Ferrante 29. Mad Ship (Liveship Traders #2) - Robin Hobb 30. The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson 31. The Story of a New Name (Neapolitan Novels #2) - Elena Ferrante 32. Ubik - Philip K. Dick 33. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (Neapolitan Novels #3) - Elena Ferrante 34. The Sellout - Paul Beatty 35. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling Rather than recapping each book (since many of them are parts of series that I'm still wrapping up) I'll just go with a general update. The Elena Ferrante novels are tremendously addictive, and very good, even if I can't articulate why I'm loving this story of a female friendship over decades in Italy. The Liveship Traders books are fun pirate novels with a fantasy twist, which I read a while back but decided to revisit in order to move on to Hobb's Tawny Man trilogy. The Sellout was a hilariously dark book about race in America, filled with moments of "holy poo poo, did he actually say that?!" Ubik was likely the best book of the month, a surreal science fiction novel about psychics, time manipulation, and what awaits us after death - I know there have been plenty of science fiction stories more or less directly inspired by this one. Finally, The Rum Diary was not quite what I expected from Thompson; it felt like his attempt to rewrite The Sun Also Rises, in Puerto Rico instead of Spain. 1) Vanilla Number (35/52) 2) Something written by a woman (Hobb, Rowling, Ferrante) 3) Something Written by a nonwhite author (Beatty) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) A work of Science Fiction - Ubik 9) 10) Read a long book, something over 500 pages - Order of the Phoenix, Mad Ship 11) 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 13) 14) Wildcard! 15) 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now 17) The First book in a series: My Brilliant Friend 18) 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Generation 20) 21) 22)
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May 1, 2016 22:23
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Gertrude Perkins posted:1 - Daft Wee Stories, by Limmy (Brian Limond) I read six books in April: 17 - I Love Dick, by Chris Kraus. A fictional tale about Kraus lusting after and possibly having a love affair with the titular Dick, it blends reality and fantasy so much that it's difficult to see the seams, if indeed there are any. Despite the first half being a little shaky, it really picked up for me toward the end, and I learned a lot! 18 - Ghost House, by Hannah Faith Notess. A short collection of poetry, about nostalgia, longing, videogames and hope. It made me feel a lot of things, and I'm grateful. 19 - Pig Tales, by Marie Darrieussecq. This was a really pleasant surprise! What looks on the surface like trashy transformation erotica (it's about a woman who turns into a pig) is a surprisingly deep, funny and interesting story. Written in the mid-90s, it's told from the point of view of a masseuse-turned-sex-worker as she changes, along with Paris around her. Societal collapse, political strife, cannibalism, and a millennial cult all feature at one point or another, as well as the grisly body-horror of the protagonist's transformation. Worth checking out! 20 & 21 - The Midas Flesh, vol. 1 & 2, by Ryan North, Branden Lamb, Shelli Paroline, Steve Wands. A rad and colourful SF comic about a trio of scavengers whose spaceship finds a desolate Earth transformed completely into gold by the legendary King Midas. However, they're not the only ones after the king's remains, and they come up against the forces of an oppressive Galactic Federation. It's fun pulpy science fiction with a neat premise, and Ryan North is a pretty good writer! The second half of the story is bigger, more risky, and comes close to feeling a little rushed. But the final encounter, and the ending itself, are very satisfying. Good stuff. 22 - Slow Bullets, by Alastair Reynolds. The latest work by my favourite SF author. It's a "novella", though in this case it just means "200 pages instead of Reynolds's usual 500+". It's still a good, full story, with a starker and more desolate setting than I had expected from the opening scene. It's claustrophobic, and has the feel of a classic high-concept science fiction story, centred around the problem of how to go about rebuilding a civilisation. It's not my favourite of his, but less-good Alastair Reynolds is still better than a lot of things. Full reviews up on my GoodReads, as always. BOOKLORD progress: 1) 52+ books - 22 2) At least 40% (21) by a woman - 10 - Supervillainz, AM/PM, New World, Bad Feminist, Dept. Of Speculation, Empire Of The Senseless, Oryx & Crake, I Love Dick, Ghost House, Pig Tales 4) Something written in the 1800s - 13) Read Something YA - 14) Wildcard! (City of Stairs) 18) A biography or autobiography - 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, etc.) or from the Beat Generation - 20) Read a banned book - 22) It’s a Mystery. -
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May 2, 2016 01:54
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April 18. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor. Good poo poo. She writes the most grotesque (believable) characters in all literature, I assume. Some of these characters I hated so much, lol. 19. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. A sci fi book about ppls consciousness being stored in computers and uploaded into other bodies, which is a cool idea. The book is not good, despite having the 1 cool idea. I'd recommend that this book not be read. 20. The Selected Stories of O. Henry by O. Henry, duh lol. In the early 1900's, O. Henry was the worlds most famous short story author in the English Language. Now nobody really cares about him, which is fine, really, because all his stories are based around the twist, and read like an extremely hip 1900's man, which is anathema to real literature, this tryhard style which he affects. It feels rly pathetic in AD 2016. 21. The Arabian Nights translated by Hussain Haddaway. This was cool. It's apparently the most accurate translation of the Nights, which doesn't really matter that much to me, honestly. Borges really loved the Richard Burton translation, which like added a bunch of apocryphal stories and used a pseudo victorian style. What matters is the content, and how artistic and cool it is, not the authenticity, but this was still good. Maybe in a few years I'll read the Burton translation.
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May 2, 2016 15:39
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Slow reading month with only four books, but in my defense I was extremely busy this month. My descriptions are a bit subpar as well, as instead of writing them immediately after reading as I usually do, these descriptions were all written today. Total of 1925 pages read for an average of 64 pages/day and 77 pages/day YTD. 1) Vanilla Number: 2) Something written by a woman - The Handmaids Tale 3) Something Written by a nonwhite author - Thousand Splendid Suns 4) Something written in the 1800s - Wuthering Heights 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) - A Travelers history of Southeast Asia 6) A book about or narrated by an animal 7) A collection of essays. - Alien Hand Syndrome 8) A work of Science Fiction - Player of Games 9) Something written by a musician 10) Read a long book, something over 500 pages - Gone with the Wind 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 13) Read Something YA - Guards, Guards, Guards! 14) Wildcard! 15) Something recently published (up to a year. The year will be the day you start this challenge) - Stress Test 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. - The Odyssey 17) The First book in a series - Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 18) A biography or autobiography 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Generation 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection 22) It’s a Mystery. Wuthering Heights - 3/5 - I only read this because I had heard of it a million times and it was free on project gutenberg, but honestly it was pretty good. The book shows it's age without a doubt, being 150 years old, but on the other hand it was still an interesting look into conflict and how it effects people. The language is dated and makes it a little slower read than would be otherwise, but the novel is written beautifully and is abosultely heartwrenching. Heathcliffe is legitimately a terrifying villian on par with anything written or put on fim since, and it's horrifying and fasicating to watch him slowly tear these families apart. The Wright Brothers - 3/5 - David McCulloughs history of the brothers who built the first airplane. Definitely an interesting read; I definitely learned a lot about the history of air travel that I had no idea. The definition of a good but not incredible history. I've only read John Adams by McCullough and was hoping this would match up with that, but I think the limited scope of the book and lack of significant primary source citing makes the book less fascinating than it could otherwise be. The Goldfinch - 5/5 - Legimitately one of the best books I've read in a very long time. The entire way through the novel it was constantly in my brain, whether I was reading it or not. The book follows Theo, a boy who's mother dies when he's young, through his growing up. A simple premise but beautifully written and with a great cast of characters (Boris is one of my favorite characters in any book). I've heard mixed reviews of the ending, but I thought it was incredible, tying everything together and giving a solid sense of closure. I would highly recommend this book. Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War - 3/5 - Another interesting but non-descript historical novel. I liked it and learned a lot about the Vietnam war and the country, but it wasn't thrilling or mindblowing. This book was mostly interesting for me because I read it while I was Vietnam, giving another level of connection that wouldn't otherwise be there. If you're interested in Vietnam's 20th century woes check this out, but it's not a must read.
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May 2, 2016 16:48
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Prolonged Shame posted:1) The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion - Fannie Flagg I did not complete much reading in April: 35) Tongues of Serpents (Temeraire #6) - Naomi Novik: Once we got through the interminable journeying, this book started getting interesting. Unfortunately, it was 2/3 of the way done at that point. 36) The Post-Office Girl - Stefan Zwieg: The story of a poor civil servant who is swept up for a week of high living with her rich aunt before being dumped unceremoniously back into her dreary life, which she now finds intolerable, having seen how the other half lives. This was great, and though the ending was somewhat controversial, I loved it. 37) Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald: I love Gatsby, but this didn't quite do it for me in the same way. I think reading it concurrently with The Post Office Girl was detrimental as they address a lot of the same themes, but this one is a lot more dated despite being roughly contemporaneous. 38) The Confusions of Young Torless - Robert Musil: My wildcard. Calling it prophetic of the rise of Nazi-ism as all the reviews do seems like a bit of a reach, but it is a creepy insight into the mind of a troubled boy in an Austrian boarding school. Not something I would have picked up myself, but I enjoyed it, so thanks booklord challenge! Subchallenges! A-Z challenge:: A: The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion B: Book of a Thousand Days C: The Corinthian D: Definitely Dead E: Euphoria F: From Dead to Worse G: Gulp H: Hope I: In the Night Garden J: Julie and Julia K: Keeping the House L: The Left Hand of Darkness M: My Man Jeeves N: No Country for Old Men O: One of Us P: The Post Office Girl Booklord: Written by a woman: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Written by a non-white author: Emperor of All Maladies Written in the 1800's: Agnes Grey Science fiction book: Beacon 23 Written by a musician: M Train Book over 500 pages: Keeping the House Book about/set in NYC: The Angel of Darkness Young adult book: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Wildcard: The Confusions of Young Torless Published in the last year: Hope Book you've wanted to read for a while: The Left Hand of Darkness First book in a series: Outlander Biography or autobiography: Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter Written by lost or beat generation author: Tender is the Night Short stories: Three-Ten to Yuma and other Stories Mystery book: The Girl on the Train Overall: Total: 38/100 A-Z Challenge: 16/26 Booklord Challenge: 16/22 Presidential Biographies: 3/6 Hopefully May will be more productive.
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May 2, 2016 16:53
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Combined march/april update: Several books on history: Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization by Richard Miles - Interesting account of the culture of the Carthaginians and their long struggle with Rome. The Lost History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins - About the mostly extinct Christian history of the Middle East and Central Asia. A decent overview of the subject, but not very much detail. Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the War for Crown and Empire by James Romm - Fairly detailed treatment of the power struggles between Alexander's generals. Worthwhile for those with an interest in the subject. Den sorte tråden: Europeisk høyreradikalisme fra 1920 til i dag ("The Black Thread: European right-wing radicalism from 1920 until today") by Øyvind Strømmen - Pretty much exactly what the title says: freelance journalist Strømmen gives us an overview from right-wing radicalism in the past century. Certainly interesting, but the broad overview leaves little room for detailed analysis of their political impact. Other: The dead girls by Jorge Ibargüengoitia - This black comedy features a group of women running a brothel in the Mexican countryside suffer various injustices and kill several people in revenge. The novel recounts their various backstories and is clearly intended to mock the excesses of Mexican society. L'Arabe du futur 2 : Une jeunesse au Moyen-Orient (1984-1985) by Riad Sattouf - Part 2 of the autobiographical comic. Considerably more violence in this, with regular beatings in school, blasting sparrows to bits with shotguns and an honour killing in the extended family. Yes by Thomas Bernhard - A scientist preoccupied with thoughts of suicide meets a Persian woman with similar ideas. Their mutual encounter inspires the scientist to grow attached to living once again, but makes her go through with her plans. Žižek's Jokes: Did You Hear the One about Hegel and Negation? by Slavoj Žižek - Compilation of jokes extracted from Žižek. Deprived of their original context, it is very difficult to discern what the original point of them was, and the result is simply strange. The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy - Man murders his wife out of jealous rage and acts as a mouthpiece for Tolstoy's personal views. Essentially, relations between the sexes will always be poisoned by base emotions, so one should stay chaste. Booklord challenge: 1) Vanilla Number 16/40 2) 3) 4) 5) 7) 18) 21)
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May 2, 2016 18:39
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Ben Nevis posted:Previously Read: I read 8 this month, aided in part by days with a network outage at work and being laid up for a few days with a stomach bug. Not a bad month of reading 20. Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff - In Jim Crow America, young black veteran becomes the target of an ancient and secret cult because he's a blood relative of the founder. His whole family gets caught up in a tale of Lovecraftian haunted houses, evil books, curses, and spooky aliens, as well as redlining, sundown towns, and racist sheriffs. 21. Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart - A novelization of the true story of one of America's first female deputy sheriff's. After the Kopp sisters' buggy is wrecked by a reckless driver, the oldest sister, Constance seeks money for repair. When her pleas for remuneration are met with harassment, she goes undercover to catch the dastard. The details of the story are drawn from newspapers, police reports, and letters of the day. There's one story line with no basis in fact and the epilogue does clarify some of that. Written by a woman. 22. The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle - This is a novella rewriting Lovecraft's Horror at Red Hook with the protagonist being a con man from Harlem. I liked this a lot, a great spin on Lovecraft. A nonwhite Author. 23. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley - I wasn't sure what I was getting into here. I was imagining a clever clockwork world of some sort, and it does have some of that aspect. Mostly, this is the story of a relationship between a young man working with British intelligence and an exceedingly clever watchmaker who may or may not have ties to Irish bombers.This was unexpected but good. Written by a woman. 24. The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji - While the English translation is recent, this is an older mystery novel that apparently spurred a renaissance in Japanese mysteries, moving them back towards a classic style. This is intended to be very much a classic locked room type mystery where you gather your clues and figure out whodunnit. 7 Students in a mystery club go to spend a week at the Decagon House, the home of a rich eccentric architect who died in a murder/suicide affair. That seems plenty morbid to me, but then the students start being killed on at a time. Can you pick who the killer is? A nonwhite author. 25. The Girl with the Ghost Eyes by MH Boroson - Set in 19th century Sacramento Chinatown it follows a young widow who is a Daoist exorcist. Old ways struggle against assimilation when it looks like an evil magician is going to raise a horror from ancient legend to lay waste to a rival tong. This was a bit cheesy in some regards, but it's a unique setting and I thought an interesting twist on your usual ghost stories. In some ways reminded me of Archivist Wasp. Supposed to be the first in the series, I'll probably read the next as well. 26. The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery - This details Montgomery's experiences getting to know the octopuses at an aquarium. There's a lot (though not as much as you'd expect) about octopodes here. There are also a lot of reflections on the nature of consciousness, and how that might apply to octopus. This was an fascinating book, though I thought there were some leaps in the consciousness and octopus assumptions. I read it because I was interested in octopus, and enjoyed it. Written by a woman 27. Crooked by Austin Grossman - What if Richard Nixon was not our worst president? What if, instead, he was the last president to fully grasp the powers granted by the Constitution and use them to protect America from the escalating occult attacks being pursued by the Russians during the Cold War? I found this premise to be interesting and amusing. Despite the way the blurb is stated, this primarily focuses on Nixon's rise as a congressman and as Eisenhower's VP. The presidential portion could have used some more focus, but I really enjoyed this. Currently reading, but not done yet, A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal. 1) Vanilla Number 27/45 2) Something written by a woman - Ru, Only the Animals, Stray Souls, Claws of the Cat, Binti, Girl waits with Gun, Soul of an Octopus, Watchmaker of Filigree St. 3) Something Written by a nonwhite author - Ru, Binti, Version Control, The Ballad of Black Tom, The Decagon House Murders. 4) Something written in the 1800s - Three Men in a Boat 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice)- Girl Waits with Gun 6) A book about or narrated by an animal - Only the Animals, A Night in the Lonesome October 7) A collection of essays. 8) A work of Science Fiction - The Stars my Destination, Binti, Version Control 9) Something written by a musician 10) Read a long book, something over 500 pages - Lonesome Dove, Version Control 11) Read something about or set in NYC - My Dead Body 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 13) Read Something YA 14) Wildcard! 15) Something recently published - Only the Animals, Paris Nocturne, Last First Snow, Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, Lovecraft & Carter, Binti, Version Control, Lovecraft Country, Girl Waits with Gun, The Soul of an Octopus, The Girl with the Ghost Eyes, Watchmaker of Filigree St. 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now - Lonesome Dove, The Stars My Destination 17) The First book in a series - Claws of the Cat, Anno Dracula, Stray Souls, Girl with the Ghost Eyes, Girl Waits with Gun 18) A biography or autobiography 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection - Only the Animals, Brief Encounters with Che Guevara 22) It’s a Mystery - Claws of the Cat, Carter & Lovecraft, Decagon House Murders
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May 2, 2016 22:58
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8) How to Win Friends & Influence People, Dale Carnegie I'd seen this recommended many times, but for some reason assumed it was about deceit and manipulation. Instead it's filled with rules and examples of things that normal good-natured extroverts probably do naturally. As a grouchy, overly critical, goony, and awkward wallflower I think I got a lot of value from reading this. 9) A Fine and Pleasant Misery, Patrick F. McManus (BLC# 21, Short stories) Pat McManus books were one of the few sources of entertainment available on rainy days at my Grandpa's cabin in the summers of my youth. I don't know if the humor translates for someone that can't relate to an outdoorsy life, but I remain a huge fan even though it's been nearly 15 years since I've even seen a tent. This book includes some of his best, including the two types of cows that haunt trout streams (Fast Mean Cows and Slow Mean Cows) and the first story about his aggressively useless dog Strange. 10) Kerplunk!, Patrick F. McManus A book collecting more recent McManus short stories. Stick to the older ones unless you're a completionist. A couple funny stories but mostly just OK. 11) The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (BLC# 4, 1800s) Started but never finished this one many years ago, I loved this book this time through. Not much I can say about it that already hasn't been said repeatedly over the last century. Wish there were more Oscar Wilde novels to read. 12) The Man with a Load of Mischief, Martha Grimes (BLC# 22, Mystery) Haven't read much in the mystery genre outside some Sherlock Holmes. This was good though, a few interesting characters in an interesting Northamptonshire village. I didn't really solve the mystery ahead of the book, but when all was revealed everything sort of fell into place, which seems to me like it should be an important part of a mystery novel. I'd probably pick up the next book in the series if I spot it at my local used book shop. 13) Denying the Holocaust, Deborah Lipstadt (BLC# 2, Woman) About the people and history of Holocaust denialism, revisionism, and relativism instead of a regular debunking. Sort of a famous book, Dr. Lipstadt was sued by one of the pseudo-historians profiled under the terrible English libel laws, which hold the burden of proof on the defendant. A team of crack lawyers and historian expert witnesses was successfully able to prove to a judge that the plantiff was, in fact, a racist Hitler lover that distorted evidence and falsified statistics to fit "his neo-fascist political agenda." 13/40, BLC#s remaining: 3 6, 7, 8, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 29, 20
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May 3, 2016 09:26
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Previously read: 1. Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 3. The Serpent by Claire North 4. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott 5. Bossypants] by Tina Fey 6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 7. The Books of Magic] by Neil Gaiman 8. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Steifvater 9. The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Steifvater 10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Steifvater 11. Modern Romance] by Aziz Anzari 12. Legend by Marie Lu 13. Sabriel by Garth Nix 14. Three men on a boat by Jerome K Jerome 15. Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche 16. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel April update Very slow month for some reason, I could have sworn I read more than three books but apparently not! 17. Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris: A Doctor Who series book that I picked up - I'm a bit of a DW nerd and this was a pretty enjoyable and very quick read. 18. River of Ink by Paul M M Cooper: This was actually recommended by my sister who knows the guy somehow, plus it's new so fitted into a challenge category. It was definitely worth the punt, a beautifully written and engaging book although it took me a little while to get into the style. 19. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling: Fun and frivolous anecdotes about her life, passed the time nicely. Booklord Challenge Progress 1) Vanilla Number - 19/35 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) 6) A book about or narrated by an animal 7) A collection of essays. 9) Something written by a musician 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 14) Wildcard! 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection 22) It’s a Mystery.
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May 4, 2016 18:07
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quote:1. Modern Romance A. Ansari 10. Prisons We Choose To Live Inside by Doris Lessing Five short essays on changing the world by taking pride in education and knowledge, questioning the world around you and being the best person you can be, despite everything being against you. I feel like every high school student should read this before graduating. 11. Exterminator! by William S. Burroughs Loosely connected short stories that create a tapestry of insanity. I enjoyed the internal logic of the prose and the experimental style, but it started to wear out by the end. Not what you want from a book only 200 pages. This book is that weird drugged out guy you met and thought was pretty cool, but the more you hung out with him, you realized he was too weird from his insanity to continue the friendship. (This book became my "Read Out Loud" book, because it's lack of punctuation creates an interesting flow of words to try and communicate verbally.) 12. Room by Emma Donoghue Well written and interesting. Surprisingly dark story for it's popularity. Starts to drag in the second half. It's one of those book that's fun while I'm reading it, but I am aware I will never read again after I've finished it. This book was chosen for my book club, and then we watched the movie, which is an interesting companion piece. The movie explores ideas not presented in the book, but deserve attention. The soundtrack is problematic at times, because it clashes with the tone presented in the book. Both were good. 13. The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton I love books with unusual detectives, and I used to love stories of spies growing up. This book is a fantastic, dream-like story of silly twists. I was surprised by how witty and funny this book was for being written in 1908. I see a lot of influence on my favorite writers in this story. Highly recommended and I will definitely read again. 14. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling Another surprising read. I feel like many "classics" that have gone through the Disney treatment don't live up to expectation. I loved the Mowgli stories, Ricki-Tikki-Tavi, and the various poems. I was surprised by how dark this book gets. The White Seal is a tale of a Christ-figure or Moses-figure; animals discuss the trivialities of mankind's penchant for bloodshed; a child defies expectation and witnesses a miracle. Fun read. Book Riot READ HARDER CHALLENGE posted:Horror Non-Fiction: 3/10 Year Goal: 14/52
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May 6, 2016 17:08
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thespaceinvader posted:1: Chimera by Mira Grant Discount Armageddon begins a series which I will be continuing. It's a solid entry in the 'UF Monster Hunter' genre, with an interesting backstory and entertaining world-building. I don't think this is quite up to the standards of McGuire's work as Mira Grant, but nonetheless, enjoyable enough for me to finish in less than 48 hours, and to pick up the next two books. Would have been the next 3, but the UK Kobo store doesn't have the last one yet. Kobo 
thespaceinvader fucked around with this message at 11:55 on May 8, 2016 |
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May 7, 2016 16:35
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Someone recommend me an airplane fiction! I'm not sure what falls into that category, and Google is unhelpful unless I want to read books about airplanes.Booklord Challenge Update posted:Count: 40/96 books, 4 nonfiction (10%), 1 reread (3%) 32. The Codebreakers by David Kahn A lot of text is spent on the history of cryptography, back to ~2kBC Egypt, and its discussion of modern crypto focuses heavily on American efforts during WW1 and WW2, in contrast to most other books on crypto/sigint I've read, which focus more on the British side. That said, it shows its age; it predates the major declassifications of the 70s and 90s, so there are some huge (and, to a modern reader, glaring) gaps in the historical account, and it doesn't discuss modern (computerized, public-key) cryptosystems at all. Interesting, but hasn't aged well. 33. The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson  This book rarely surprised me; I could generally see where things were going well in advance. (From Seth's comments in the SF/F thread, this is deliberate.) This didn't make it hurt any less when I turned out to be right, though. I want to shake the author's hand in congratulations and then firebomb his house. 34. The Goblin Emperor by Sarah Monette (as Katherine Addison) The perfect read after Traitor Baru. It's just a very mellow, relaxing book and is wonderfully relaxing. Not a lot happens, but that's ok sometimes! 35. Command and Control by Eric Schlosser It's a loving miracle that no-one's set off a nuke by accident.  36. The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld 37. The Killing of Worlds by Scott Westerfeld Some solid, crunchy space opera. Westerfeld is a terrible tease, though. You hear about The Imperial Secret right at the start of the book; the protagonists don't learn what it is until most of the way through the second one, and the reader has to wait until the very end! 38. Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone 39. Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone Do you like mage-lawyers, offshore tax havens powered by prayer, and dead gods defined by the contracts they've made? This feels a lot like "urban fantasy", but the setting isn't the usual modern-day-Earth-but-with-magic; it's an alternate earth where the surviving gods live in an uneasy truce with the lich-kings who supplanted them, where intricate webs of contracts bind both, money is quite literally power, and corporate mergers require not just forms signed in triplicate but magical rituals. The fifth and final book isn't out yet, but the books all stand on their own, so I'm not worried about getting an early start on this. 40. A History of Epic Fantasy by Adam Whitehead This actually helped me put a lot of books I'd read in historical perspective; things like Memory, Sorrow and Thorn are more impressive when you realize they were written around 1990 (and not in 2008, when they were reprinted and I read them). I also got a bunch of new book recommendations out of it.
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May 8, 2016 14:39
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I was in a funk last month and didn't do much reading except for my wildcard unfortunately. April: Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes - Man it has been a loooooong time since I've read a play. I liked it for the most part, I think what I appreciated about it most was how it got across the emotions of being gay during that time period. The depictions of people struggling with HIV honestly terrified me. Booklord Challenge 1) 22/60 2) Something written by a woman - Go Set A Watchman 3) Something Written by a nonwhite author - Spelunky 4) Something written in the 1800s - The Brothers Karamazov 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) - Samurai! 6) A book about or narrated by an animal - The Art of Racing in the Rain 7) A collection of essays. - Look Evelyn, Duck Dynasty Wiper Blades. We Should Get Them.: A Collection of New Essays 8) A work of Science Fiction - Robot Dreams 9) Something written by a musician 10) Read a long book, something over 500 pages - The Brothers Karamazov 11) Read something about or set in NYC - Tom Clancy's The Division: New York Collapse 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 13) Read Something YA 14) Wildcard! - Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes - Tony Kushner 15) Something recently published (up to a year. The year will be the day you start this challenge) - Empires of Eve: A History of the Great Empires of Eve Online 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 17) The First book in a series - Wool 18) A biography or autobiography - Bossypants 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Generation 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection - About Time: 12 Short Stories 22) It’s a Mystery. - Murder on the Orient Express Chekans 3 16 fucked around with this message at 02:22 on May 12, 2016 |
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May 12, 2016 01:51
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Corrode posted:If you haven't already, read The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert for your wildcard. I think I wildcarded this to someone last year and don't recall whether they read it or not, so let's throw it in again! Dark Room and Revenge were both excellent, thanks a bunch for those recs. Still haven't read the animal one but likely will order it from the library. I'm approaching this the opposite way that I did last year, where I looked at the challenge list and carefully considered what to read for each challenge. This year I have just been reading a bunch and using the challenge list as kind of a barometer for how varied my own reading is. Here's what I got so far: 1) Vanilla Number - as many as I can get through, up to 22 so far 2) Something written by a woman - all of them lol 3) Something Written by a nonwhite author - several authors: Jesmyn Ward, Mindy Kailing, Banana Yoshimito, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Isabella Wilkerson, Yoko Ogawa 4) Something written in the 1800s 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) - The Warmth of Other Suns by Wilkerson, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, probably others technically 6) A book about or narrated by an animal 7) A collection of essays. 8) A work of Science Fiction - The Heart Goes Lase: A Novel by Margaret Atwood, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 9) Something written by a musician 10) Read a long book, something over 500 pages - Wolf Hall and Warmth of Other Suns again 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 13) Read Something YA - The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin 14) Wildcard! - The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert 15) Something recently published (up to a year. The year will be the day you start this challenge) 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 17) The First book in a series 18) A biography or autobiography 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection - several: Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke, 22) It’s a Mystery - The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
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May 14, 2016 19:47
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thespaceinvader posted:1: Chimera by Mira Grant This is a solid, fun series. Short, punchy books with little waiting around, each one takes me about 4 hours, max, to get through. And they're pretty predictable - especially the last, when I pegged pretty much immediately after the first corpse showed, who dunnit - it's the only names character who isn't the protag's friend. But that didn't really... matter. It was still great run.
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May 14, 2016 20:40
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March & April & First Half of May Kind of bogged down, my Goodreads says I´m reading 7 books right now. Really need to stop that. 10. China Mieville – The Scar I liked The Scar a lot more than Perdido Street Station which I read last year. While PDS had bored me at times The Scar was interesting the whole time and opened up the world these books play in quite a bit. I like Mievilles interesting races and places and I think I won´t wait another year for the third book. 11. China Mieville – This Census Taker I was already going to start the third one really but then this came out and it sounded good so I read this one instead. I guess I´ll have to reread this one sometime because while it was interesting it was also really nebulous about what really happened, maybe I´m just dumb though. 12. Kihara Hirokatsu – Shinmimibukuro Book 1 Shinmimibukuro is a book series featuring really short (mostly 2-3 pages) horror/strange stories that also spawned a DVD series based on those books. I liked the DVDs for the most part so I thought I´d try the book and….it sucks. There really isn´t anything interesting in here. It´s 99 stories and I am struggling to recall even one of them. They are also really badly written. 13. Kurt Vonnegut – Mother Night I love Vonnegut, he´s one of my favorite authors to date and he has yet to disappoint me. Just really really good. 14. Friedrich Schiller – Die Räuber (The Robbers) I wanted to read something older and I also wanted to read a play so I just grabbed this in the library. This is probably the oldest German thing I have ever read and I was surprised how readable it is even today. Enjoyed it and will read more of Schiller in the future 15. Stephen King – Cujo I just really like Stephen King. I don´t know what it is exactly but I think it has to do with all these little details about every last character and place that comes up in his stories. I have never been anywhere near the US so I don´t know how much of it is real but with King it always feels like I´m getting a good view on small town New England life. Cujo was another one of those and even though the story premise seems kind of silly King just knows how to write it. In other news: I have tried and abandoned Murakamis Norwegian Wood after about 150 pages because it was just bad. And I have started reading Infinite Jest which will probably take a lot of time to go through. Books Read: 15/40 Booklord Challenges: 7/22 Books in Japanese: 3/10 Books in German: 3/5
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May 18, 2016 22:00
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quote:1. Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko 20. King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild 21. The Stones of Angkor(Purge of Babylon #3) by Sam Sisavath 22. The Walls of Lemur(Purge of Babylon #3.1) by Sam Sisavath 23. Borders of Infinity by Lois Bujold McMaster 24. Chains of Command by Marko Kloos 25. Spirit’s End (Eli Monpress #5) by Rachel Aaron 26. The Fields of Lemuria(Purge of Babylon #3.2) by Sam Sisavath 27. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome 28. Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata 29. The Fires of Atlantis(Purge of Babylon #4) by Sam Sisavath April/May 2016 29/52 books read I’m horrible at updating, but good progress on my goals. King Leopold’s Ghost is as horrifying as it’s made out to be. I know it was a different time, but the brutality was just awful. I wish I had read it a few months earlier so I could have pulled stuff out of it for a lecture about Africa I gave my class earlier in the semester. It will be going into future lectures though. Spirit’s End finishes off the Eli Monpress series. The story over the five books kept getting larger and larger in scope. Not as much thievery going on, but really solid storytelling with a satisfying ending. I wish other authors would stop extending their series to longer and longer length and keep a tighter focus and let the reader get an enjoyable reading experience. Three Men in a Boat is the longest 184 page book I have ever read. It was enjoyable and had some humorous bits, but took me a very long time to get through. Snow Country was recommended by my wife when I told her I wanted to read a Japanese author. It was well written and translated and generally easy to follow along and a pretty quick read. I had to look up a few words and in a couple spots the translation was a little awkward, but it did not take away from the story. Of the three Japanese authors I have read, I would say Yasunari Kawabata is my favorite right now. quote:1) Vanilla Number 29/52 ltr fucked around with this message at 20:50 on May 22, 2016 |
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May 22, 2016 02:16
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thespaceinvader posted:1: Chimera by Mira Grant This was a book or books I picked up for free by spending my Kobo points. It showed - it was a touch formulaic, and a little repetitive, but... I enjoyed it. It was really let down though by a lack of proofreading/copy-editing. There were a LOT of spelling and grammar mistakes that should have been caught, which always disappoints me. Nonetheless, enjoyable if clearly not yet a finished series. Not sure what next. Need to find something though.
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May 22, 2016 20:09
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Guy A. Person posted:Dark Room and Revenge were both excellent, thanks a bunch for those recs. Still haven't read the animal one but likely will order it from the library. I'm glad you liked them! I love both of those books and Dark Room in particular I never see talked about, so I'm glad at least one other person has experienced it.
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May 23, 2016 09:11
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I've read a bunch of my goal but keep forgetting to actually post and update my list. That's just terrible on my part. Somebody wildcard me and I promise I'll sit down and write that poo poo out. Hit me with your best shot. Your wildcard don''t scare me.
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May 25, 2016 09:29
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Sorry but if you dont post about it, it basically didn't happen. Wildcard War with the Newts by Karel Capek
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May 25, 2016 09:49
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Mr. Squishy posted:Sorry but if you dont post about it, it basically didn't happen. Yep, now you have to reread all those books Siminu. Don't mess up this time.
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May 25, 2016 14:07
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Guy A. Person posted:Yep, now you have to reread all those books Siminu. Don't mess up this time. If I have to read The Partner again I'll burn this library to the goddamn ground. Legit excited for the Newt war.
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May 26, 2016 06:04
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Franchescanado posted:1. Modern Romance A. Ansari I took a trip to the library and got some spur-of-the-moment books and some graphic novels. Pretty productive month, even though I'm only counting a few of the graphic novels. 15. We3 by Grant Morrison Someone challenged Grant Morrison to write a meaningful emotional story in only three issues, and he delivers a bleak, gore-filled tale of three innocent animals turned into super soldier murdering machines. An excellent example of the power in graphic story-telling. 16. Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart A fantasy book that I actually enjoyed! Fully earns the term "whimsical" without irony. Fast paced, well-written and plotted, with great characters and actions. Fully earns its reputation. In fact, deserves more recognition, along with Discworld and The Princess Bride. 17. Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman A collection of short short stories written by a neuroscientist. The stories vary from one to three pages in length. Each story presents an idea of what that afterlife would be like. For instance, from the titular tale of 'Sum': in the afterlife, you experience your life again, but reorganized where similar events are grouped together and then experienced (30 years in a row of sleep, 4 months of just brushing your teeth, a week of making love, a year of sitting on the toilet, etc.). Another afterlife is made of of two Gods, a man and woman, who compete to create the world in their images. Many afterlives don't have a god at all. It reminds me of an Etgar Keret collection, except it is more for ideas and introspection than actual plots or characters. Got a little repetitive, but it barely exceeds 100 pages. If any of it interests you, I'd get this book. 18. Creative Tarot: A Modern Guide to an Inspiring Life by Jessa Crispin I've been interested in studying Tarot since reading Gravity's Rainbow and studying how it influenced the characters, structures, and seeing that repeated in other Pynchon books (Vineland, for instance). Despite it's New Age name, Creative Tarot is all about how the tarot cards have been used by artists. It goes over a brief history of the cards, and it does include spreads, how to read cards, etc., but it approaches them not as mysticism or magick, but as stories, or as personal reflections. Each card is defined, the art is explored, various meanings that have been attributed. Each card also has a story attached, like how Salvador Dali was inspired by the tarot throughout his life, and eventually designed his own deck, or how Calvino designed stories based around Tarot spreads. Fun and interesting book! Read Harder Challenge posted:Horror Bonus Graphic Novels: Scott Pilgrim #1 Captain America: Man out of Time Superman Red Son The Jungle Book movie vs. book: Decent adaptation of the cartoon, but not the book, though there are some jokes and easter eggs. The monkeys stealing Mowgli was straight from the book, but then Christopher Walken orangutan starts singing and poo poo gets weird. Non-Fiction: 4/10 Year Goal: 18/52
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May 31, 2016 13:34
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Total: 18/52 Female authors: 5/24 Non-Fiction: 3/12 Arabian Nights: 2/10(16) Looking back over my year so far, there's really only one book I'd even recommend to anyone, and I'm still behind on all my targets. I've got to start reading some better books. I liked bits of Bad Feminist, I didn't like other bits. You might get more out of it than I did, or you might not. Who knows? The same basically goes for The Secret History of Science Fiction, except that it has The Nine Billion Names of God by Carter Scholz in it, and that's an excellent story. Treasure Island reminded me of reading a play. I wouldn't recommend the book, but I'd go see it if they made a movie. I first tried reading it when I was a child, and I gave up on it that time. This time I finished it, but I still didn't much care for it. Don't read Sword of Truth. If you want to know why, there's a let's read that will make it painfully clear. See my Goodreads for full reviews.
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May 31, 2016 13:43
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Mr. Squishy posted:1 The Ministery of Fear by Graham Greene. Another thriller where the most interesting thing is the setting, this time London under the blitz. I considered including him as part of the lost generation (born 5 years after Hemmingway) but gently caress it. 36 Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. Much better than Cranford, and a very enjoyable 19th Centuary novel. 37 Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes in a prose translation bt William W. Kibler and Carleton W. Carrol. All the lances splintering against gorgets you could ask for. Episodic stories of knights knocking against each other like conkers, but they group of stories definitely explore a theme (Eric and Enide about love, the Story of the Grail about morality) which I guess is why Troyes was a genius.Translation is miles away from the original, of course, but I don't feel the urge to go and learn medieval French, to be honest. 38 Right Ho Jeeves by P.G. Woodhouse. The weather was nice so I read a Woodhouse. This is the one where Betram upsets the chef by convincing everybody to dolefully decline their food in a lovelorn manner, if you're interested. 39 Cities of the Red Night by William S. Burroughs. First book of his that I've read where he was sober enough to carry on a story in between chapters, though it falls apart a bit midway through. 39/60 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 Tiggum posted:Treasure Island reminded me of reading a play. I wouldn't recommend the book, but I'd go see it if they made a movie. Boy, you're in luck.
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May 31, 2016 13:58
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Ben Nevis posted:Previously Read: Apparently I underestimated what I'd read this year. On the whole a good month, no real duds, though I'm a little conflicted on Johan Thoms. 28. A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben MacIntyre - It's the story of Kim Philby, told primarily through his relationships with others in MI6, particularly his close friend Nicholas Elliott. MacIntyre takes the stance that the Britain's version of the "good ol' boy" network was crucial in letting Philby get away with it as long as he did. It sheds some interesting light on the escape of Philby as well. If this were fiction, it'd be almost unbelievable. The fact that it actually happened is somewhat mind boggling. A story just rife with incompetence and alcohol. I'd recommend this. 29. The Great & Calamitous Tale of Johan Thoms by Ian Thornton - There's a long subtitle, but somehow it wasn't the one on my book, despite being on Amazon and Goodreads, so I dunno. Johan Thoms is an extraordinary young man. He's well read, a chess player of no small talent, and is equally at home with students and dukes. One thing he cannot do is drive in reverse. This generally isn't a problem until he becomes the chauffeur for Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He spends the rest of his life running and hiding from the world created by assassination. This was an interesting book. I can't decide how much I like it. Some parts I really enjoyed. I feel like it's generally well written and snappy with a worldly frankness that lends some humor. At other times I feel like the author is a big dbag. Maybe it's some sort of shaggy dog penis joke. 30. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende - The part that you know and love is the first 40% of the book. The last 60% is Bastian wandering and having adventures in Fantastica. Will he ever make it back home? The first bit was great. The second half really needed tightening up. It got draggy. The physical book was very interesting, with all the text being colored, either plum for the real world or a dark green for Fantastica. Each chapter had sort of an old style full page illumination for the first letter, and there were 26 chapters one for each letter. 31. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez - A novelization of the story of the Mirabal sisters, 4 sisters from the Dominican Republic, 3 of whom will killed by Trujillo for being revolutionaries. The story details the abuses of Trujillo and the cult of personality built around him. The book was endorsed by the surviving sister, Dede, so while the events in the story aren't per se true, there is an underlying truth to the story. This was a fantastic book. Easily the best of the month and will likely be in the running for best of the year. 32. The Glass God by Kate Griffin - The second, and at this time final, book in the Magicals Anonymous series, the sort of companion series to Kate Griffins Matthew Swift books. This was good, and very much in the vein of the rest of the series. I like the world she's created. Griffin says she may return, but I'm a little curious as to how. She's sort of written herself into a corner with Swift, in that he's so strong there need to be reasons that he's not doing everything. 33. The Devil in Silver by Victor Lavalle - Checked this out because I really enjoyed Black Tom by Lavalle last month. A man is thrown into a psych ward by overworked police only to learn that there's a secret behind the big silver door. The devil lives there. Is it a delusion among the crazies, the result of an overzealous schedule of medication, or the supernatural? I liked this a lot more than the Goodreads reviews, based on rating. I think that's because it's billed as literary horror. The horror aspect loses out some in the larger story. Really it's more a story about systems and institutions and how the treat people. I'll likely be picking up something else from Lavalle in the future as well. 1) Vanilla Number 33/45 2) Something written by a woman - 5, 7, 18, 17, 16, 21, 23, 26, 31, 32 3) Something Written by a nonwhite author - 5, 16, 19, 22, 24, 31, 33 4) Something written in the 1800s - 14 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice)- 21, 31 6) A book about or narrated by an animal - 7, 12 7) A collection of essays. 8) A work of Science Fiction - 6, 16, 19 9) Something written by a musician 10) Read a long book, something over 500 pages - 2, 16 11) Read something about or set in NYC - 1, 33 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 13) Read Something YA - 30 14) Wildcard! 15) Something recently published - 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,24,25, 29 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now - 2, 6, 30 17) The First book in a series - 13, 17, 18, 21, 25 18) A biography or autobiography - 28 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Generation 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection - 7, 11 22) It’s a Mystery - 15, 17, 24
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May 31, 2016 16:12
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Prolonged Shame posted:1) The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion - Fannie Flagg May was very productive! 39) Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse #10) - Charlaine Harris: I'm still liking this series but I am glad it's winding down. 40) The Quick and the Dead - Louis L'Amour : I really liked this. My first L'Amour. 41) Fire From Heaven - Mary Renault: I have mixed feelings about this. It was very well written, but i feel like she assumes you are already well versed on the life of Alexander the Great (which I was not). I liked it well enough but will probably not be reading the sequels. 42) The Romanov sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholad and Alexandra - Helen Rappaport: An excellent biography of the four daughters of the last Tsar of Russia, from their births through their untimely deaths. 43) Station Eleven - Emily st. John Mandel: I loved this. It is a novel set in a future dystopia, but it doesn't embrace all the tropes such novels usually do. It was nice to read one that didn't have a main character constantly fighting zombies/mutants/roving gangs/etc. 44) The Martian - Andy Weir: This wasn't bad. I've seen people complaining about the protagonists irreverent personality, but I think it worked. I do feel like it could have been 100 or so pages shorter. The problem/solution, problem/solution narrative wore thin after a while. 45) Missoula - John Krakauer: This should have been a series of magazine articles, not a 300+ page book. 46) Three Bags Full - Leonie Swann: What a disappointment. This sounded super cute on the jacket (a flock of sheep set out to solve the murder of their shepherd!) but it just flopped. There were moments when I could see how it could have been good, but the sheep/human interaction was just too weird, the sheep 'culture' ranged from cute to wildly bizarre, and the murder mystery itself was both confusing and disappointing. 47) My Life - Bill Clinton: This was pretty good, though at over 1000 pages it took me over a month to read it. It's biased (obviously), and he barely touches on the Lewinsky scandal so if you're looking for that, look elsewhere, but it's a really comprehensive bio of his life from birth through his presidency. It's surprisingly well written too. 48) The Unknown Ajax - Georgette Heyer: A standard, predictable Heyer romance, with some smuggling thrown in for good measure. Not bad. 49) Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France - Peter Mayle: Not bad, but I think he's run out of things to write about. 50) Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? - Mindy Kaling: This is constantly being compared to Bossypants, which I enjoyed, so I thought I'd give it a try. There are some mildly amusing parts, but it's mostly random thoughts and journal entries from a comedy writer. Section titles include 'Jewish Guys' and 'In Defense of Chest Hair'. It's not very interesting or very funny. Subchallenges! A-Z challenge:: A: The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion B: Book of a Thousand Days C: The Corinthian D: Definitely Dead E: Euphoria F: From Dead to Worse G: Gulp H: Hope I: In the Night Garden J: Julie and Julia K: Keeping the House L: The Left Hand of Darkness M: My Man Jeeves N: No Country for Old Men O: One of Us P: The Post Office Girl Q: The Quick and the Dead R: The Romanov Sisters S: Station Eleven T: Three Bags Full U: The Unknown Ajax Booklord: Written by a woman: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Written by a non-white author: Emperor of All Maladies Written in the 1800's: Agnes Grey History related: Fire From heaven About or narrated by an animal: Three Bags Full Science fiction book: Beacon 23 Written by a musician: M Train Book over 500 pages: Keeping the House Book about/set in NYC: The Angel of Darkness Young adult book: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Wildcard: The Confusions of Young Torless Published in the last year: Hope Book you've wanted to read for a while: The Left Hand of Darkness First book in a series: Outlander Biography or autobiography: Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter Written by lost or beat generation author: Tender is the Night Short stories: Three-Ten to Yuma and other Stories Mystery book: The Girl on the Train Overall: Total: 50/100 A-Z Challenge: 21/26 Booklord Challenge: 18/22 Presidential Biographies: 4/6 Half way there!
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May 31, 2016 16:26
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The 2016 Book Lord Challenge 1) Vanilla Number: 20/40 2) Something written by a woman - Doomsday Book by Connie Willis 3) Something Written by a nonwhite author - Who Killed Palomino Molero? by Mario Vargas Llosa 4) Something written in the 1800s - Three Men In A Boat by Jerome Klapka Jerome 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) - Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel 6) A book about or narrated by an animal 7) A collection of essays. 8) A work of Science Fiction - Expanse 1-4 by James Corey 9) Something written by a musician 10) Read a long book, something over 500 pages - The Secret Place by Tana French 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) - The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie 13) Read Something YA 14) Wildcard! Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley, as suggested by High Warlord Zog 15) Something recently published (up to a year. The year will be the day you start this challenge) Medusa's Web by Tim Powers 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. - Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon 17) The First book in a series Harmony Black by Craig Schaefer 18) A biography or autobiography 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection 22) It’s a Mystery. New reads: Hillary Mantel - Wolf Hall. A surprisingly interesting take on what appears to me to be a supremely boring period. I didn't really know anything about Thomas Cromwell beforehand so can't comment on historical accuracy, but anything that manages to keep me interested in a book this size deserves some praise. 3.5/5 Mario Vargas Llosa - Who Killed Palomino Molero? Okay, so I don't particularly care for Literature but turning it into a crime story seems to work pretty well. In 1950s Peru, a body is discovered and two policemen have to deal with just about every issue a fundamentally corrupt yet human society can throw at them. Short and (bitter)sweet. 4/5, counting this as a non-white author in case I don't manage to rustle up another one. Fall of Light by Steven Erikson. Right back to my comfort zone. I'm a pretty big fan of Erikson's ever-expanding fantasy saga and this keeps in the happy tradition of "everything you thought about our fictional history is wrong" - the guy loves to emphasise how subjective and relative history becomes and just how much do meanings get twisted with passage of time and between narrators. A strong entry in the series, looking forward to the conclusion of the prequel trilogy. 4/5. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I normally don't go for time-travel stories as they seem some of the more boring things you can do in science fiction but it deals with a pretty interesting issue that time travellers would have that I haven't read anything about, namely setting off an epidemic infection from the past or future. The history seems to be well-researched and there's a very definite sense of just how much the life in Middle Ages sucked; a book I liked despite the boring premise. 3.5/5 Anyway, there's a cathegory I'm rather stumped on and could probably use some advice: the books by musicians. I don't hold particular interest for the history of music and I'm completely lost in there - any good picks for this category?
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May 31, 2016 17:54
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May update. Previously: 1. White Line Fever by Lemmy Kilmister. 2. Slåttekar i himmelen by Edvard Hoem. 3. Half the World by Joe Abercrombie. 4. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. 5. I Don't: A Contrarian History of Marriage by Susan Squire. 6. Anabasis by Xenophon. 7.-9. The Apocalypse Triptych: The End is Nigh, The End is Now, The End has Come edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey. 10. Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck. 11. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold. 12. Red Rising by Pierce Brown. 13. Demon Dentist by David Walliams. 14. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. 16. Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling. 17. Doktor Proktors Prompepulver by Jo Nesbø. New; it's been a pretty good month for reading, again: 18. Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer. This was some weird poo poo. Liked it. 19. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima. BOTM for May and a hell of a good one, one of the most interesting depictions of mental illness I've ever read. A fictionalized telling of a historical incident (well, recent/current events when it was written in the mid-50s) where an important Buddhist temple was burned down by one of its own monks. 20. Før jeg brenner ned by Gaute Heivoll. (Translates as "Before I burn down" -- the actual English translation is simply titled "Before I Burn"). Accidentally did a paired reading of thematically similar novels here; Heivoll is a swiftly rising star in contemporary Norwegian literature and this 2010 novel was his big breakthrough. Like the Mishima, it's about a historical case of arson; in this case, a pyromaniac who went on an arson spree in the rural southern Norwegian area where Heivoll himself grew up, right around the time in the late 1970s when Heivoll was a baby (in fact Heivoll's own baptism coincided with the arson spree). Unlike the Mishima, it's not told from the perpetrator's viewpoint but from the author's, as it's about half and half the story of the arsonist's journey from promising young man to hated criminal, and the author's own journey decades later from promising young man to... successful author. And also the story of how the author himself pieces together the story of the arsonist. Beautiful book, in parts elegiac, asks more questions than it answers. 21. Billionaire Boy by David Walliams. Read this aloud to my 7-year-old. Pretty funny story about how money can't buy happiness. Fair amount of absurd kids' humour. 22. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Large-scale SF about humans trying to survive the death of the Earth by escaping to a planet terraformed by the previous human civilization... where in the meantime an unintended consequence of the terraforming project has given birth to a distinctly non-human civilization. It's giant loving spiders, baby! Liked this quite a lot. Booklord challenge: 1) Vanilla Number - 22/40 2) Something written by a woman- I Don't, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen 3) Something Written by a nonwhite author - Temple of the Golden Pavilion 4) Something written in the 1800s - Three Men in a Boat, Plain Tales from the Hills 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) - Slåttekar i himmelen, Anabasis, The Name of the Rose 6) A book about or narrated by an animal 7) A collection of essays. 8) A work of Science Fiction - much of The Apocalypse Triptych, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, Red Rising, Half a War, Acceptance, Children of Time 9) Something written by a musician - White Line Fever 10) Read a long book, something over 500 pages - The Name of the Rose 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 13) Read Something YA - Half the World, Red Rising, Half a War 14) Wildcard! - I Don't 15) Something recently published (up to a year. The year will be the day you start this challenge) - Half the World, Half a War, Children of Time 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. - Three Men in a Boat 17) The First book in a series - Red Rising 18) A biography or autobiography - White Line Fever, Før jeg brenner ned 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration - Sweet Thursday 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection - all volumes of The Apocalypse Triptych 22) It’s a Mystery.- The Name of the Rose Additional individual challenge: Norwegians: 3/10 Non-fiction: 3/5 Max re-reads: 2/5 BONUS INDIVIDUAL CHALLENGE: What the hell, I've followed the BOTM for both January and February; I'm going to keep doing that for the rest of the year. (Escape clause: Will reserve the option to skip books I've already read.) 5 for 5 on this.
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May 31, 2016 18:22
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Mr. Squishy posted:Boy, you're in luck. Oh, I know movies of it exist already, but I guess what I mean is I'm not interested enough to seek any of them out, but if I saw a new version being advertised it'd probably be enough to make me go see it. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone who isn't me? 
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Jun 1, 2016 03:39
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Tiggum posted:Oh, I know movies of it exist already, but I guess what I mean is I'm not interested enough to seek any of them out, but if I saw a new version being advertised it'd probably be enough to make me go see it. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone who isn't me? Ah, but then you're missing out on Muppet Treasure Island.
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Jun 1, 2016 07:25
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Here's April and May. Goal: 52 books, 1/4 literature, 4 books nonfiction. 20. A Breath of Life by Clarice Lispector (Literature) 21. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami (Literature) 22. The Shore by Sara Taylor (Literature) 23. Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman 24. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood (Literature) 25. Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi 26. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (Literature) 27. Eona by Alison Goodman 28. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (Literature) 29. A Cat, A Man, and Two Women by Junichiro Tanizaki (Literature) 29/52, 15/29 Literature, 2 Nonfiction books. A Breath of Life was interesting. I wish I had paid more attention and picked something finished though. I do want to read more Clarice Lispector though. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki was good, but it caused me to think a lot about what it means to translate and if translating something makes it truly remain the same work. That's not really important though and you can see me sperg about it elsewhere. It's a good work, it felt a little different than what I usually associate with Murakami, but I can't really put my finger on why. The Shore. Read it. Read it. Read the hell out of it! It jumps back and forth in time from story to story (to tell one story). I suppose you could say it's more about the place than the characters. It's not a happy book though. Eon: Dragoneye Reborn. YA. Girl is disguised as boy for a male-only position and will likely die if found out. It's good though some parts rubbed me the wrong way. The Robber Bride. It's Atwood, so you should read it. I'm not really sure of a good way to describe it that isn't basically reading a book jacket. But it was great. Moribito. Woman is charged with caring for young prince that is harboring an egg. I think there was an anime based on this? Well, people seemed to like it. But whatever, the book is pretty good. The author seems to have written a lot of stuff, but it looks like the first two books of the Moribito are the only thing published in English. I'm not sure I'll read the next book. It feels kind of pointless if I can't finish it. Interpreter of Maladies is basically stories of messed up people. I think this probably be a good place to start with the author, but personally, I liked The Namesake better. Eona is the sequel to Eon. It was pretty engaging though now there were a lot of obligatory romantic problems. The two books are good though. I can see why a lot of people dislike Go Set a Watchman. There are some really awkward choices in the book. I liked it despite that though, more because I felt that the book complements TKaM and pretty much reflects today with similar issues. ie: any conversation you've had with certain relatives over black lives matter. A Cat, A Man, and Two Women. When I got this in the mail, I was asked "is it about someone trying to gently caress a cat?" It includes no bestiality, but it is basically about someone who keeps straining/ruining his marriages by treating his cat better than his wife. There are two other stories included, (The Little Kingdom, about a boy taking over his classroom, and Professor Rado about a reporter trying to interview this professor) but I think the titular novella is the star. I seem to be right on target with literature, though it certainly wouldn't hurt to read more than required. I should try to fit in another nonfiction book soon. I bought some more books, so I should have some fun times ahead when I can't get to the library.
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Jun 1, 2016 16:25
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Caustic Chimera posted:I do want to read more Clarice Lispector though. I can recommend the passion according to G.H.
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Jun 1, 2016 18:46
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Previously read: 1. Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 3. The Serpent by Claire North 4. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott 5. Bossypants] by Tina Fey 6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 7. The Books of Magic] by Neil Gaiman 8. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Steifvater 9. The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Steifvater 10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Steifvater 11. Modern Romance] by Aziz Anzari 12. Legend by Marie Lu 13. Sabriel by Garth Nix 14. Three men on a boat by Jerome K Jerome 15. Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche 16. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 17. Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris 18. River of Ink by Paul M M Cooper 19. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling May Steaming ahead this month, I think my 35 book goal was quite tame, I'll have to up it next year! 20. Mr Mercedes by Steven King: I mostly liked this, I didn't know much about it so didn't expect a detective novel rather than a horror but it was OK. I think I was put off by the experienced but retired detective pursuing a clearly dangerous and pretty unstable killer while flimsily justifying not telling the police a drat thing. 21. I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir: An Icelandic horror/mystery novel which I really enjoyed, I definitely felt the tension and suspense. I think some of the dialogue was a bit lost in translation as it felt a bit clunky but overall a good read. 22. Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson: Another detective/mystery type novel about children abducted from their parents. I clearly was on a bit of a kick of this type of novel last month, this was an interesting take on it with a lot of focus on the investigation methods. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in the 'big reveal' at the end, I think the author was focused on having it be an unexpected twist but it just left me feeling '....oh'. 23. Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Tom Cox: As a self confessed cat lady I quite enjoyed the random stories of a man bumbling around trying to care for his four (I think?) cats and adjust to rural life. 24. I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki: Now this was a totally different type of cat book, Japanese life in the early 1900s dictated by a nameless and pretty sarcastic cat. It was very densely written, superbly descriptive and a strange mixture of funny, intriguing and dull. Although for the most part I enjoyed reading it, I could only take it in fairly small doses and found it difficult to generate the motivation to continue reading. I'm glad I persevered though, a worthwhile effort to hear the insights of a very judgmental cat. 25. The Girl You Lost by Kathryn Croft: Yet another detective novel, a quick read and inoffensively written (despite some extreme material) but eh, quite a few plot holes and contrivances. Booklord Challenge Progress 1) Vanilla Number - 25/35 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) 7) A collection of essays. 9) Something written by a musician 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 14) Wildcard! 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection
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Jun 1, 2016 20:43
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May 32. Those who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante This is the third in the series as most people know by now. Same style, easy and good read, but maybe not as good as the first two. I think maybe I am just a bit burned out on the series. Maybe the last book will be really good and give me the same feeling as the first two. Still better than most books. 33. The Sellout by Paul Beatt This has some good writing and it has some great satire, still, I didn't really like it. It just wore out its welcome and went from funny and interesting to kind of a slog toward the end. It's about a black guy who grows up in a suburb of LA that ends of literally being taken off the map. In his quest to bring back the town name and borders, he gets a slave, who is a little know actor and only living Little Rascal, and starts a segregation movement. It is definitely clever and well-written, it just couldn't maintain my interest for as long as it was. 34. Life of Pi by Yann Martel I didn't know much about this book even with all the movie promotion when it came out and the praise for the book. I think the only thing I knew is a kid was in a boat with a Tiger for some reason. Anyway, this turned out to be more a fantasy, and I have to say, had some really great story telling and an ending I completely did not see coming. I kind of was hoping throughout the whole thing I was missing something, and it turns out I was. Really neat way of telling a story and then having you think about everything you read. I liked it a lot and still think about it. 35. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach I genuinely disliked this book. The characters were so one dimensional and predictable, as was the story. This was more of a young adult type book which I didn't realize. It started out interesting since I am a huge baseball fan so I thought it was right down my alley, but it quickly turned in to something I did not enjoy. The main character is a natural baseball player who idealizes a short stop who wrote a book about the position. He's a genius when it comes to baseball but all of the sudden he can't make a throw to first base. It was an easy to read, but cliched book. I knew what was going to happen from the minute he loses his arm and then introduces a female character who ends up the girlfriend of his best friend. I would recommend something like The Cider House Rules over this. I actually felt it hit a lot of the same beats as Cider House Rules, but not close to as good. 36. A wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle I know this is a kids book, still I thought it would be a lot better than it was. Oh well, it was short. 37. Boy's Life by Robert McCammon Really good book and good story telling. At first it seems like a straight forward story of a boy growing up in a small down in the south in the 60's, which it is, but it has some mild fantasy elements, including a monster that lives in the river, a ghost car, a zombie dog, and a lot more. It also has a murder mystery that is a ongoing story through the whole book. He's a great writer, my book of the month, really enjoyable. It's a wild ride too, there is a lot going on in this book and a lot of really interesting and likable characters. Vanilla Number 37/50 A collection of essays. A biography or autobiography Rusty fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Jun 1, 2016 |
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Jun 1, 2016 21:53
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May. 25. The Business Iain Banks. Not one of Iain Banks' best. The story is kind of intriguing, but it doesn't have much else. 26. The Vor Game Louis McMaster Bujold. Pretty fun book. The characters are good, except for a selected few… the story is great, even if it resolves quite quick. 27. Elric at the End of Time Michael Moorcock. Kind of a disappointment. The stories are regular and some weak, some concepts are pretty good and Elric is always great, but it doesn't work here. 28. CISM Review Manual 2013 ISACA. Research for certification. Pretty concise and easy to understand, even if it had a ton of information. 29. Lost Stars Claudia Gray. It was ok. Some moments were great, others were dull. It was interesting to see the original trilogy of Star Wars from some other point of view and that's it. 30. Sececión de Proción Jan de Fast. The story is quite simple. The book tries to remind us of all the stories of space adventures of the fifties... but unsuccessfully. Booklord challenge 1) Vanilla Number 24/60 4) Something written in the 1800s 6) A book about or narrated by an animal 7) A collection of essays. 9) Something written by a musician 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 14) Wildcard! 15) Something recently published 18) A biography or autobiography 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration
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Jun 2, 2016 00:46
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Only three books this month. I expect to read more in June since I have surgery soon and will be laying around recovering. Stephen King - Finders Keepers (I read Mr. Mercedes in April, this was an okay follow-up but not as good as the first) Margaret Atwood - The Heart Goes Last (This was weird. The only Atwood I've read before this is the Maddaddam books; I didn't like this as much but there was some fun world building/ I will read more Atwood this year, for sure.) Richard Adams - Watership Down (I'd heard of this but never read it, and expected it to be a kids' book. I really enjoyed it! Surprisingly moving, especially the stuff with Bigwig holding his ground near the end. Also, this crosses off challenge #6.) Booklord Challenge progress: 1) Vanilla Number (currently at 22 of 40) 2) 15 books written by women (currently at 7 of 15) 4) Something written in the 1800s 13) Read Something YA 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 19) Read something from the lost or beat generation 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection Currently reading Joe Hill's new book, the 4th book in the Dublin Murder Squad series, and a dumb book on social media for school.
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Jun 2, 2016 02:24
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may was a really busy month, and in addition I also spent too much time dicking around with dark souls 3 like a goon 1) Vanilla Number - 11/30 6) A book about or narrated by an animal 7) A collection of essays. 8) A work of Science Fiction 9) Something written by a musician 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 13) Read Something YA 14) Wildcard! 15) Something recently published (up to a year. The year will be the day you start this challenge) 17) The First book in a series 18) A biography or autobiography 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book 22) It’s a Mystery. 1. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy 2. The Silent Cry, Kenzaburo Oe 3. Aurora det niende mørke, hymne og myte, Stein Mehren 4. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath 5. Mourning Diary, Roland Barthes 6. Death in Venice and Other Stories, Thomas Mann 7. Is-slottet, Tarjei Vesaas 8. En dag i oktober, Sigurd Hoel 9. No One Writes to the Colonel, Gabriel Garcia Marquez 10. Voices From Chernobyl, Svetlana Alexievich 11. Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Yukio Mishima Voices From Chernobyl was an interesting take on non-fiction. By removing her own interview questions completely, and putting the informants' responses front-and-centre, she sort of managed to make the stories a lot more emotive. all in all very interesting, and she managed to find people from all walks of life, too. ranging from professors of literature and marxist philosophy to farmers and disabled housewives. I'm also glad I read Temple of the Golden Pavilion. I was really fascinated with the friendship between Mizoguchi and Kashiwagi. It seemed to me that Kashiwagi managed to influence Mizoguchi's perspective of beauty rather deeply, without him really realizing it himself (at least not outspokenly). At the moment where he decides to burn down the temple, he becomes less obsessed with the concept of beauty itself, and more obsessed with the fact that true beauty cannot be everlasting. e: I forgot that I actually read another book at the start of the month, No One Writes to the Colonel, which is about a retired colonel who has been waiting for his retirement check for 16 years. he struggles with poverty and how to manage to navigate through corruption and deceit amongst his former military friends. There's also a brief appearance of a character that will later feature strongly in One Hundred Years of Solitude. it was p good. ulvir fucked around with this message at 09:05 on Jun 2, 2016 |
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Jun 2, 2016 08:41
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