|
June! 33. Persuasion. Jane Austen. A pretty good book, the plot was great and the characters charming. If only, things get resolved quite quickly, but in an enjoyable way. 34. 1984. George Orwell. An amazing classic. Always a pleasure to read again. There's so much to take out of it I couldn't even start. 35. Towers of Midnight. Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson. Making an action-packed fantasy book shouldn't be this easy to read, but it is. Most of the problems of the earlier books are been fixed at an amazing pace keeping the characters true to their personalities. Very good! 36. The Story of God: A Biblical Comedy about Love. Chris Matheson. A very funny and blasphemous book. Quite an experience in taking everything the bible exactly as it says. Also, it dragged a little sometimes, a very understandable flaw. 37. Planetes, Vol. 1. Makoto Yukimura. A classic space opera with a story of exploration, human progress, and mental illness. The characters are relatable and the art is very good. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge: (37/60) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. (9/12) bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. (11/12) bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors (5/6) 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in 12. Read a poetry collection. bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets bonus: Read short stories by at least 10 different authors 14. Read a play. bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person bonus: Read a major religious text 18. Read something from a non-traditional perspective. bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. bonus: Read something about hunger bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year
|
#
?
Jul 2, 2018 03:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 14:00 |
|
|
I finished a small handful this month, in large part because I've had to jump around reading a bunch of crap for various freelance projects. 41. Im Thinking of Ending Things - Iain Reid - drat, what a great book. I guess you'd call it horror? Some of the best atmospheric, creeping dread, never-have-your-finger-on-whats-actually-happening fiction I've read in a while. It's a book that does not bear much discussion without a lot of spoilers though so if you want a bit of a twisty-turny horror novel that's pretty tightly written, just go grab it. 42. Broken Monsters - Lauren Beukes - I've read Beukes before and while this book didn't really blow me away, she writes pretty solid, engaging books. I'd call this a supernatural mystery, though there were a lot of moments where I wish there'd either been more commitment to the supernatural element or a lot more ambiguity, as it was there were some weird moments where the supernatural elements felt a little unexplored, in a way that didn't add much to the book. Also maybe it was because I did it as an audiobook (which is great, btw) but it also felt like there was a viewpoint character whose story felt very suddenly abbreviated when he kinda faded out of the main narrative, then reappeared near the end of the book in a briefly jarring way. 43. The Stone Sky - NK Jemisin - This was a good culmination of the trilogy. Tied up a lot of the loose ends, explained a lot of what was still a mystery, etc etc. It felt a bit like the book expected a couple of bigger plot points to still be a surprise despite having been pretty obvious in previous books, but oh well. Still a very satisfying third book. 44. Ill Be Gone in the Dark - Michelle McNamara - I wanted to enjoy this one more than I did. That's not really a knock on the book-- it was very good, for what it is. The truly unfortunate thing is that it's basically a half-finished book. McNamara's completed sections were engaging and tense, and some of the best true crime writing I've ever encountered. But given she died before finishing the book, the rest was left to be completed by two other writers who were, unfortunately, neither as talented of writers nor as familiar with the subject matter. Still absolutely worth reading if you're into true crime. 45. Her Body and Other Parties - Carmen Maria Machado - this was a short story collection focusing on somewhat supernatural, somewhat gothic stories written from a perspective very different than most collections like it (which is to say, white hetero male perspectives). The style and tone reminded me a lot of some of the darker Bradbury stories, as well as Yoko Ogawa. Morbid, beautiful, chilling, and funny. I kind of felt like the best story was also the most traditional, stylistically speaking, but maybe that's just my taste. 46. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry - Neil DeGrasse Tyson - the intro to this bills it as a sort of "tasting platter" of concepts in astrophysics, basically just presenting enough to whet someone's appetite so they might dip into the subjects more fully elsewhere. And for that, it's great. It doesn't go into great depth in many instances, and pointedly avoids dry mathematical or theoretical discussions, which is both a blessing and a curse. It makes the book much more readable for a layman (like myself) but in exchange a lot of the concepts are put forth with a sort of unspoken "just trust me" disclaimer. Also, I agree with 95% of NDT's political and philosophical beliefs (boneheaded tweets about how humanities are totally unimportant notwithstanding), but like just about everything he has a hand in, there are a couple of heavy-handed preachy moments about how great science is and how terrible dumb people are. Overall it's pretty minor though, and it's a pretty good book otherwise. Challenges remaining: 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge: 46/70 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 12/14 bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 2/7 bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person 17. Read something about religion. bonus: Read a major religious text 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. bonus: Read something about hunger
|
|
#
?
Jul 2, 2018 06:39
|
|
|
Ben Nevis posted:1. Djinn City by Saad Hossein It was an interesting month for books in translation. 4 were translated, 3 were translated well and 1 badly. 1 must have been particularly tricky. The bad one seemed clunky, but a review online actually pointed out some mistranslated words. After reading a few other translated works this year, it makes me wonder if there've been other mistranslations and not known because it wasn't mentioned or the reviewer may not have read Arabic or whatever. I'm also in a bit of an unintentional not quite theme, having read 2 books by Indians, one by a West Indian, and my current read is an American Indian. 39. A Beautiful Young Woman by Julian Lopez - This was the poorly translated book. It's largely a man remembering his mother and his trying to come to terms with her disappearance. It's at times really good, with a lyricism that makes it believable that Lopez is a poet as well. Other times, it's much less so. It's a bit of a shame, because I feel like a better translation probably would've yielded a book I enjoyed more. 40. Blue Self Portrait by Noemi Lefevbre - I picked this book up because it's about a young lady ruminating on life as she flies out of Berlin. I was going to be flying out of Hamburg, but figured it was close enough. She reflects on music, art, philosophy all through the course of obsessing over her interactions with a pianist. It's a lot of long, digressive paragraphs. Elements will be brought up again and again, remixed in light of new revelations, and twisted back and forth. This is not my usual bag. I thought it was fair, but a better understanding of some of the philosophy and art might have bumped it up for me. 41. The Big Get Even by Paul DiPhillipo - I figured I needed a light read for the plane, so I grabbed this. It looked a like a fun heist/con story and the cover blurb mentioned Chandler. When will I learn? The number of people worthy of cover blurbs mentioning Chandler is much smaller than those who actually have such blurbs. A disgraced investment guy and an out of jail arsonist plan to scam the towns largest banker. It's all sort of OK. There are flaws, not the least of which, somehow this guy winds up banging every attractive women mentioned in the book. The writing isn't as clever as the author thinks. I can't really recommend. 42. He by John Connolly - Apparently a bit of a passion project for Connolly. He takes Stan Laurel and uses his works and letters and biographies to try and recreate, from Laurel's perspective, his relationship with Hardy, Chaplin, and other people from the early years of Hollywood. The real focus is on the friendship between Laurel and Hardy and it's sketched out hear beautifully. I wound up really enjoying this. It was a very good read. 43. The Not-Quite States of America by Doug Mack - Mack gives an overview of the US territories. He visits American Samoa, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico. Each one gets a brief overview of how they became a territory, what things are like today, and some idea of what people think should happen to them in the future. This never goes deep into any of the territories discussed, but it felt real nice for an overview. It was written before Puerto Rico's big hurricane and massive blackout. I feel like that'd have been a rather different section if it were written today. Would recommend for a quick intro for the casually interested reader. 44. The Linden Treee by Cesar Aira - A man who is not-Cesar Aira reflects on a youth that's very similar to Aira's. He reflects on how they changed under Peron and after, how they lived and what they all did and tries to untangle the past with the knowledge of the now. In many ways this is similar to the Lopez book earlier, but definitely had a more sensible translator. It was a good read, though short. 45. Ambiguity Machines and Other Stories by Vandana Singh - A sci-fi short story collection. I don't know if Indo-futurism is a thing, but if so, this is definitely part of it. A number of these are tied to Indian legends or scripture, others are set in post-environmental disaster India, some just focus on Indian culture in other circumstances. I thought this was a strong collection and a bit of a breath of air for a sci-fi collection. 46. A Necessary Evil by Abir Mukherjee - A mystery! It's set in 1920 in India with British Sam Wyndham and his partner Sgt Bannerjee. The crown prince of Sambalpore is assassinated in the midst of negotiations with the British and Wyndham must sort out whodunnit, while navigating the difficulties in a Indian kingdom not subject to the crown. A pretty solid story overall with a good setting. My biggest complaint is that it's the second in a series and this isn't noted on the copy I'd checked out. I'd missed a bit of backstory, but wasn't lost or anything. Would recommend for mystery fans. 47. Slave Old Man by Patrick Chamoiseau - A novella from Martinique, it's about an old slave's escape from the plantation. This must have been a bear to translate from Creole. It's heavily intertwined with some works from Glissant, and a lot of that is laid out in footnotes at the end provided by the translator. I really liked this one. Despite it's brevity (~120 pages) it really seemed to carry a lot of history and a real sense of the culture as well. Would recommend. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge - 47/80 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 14 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you: 12 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 13 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you: 10 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). - Lincoln in the Bardo bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) 8. Read something written before you were born. bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born - Going After Cacciato 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - The Night Market bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) 10. Read something translated from another language. - For Isabel, A Mandala bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language 11. Read something political. bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in - Frankenstein in Baghdad 12. Read a poetry collection. bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets 13. Read a collection of short stories. - Dreams of Falling and Flying bonus: Read short stories by at least 10 different authors - 4 14. Read a play. bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years - Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike 15. Read something involving history. bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. - The Opium War 16. Read something biographical. - Eat the Apple bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person 17. Read something about religion. bonus: Read a major religious text 18. Read something from a non-traditional perspective. bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. bonus: Read something about hunger 22. Read something about the future. - Punch Escrow bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year
|
|
#
?
Jul 2, 2018 17:37
|
|
|
Oh dear, I am slipping rather behind on the number of books I need to read to meet my goal of 52. 23 - The English Civil War: A People's History by Diane Purkiss - Another giant doorstop of a book, and very, very good. Covers everything from the build-up to the war to the execution of King Charles, but told with a great deal more granularity than any other book on the same subject, by focusing on individual experiences, letters, cultural impact, and what life was actually like. The author includes a foreword in which she says a lot of her fellow historians will dislike the book for the attempt to focus on ordinary people and to tell history as a series of tales of personality, but as a reader it's infinitely more compelling. 24 - Trollslayer by William King - Halfway through what was turning into a stressful and busy June, I decided I needed something intellectually unchallenging and easy. So, enter a stack of Warhammer novels. It was either that or the lesbian romance books. Anyway, this is the first in a Warhammer hack-and-slash series that I read - and enjoyed - as a young teenager, and I was curious to see how well it holds up now, and to my surprise it's actually not bad. It's not as good as I remember it being, but it certainly gets the job done. The story is a series of short connected adventures starring a pair of traveling mercenaries, one of whom is a dwarf out to seek glorious death in battle to atone for some terrible past crime. It doesn't really go anywhere and it's incredibly violent, but if you want dark blood-and-guts fantasy, well, it's good at what it's trying to be. 25 - Skavenslayer by William King - The second book in the series, and much better than the first in some ways, worse in others. An actual full-length plot this time, as the protagonists are desperately in need of money so stop wandering around and get jobs as sewer watchmen and then bouncers, and foil a secret invasion plot by giant ratmen. The evil ratmen get about half the book to their own perspectives and they are downright hilarious and carry most of the story. The prose gets way too gummed up in a few places, I think to pad out the narrative. 26 - Daemonslayer by William King - Oh dear, I'm three books deep and these things are so short I can just read them in an afternoon without stopping. In for a penny in for a pound. Anyway, this one is very good once it gets to the actual meat of the plot, but it takes about half the book to get there, and the rather thin characterisation for the protagonists does start to tell. Plot is about dwarfs sailing a giant airship into demon-invested wasteland to investigate the ruins of an ancient dwarfhold, and as soon as this part of the plot gets underway it's metal as gently caress and pure popcorn satisfaction, despite again the clunky prose in places. I feel like I should be reading something more intellectual, but that might have to wait until August or September when life gets less stressful.
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2018 12:17
|
|
|
42. Middlemarch by George Elliot 43. Here comes the sun by Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn 44. The Face of Another by Kobo Abe 45. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 46. Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima 47. Bravetart by Stella Parks 48. The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery Middlemarch was my old rear end book, Here Comes the Sun and Confessions were my LGBT authors, Brothers Karamazov was from the SHAMELESS thread, and the others were just gravy. Really enjoyed Face of Another, it caught me in a way an Abe hasn't really since Woman in the Dunes. Soul of an Octopus was both really informative and really touching. Bravetart was a cookbook but had a bunch of really cool history about American desserts as well as some interesting concepts behind modernizing them. I should probably do an actual update on my challenges. I think I am in really good shape but I'll do an audit in the next week or so.
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2018 17:06
|
|
|
Guy A. Person posted:July 8 - something involving music Oh poo poo whoops 2018 Reading Challenge Theme Week #9- Challenge no. 20: Read something about music. Another broad one, but as always post suggestions of books involving/focusing on music in some way. I personally have chosen Middle C by William Gass. Other books off the top of my head: Song of the Shank by Jeffery Renard Allen Bel Canto by Ann Patchett A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James Bonus Challenge: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of I intentionally didn't say "dislike" or whatever here because I think it would be more interesting to learn about something you're not already into, but that you don't have a grudge against. I'll prob do something non-fic but haven't thought of anything yet. Guy A. Person fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Jul 25, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2018 04:52
|
|
|
A Visit from the Goon Squad and Fargo Rock City spring to mind.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2018 05:01
|
|
|
^^Ugh, Goon Squad is more about middle-aged anglo angst more than anything. I'd even recommend How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran over that one, because it actually manages to protray the love there was for that same scene in a way Jennifer Egan totally failed to. Also Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon actually gives you a vivid sense of the music the characters love. I've already done this challenge with A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism by Paul Youngquist. I'm not a jazz fan, but I listened to a lot of the Sun Ra albums as they were mentioned in the book, and it turns out to be my kind of weird. A couple other interesting non-fiction books on music I've read are: How Music Works by David Byrne Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound by Eric Tamm Maybe I should get around to putting together my reading list and posting it here, since I'm now hitting book 50. Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Jul 11, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2018 05:33
|
|
|
Stuporstar posted:^^Ugh, Goon Squad is more about middle-aged anglo angst more than anything. I'd even recommend How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran over that one, because it actually manages to protray the love there was for that same scene in a way Jennifer Egan totally failed to. Don't disagree on Goon Squad, but it's popular so I figured I was just overly picky about it or something. And drat, how did I forget David Byrne's book?? Good call.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2018 05:36
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:Don't disagree on Goon Squad, but it's popular so I figured I was just overly picky about it or something. It's one of the many books that made me distrust the Pulitzer as a flag of quality fiction. Also I was trying to remember the music-based novel I read recently featuring an Alexie Sayle-like character described as English Blokeman and realized it was Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente, so I guess that one counts as well lol
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2018 06:03
|
|
|
Yeah I considered Goon Squad but had the same experience with the book. I also forgot about Klosterman, he writes a lot about music even in his essay collections; I really liked his interviews with Eddie Van Halen and Noel Gallagher in his latest collection. There's also Murakami's Absolutely on Music if anyone is a fan of his stuff.Stuporstar posted:I've already done this challenge with A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism by Paul Youngquist. I'm not a jazz fan, but I listened to a lot of the Sun Ra albums as they were mentioned in the book, and it turns out to be my kind of weird. This actually sounds right up my alley and exactly the type of thing I was hoping for for that bonus challenge. I will probably use it for that unless I find something different but equally compelling. The David Byrne book I've also heard awesome things about but I'm already a fan so while I'll hopefully read soon I don't think I will slot it in for any of the challenges.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2018 17:51
|
|
|
Another suggestion I'd like to add to the pile would be Let's Talk About Love, which is 2/3 a biography of Cιline Dion and her rise to infamy as a popstar people love to hate on. The expanded edition also has a lot of writers, musicians etc talking through their own thoughts on "taste", "guilty pleasures" and the like.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2018 16:06
|
|
|
Milt Thompson posted:26 Books as a minimum, under 20% rereads (currently 19 books with 2 rereads) A late report because, again, I've been a little too busy to read much. But three books is three books. Stand On Zanzibar was a slow starter for me. From the New Wave of sci-fi, first published in 1968, it won a Hugo award. I can see why: stylistically, it's pretty challenging as the story is told in an odd, fragmented manner, through four strands. The main storyline takes place in chapters named Continuity with chapters related to that by characters or events in sections called Tracking With Close-Ups. Broader world-building happens in chapters entitled The Happening World, which read like you were flicking through TV channels. Finally, sections named Context give the reader an insight into the culture of Brunner's alternate future by quoting from its books. Early on, this structure made the book challenging to read, because it's like being dropped half-awake into the actual world of the story. Yet in the end, this became a great strength of the book, because there is a much greater sense of a world having been built. The actual story itself is a good read. Brunner's vision of 2010 is at the same time quite prescient but, as it turns out, surprisingly wide of the mark (some details can be found here. The story's main theme concerns population control and eugenics, looking at two unrelated situations linked by protagonists who start the story as housemates. Brunner writes well even within the framework he sets himself, but I hesitate to recommend it due to these stylistic choices. Lincoln In The Bardo deserves all the praise it gets in my opinion. I wasn't expecting the story I got. I won't say anymore as I think it's best approached blind. Station Eleven I chose to reread as it was very cheap on Amazon but also a book I enjoyed the first time around. Set in an unspecified future, it's a post-apocalyptic novel about a travelling theatre and orchestra who go from settlement to settlement following a global pandemic. Mandel wrote it beautifully - it's the kind of book The Postman could have been if David Brin had been more concerned with who the characters were in the world rather than what they did. It's this quality - how the characters feel and respond to the world around them - that elevates Station Eleven from ordinary post-apocalyptic sci-fi to something more heartfelt and intelligent. It's good.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2018 21:41
|
|
|
June and July were pretty slow reading months for me. The Man With the Compound Eyes, by Wu Ming Yi - I enjoyed the magical realism and ecological themes. The writing was awkward sometimes, which may have been the translation. The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell - An interesting discussion about the role of myth in society and art. Kind of weird how the interviewer kept going on about Star Wars. Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides - I enjoyed the intricate language and storytelling. The Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler - This didnt click with me - probably because I didnt see what was so unique, revelatory, or controversial about the main characters religion. A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay - An entertaining tribute to classic horror movies and novels. I noticed a strong influence from We Have Always Lived in the Castle. The Broken Earth series, by N.K. Jemisin - This was fine for what it is, but I've mostly lost my taste for long fantasy series. I, Claudius, by Robert Graves - This book managed to make court intrigues interesting to read about. I was surprised by the depiction of a female ruler who was brutal and calculating but ultimately just and effective. Disappearance at Devil's Rock, by Paul Tremblay - Fun and easy to read, but forgettable. Also the ending was bad. Slade House by David Mitchell - Might have made a good short story; was not enough material for a novella. Very repetitive, and the ending was dumb and anticlimactic. The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror by Joyce Carol Oates - I didnt find these tales particularly terror inducing. Challenges completed: 5, 6, 8 (and bonus), 10, 11 (and bonus), 13, 14 (and bonus),15 (and bonus), 17, 19, 22 (and bonus)
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2018 06:19
|
|
|
2018 Reading Challenge Theme Week #10- Challenge no. 10: Read something translated from another language. This one might be easy for some and hard for others. There's tons of international authors that have been discussed in this and other threads, tons of classics translated from a variety of languages. Some of the great authors I've already read this year: Leonora Carrington, Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Kobo Abe, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Yukio Mishima, Basma Abdel Aziz, Can Xue, and Clarice Lispector. I'm currently rereading Republic of Wine by Mo Yan in honor of this challenge, and highly recommend it. Read something that isn't in your primary language This one is definitely one of the harder ones, and I am not sure I am going to be able to complete it. My original intent was to take advantage of some language classes and refresh my Spanish and try to read a short story or two, but those plans have gone by the wayside with general life stuff. Still going to see what I am able to do.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 05:49
|
|
|
Guy A. Person posted:Read something that isn't in your primary language I've got a thin volume of Unamuno in Spanish hanging around that I may take a shot at. Otherwise, I've read several in translation but need to review before posting some recs.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 22:31
|
|
|
Guy A. Person posted:2018 Reading Challenge Theme Week #10- Challenge no. 10: Read something translated from another language. I read Republic of Wine a couple years ago after a rec from the Lit Thread. I need to go back and re-read, I'm a better reader now. I've read a fair number of translated books this year. Looking back my favorite so far was probably Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi, it was shortlisted for the Man Booker International. After a suicide bombing, a Frankenstein-like monster rises to seek justice for the innocents killed in Baghdad. It focuses on a few people otherwise showing how Baghdad is struggling in increased violence following Saddam's ouster. The Linden Tree by Cesar Aira, Slave Old Man by Patrick Chamoiseau, and Silence of the Spirit by Wilfried N'Sonde have been other standouts. Glancing back to last year, I'd give hearty recommendations to Often I am Happy by Jens Christian Grψndahl and A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman. No Knives in the Kitchens of this City by Khaled Khalifa has the distinction of having the lowest rating on Goodreads of any book I've read at 2.87. I found it worthwhile though as this tale of the long term degradation of a family in Aleppo provides some context and reasoning for the Syrian civil war. When I see how bad things are there now, it helps me understand why civil war was preferable for some.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2018 17:10
|
|
|
quote:
I read eight books in July. Half of them were "graphic novels" or whatever but it still counts to me, dammit 24 - Kept: A Comedy of Sex and Manners, by Y. Euny Hong. It's definitely a comedy about sex and manners - more explicitly about manners, class, and etiquette, thugh sex and sexuality are woven into almost every conflict in the book. The cast is peppered with unpleasant caricatures of the bourgeoisie and intelligentsia, though Hong manages to humanise the protagonist and her main love interest to an extent. I was still left with a bad taste in my mouth, which I think was intentinal, given the blinkered narcissism and exploitation on display. Judith, the protagonist, is the penniless heir to a noble Korean family, and her voice is believably pompous and hard-done-by given her earnestly awful circumstances. Every character is trapped by ideas of what and who they ought to be, and their behaviour is extrapolated from those anxieties. There is a strange plot thread about converting to Judaism that seems to appear out of nowhere and has little consequence, but again that feels deliberate. This isn't the usual sort of thing I'd read but I'm happy I picked it up, as a nice change of pace. 25 - Seventeen & J, by Kenzaburo Oe. Two novellas by the Nobel Prize-winning author, both written in the early sixties but published together in '94 in the edition I have. The first novella, Seventeen, is a grotesque and disturbingly plausible story of a disaffected and sexually frustrated teenager who is indoctrinated into extreme rigt-wing politics. The second and longer one, J, is not as punchy but almost more unpleasant in the way it explores the protagonist's amoral sexual fixaions. I don't know enough about the Nobels to judge how wothy Oe is of the prize, but it's clear that these stories were powerful enough when they were written to still resonate thirty years later. 26 - The City & The City, by China Miιville. Police procedural thriller set in a fictional eastern-European city-state and also in another fictional eastern-European city-state tat overlaps it. Miιville has a lot of fun with the conceit of the setting, spinning it out into a delicious allegory for a world overwhelmed with conflicting information and individualised versions of truth. The plot centres around extremist factions and doctoral students, the latter being especially well-drawn, and the protagonist's journey is both troubling and cathartic. The actual murder case at the centre of the book never quite grabbed me, sadly, but every other element, as well as Miιville's wonderful prose, made this a joy to read. 27 & 28- Pluto, vol. 3 & 4, by Naoki Urasawa. The plot starts to thicken with the introduction of anti-robot extremists and increasingly troublesome politics. The title character shows himself. There's an unexpectedly moving scene with a robot dog, and some surprises that really got to me. I will absolutely finish this series. 29 - Poems For A World Gone To Sh*t, a Quercus collection. As the title describes, this is a short collection of poetry from various writers and eras, on themes such as loss, regret, frustration, hope and peace. I recognised a good number of them, but the ones I didn't know so well were generally good and well-written (even if only a few really spoke to me). I was given this by a friend, and I'm happy to have read it, if only to discover a few verses I hadn't encountered before. It's light, and several entries are extracts from much longer works, but it's fine. It put a smile on my face. 30 - My Solo Exchange Diary, by Nagata Kabi. The sequel to the excellent 'My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness', this is a direct episodic continuation of the themes of the first: isolation, depression, a difficult and stifling home environment, and the struggles of trying to fulfil one's potential as an "adult". It's as charming and resonant as her first book, and even discusses the consequences of making one's emotional and romantic life into a work of art. I liked thi an awful lot, and I look forward to reading the next instalment. 31 - My Friend Dahmer, by Derf Backderf. Graphic novel about the high-school life of notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, as told by one of his classmates. I'm most familiar with Backderf's style from his shorter political comics like 'The City', and his artwork here is an appropriate blend of detailed and unpleasant - characters seem to move like puppets, particularly Dahmer himself. Combined with the matter-of-factness of the narration, I got a real sense of disaffection and creepiness from the whole mood of the school setting, even outside of Dahmer's vicinity. I was impressed by the tonal consistency, portraying Derf's highschool years with a blend of nostalgia, shame and regret that resonated pretty strongly. What got to me most was the afterword, in which Backderf annotates the preceding events and catalogues how real-life events were depicted or elided in the name of making a more coherent narrative. It's rare to see such an honest and thorough rundown on the process of adapting nonfiction into narratives. It's also deeply sad reading into Dahmer's mother's mental illness, his parents' divorce, his own downward spiral through alcoholism and violent urges toward his first act of murder. As Backderf repeats throughout: where were the adults? I saw the film adaption of this comic before reading it, and on balance I feel that this is a more complete story and a more fulfilling experience, if an unpleasant one. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge - 52 - 31 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 1/3 of them are written by women. - 13 - 4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 23, 24, 30 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you - 9 - 4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 23, 24 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 1/3 of them are written by someone non-white. - 11 - 5, 6, 11, 12, 18, 19, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you - 7 - 5, 6, 11, 12, 19, 24, 25 bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) - 'Redshirts' (suggested by flatmate). bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language 14. Read a play. bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person 17. Read something about religion. bonus: Read a major religious text bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of bonus: Read something about hunger
|
|
#
?
Jul 31, 2018 04:32
|
|
|
Ben Nevis posted:1. Djinn City by Saad Hossein Over half-way through the challenge here and I'm ahead of schedule. I knocked out a short story collection by an LGBT author, and another one as well. It looks like I may hit short stories by 10 authors the hard way. Otherwise, not particularly a fruitful month for challenges, though there are always the new author challenges. I did have a fair few "summer reads" this month, looking at lighter more exciting stuff suitable for the beach, even if I'm not at the beach. 48. Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse - After environmental catastrophe has fractured the nation and brought about the 6th world, the Navajo nation rises again, full of magic and mystery. Through it all rides monster hunter Maggie Hoskie in her old beat up pickup. In addition to hunting down monsters, she has to contend with rear end in a top hat cops, the mischievous Coyote, and maybe even her former teacher. It's a unique setting and Roanhorse herself is Ohkay Owingeh and married a Navajo man, which I feel lends some authenticity here. There are definitely some rough edges, but hopefully they'll be smoothed by her next book, which I also intend to read. 49. Cove by Cynan Jones - The second book I've read by Cynan Jones, and this is even sparser than the first. In about 90 pages, Jones tells us about a man lost at sea in a kayak after a sudden storm. Jones deliberately takes a knife to this, cutting and trimming everything he deems unimportant. What's left is the distilled fear and desperation and hope at a rescue. I really enjoyed this and you can read it in an afternoon. Or over lunch. 50. The Life List of Adrian Mandrick by Chris White - I'm thinking I got this for the bird on the cover. Adrian Mandrick is an anesthesiologist and an avid birdwatcher. He's third in the US in terms of total number of birds watched. When the #2 birdwatcher dies, Mandrick sees his chance to move up and starts even more obsessively hunting rare birds. His life also spirals out of control as he renews his painkiller addiction and commences an affair. When he finds his mom died, it's time to confront old family traumas as well as the new ones he's instigated. Ultimately this just didn't hit for me. Other than the bird watching angle, it seemed sort of an average midlife crisis kind of book. 51. Food of the Gods by Cassandra Khaw - Rupert Wong is a cannibal chef. Not that he eats people, he just cooks them for a powerful ghoul clan. He's also indebted to Hell. And generally too many beings have a call on Rupert's soul. That's unfortunate when he gets tangled in international, interpantheon intrigue. This was a rollicking good time as long as you're not queasy about descriptions of people being cooked. 52. The Merry Spinster by Daniel Mallory Ortberg - Ortberg (formerly of the Toast) transitioned while/just after writing this, so the book is credited to Mallory Ortberg, who now goes by Daniel instead. I've preserved the Mallory here so hopefully you can find it if you want to check it out from the library. These are all dark-ish retellings or twists of fairy tales and the occasional Bible story. Ortberg's focus largely is on obligation, who owes what to whom and what should be done about it. There's (unsurprisingly) a bit of a focus on gender here, with many stories having roles be gendered, not people. So you have anyone who goes from the home to work called a son while those staying home are daughters, or something similar. It never rose to the level of being confusing and did sometimes provide a little food for thought at time. The best story was probably The Rabbit, a disturbing retelling of the Velveteen Rabbit. There were some misses as well, but overall a pretty decent collection. 53. The Italian Party by Christina Lynch - This was one of the big surprises this month. I was a little lukewarm on the idea of this book which seemed sort of a married couple struggling with their relationship in Italy. What got me was a line in the dust jacket summer about international intrigue as well. There's a lot going on in this one. Scottie and Michael got married quickly, really a whirlwind romance sort of thing before Michael gets them shipped to Italy to open the new Ford tractor dealer. But they all have secrets. See, Scottie is not the rich orphan she seems to be. Worse yet, she's pregnant and was hoping to get married to an upwardly mobile type man before it becomes clear that the kid wasn't his. Michael, well, he's not a Ford dealer, he works for the CIA and got married at the request of the agency before he shipped off to Italy to make sure it doesn't go communist. Also he's gay. Also, it turns out that this sleepy little Tuscan town is also full of secrets and secret agents. In addition to the expected Italians, the town is populated with Russians, socialists, ancient nobility, Brits, and all manner of commonplace secrets. Assassination, kidnapping, horse races, and glorious Italian lunches fill the pages while we see whether Michael and Scottie can (or should) patch up their relationship. And whether Michael can (or should) deliver Italy for the Americans. This was a delightful book and in many regards a great summer read. 54. Artificial Conditions by Martha Wells - Murderbot #2. Murderbot tries to learn more about himself, and gets tangled in some corporate intrigue. A nice continuation of that series. 55. The Oracle Year by Charles Soule - Will Dando wakes up one morning with 108 predictions for the near future that have come to him in a dream. After verifying they are true, he does what anyone would and makes some money. And that's the first little bit of the book. As Will starts to see the effects of the prophecies with companies failing, countries destabilized, and other subtly connected large effects, he becomes terrified of what they are intended to do. It doesn't help that everyone in the world is trying to track him down for their own nefarious means. Overall there's some good tense moments, chase scenes, and whatnot. I could totally see this made into a summer blockbuster. A nice, brisk, summer read. 56. The Mutual UFO Network by Martin Lee - Of the 6 short story collections I've read this year, this was the best. Somehow it only has like 5 ratings on Goodreads. I'm not sure where my library gets these. That being said, this is an outstanding collection. Lee takes every day slices of life from Anytown, USA and then something happens, sometimes something extraordinary, sometimes something mundane. In the aftermath people are sliced open and laid bare. Hope and resentments are exposed for everyone to see and at their best they touch a raw nerve in the reader as well. Would recommend. 57. Honor by Elif Shafak - The book opens on a girl going to pick up who brother who killed her mom in an "honor killing" 14 years ago. It traces through time back to the mothers birth and through recent years, exploring the societal pressures the lead up to the killing. It looks at a the culture and how it values honor among men and women. It looks at immigrants and the struggles of assimilation. This was a really intriguing, well written book. Would recommend. 58. Bangkok 8 by John Burdett - Bangkok Noir? Something of the sort. When Sonchai accidentally loses his partner while trying to save an American marine, he vow revenge. His quest to hunt down the killer leads him through the seedy underbelly of Bangkok, among the drugs, prostitution and art forgers. It's a pretty good read. Interesting mystery, that feels noir. It doesn't try for clever quips but does very much explore the idea of the only straight man in a crooked world. There's some Buddhism that probably is lacking in authenticity. Still a pretty enjoyable read. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge - 58/80 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 20 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you: 17 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 16 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you: 13 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. - The Merry Spinster bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). - Lincoln in the Bardo bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) 8. Read something written before you were born. bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born - Going After Cacciato 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - The Night Market bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) 10. Read something translated from another language. - For Isabel, A Mandala bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language 11. Read something political. bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in - Frankenstein in Baghdad 12. Read a poetry collection. bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets 13. Read a collection of short stories. - Dreams of Falling and Flying bonus: Read short stories by at least 10 different authors - 6 14. Read a play. bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years - Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike 15. Read something involving history. bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. - The Opium War 16. Read something biographical. - Eat the Apple bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person 17. Read something about religion. bonus: Read a major religious text 18. Read something from a non-traditional perspective. bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. bonus: Read something about hunger 22. Read something about the future. - Punch Escrow bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year Ben Nevis fucked around with this message at 18:34 on Aug 2, 2018 |
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2018 18:29
|
|
|
July update 49. The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz 50. Blue Light in the Sky and Other Stories by Can Xue 51. Autumn by Ali Smith 52. Plainwater by Anne Carson 53. The Passion According to G.H. by Clarice Lispector 54. Middle C by William H. Gass 55. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor 56. Warlock by Oakley Hall 57. Republic of Wine by Mo Yan 58. A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism by Paul Youngquist The Queue was excellent, the premise sounded like Kafka to me and while it's obviously not the same writing style there is still a focus on the absurdist workings of an all powerful bureaucracy. I still haven't found a Can Xue that lives up to my initial experience with Five Spice Street and Vertical Motion, but I guess that makes sense since the style was so new to me at the time (and they were highly recommended, so probably some of her better works). Same with Plainwater; I've read a lot of good Anne Carson and while this was good it didn't grab me like earlier stuff did. Passion according to G.H. was actually the opposite experience where I wish I had read that first, because I liked it a lot better than Hour of the Star. Middle C was also kind of a dud. Pretty well written and interesting but a subject I've seen a ton before. Autumn was fantastic and I'm looking forward to continuing that series, Warlock was for the BotM and was way better than I expected, Republic of Wine was a reread but I still loved it. Binti was okay, I was looking for a novella that was a little different and would cleanse my palate between some of these larger more literary works and it did the trick. Stuporstar, thanks for mentioning A Pure Solar World, because it was perfect for my music bonus challenge and introduced me to some cool music. I also live in Chicago so it is really cool knowing a little more about the history of jazz in the area. ---- Also I haven't done this yet so here's an update on my challenges: 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge - 12 rereads ; way behind on this one, the Mo Yan was only my 3rd, need to step it up 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Well on track bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you - Well on track 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - on track bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you - still on track but need to keep up the pace 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. - Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors - barely on track, need to keep pace 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). - a few but most recently Warlock by Oakley Hall bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread - ditto, most recently I finished The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it.3 - Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain by Barney Norris bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) 8. Read something written before you were born. - Middlemarch by George Elliot bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) 10. Read something translated from another language. - Republic of Wine by Mo Yan bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language 11. Read something political. - Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in - going to slot in The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz 12. Read a poetry collection. - The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded by Molly McCully Brown bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets 13. Read a collection of short stories. - The Best American Short Stories 2017 bonus: Read short stories by at least 10 different authors - almost certainly 14. Read a play. - The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years - Sweat by Lynn Nottage 15. Read something involving history. bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. 16. Read something biographical. - Hunger by Roxane Gay bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person 17. Read something about religion. bonus: Read a major religious text 18. Read something from a non-traditional perspective. bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. bonus: Read something about hunger 22. Read something about the future. bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year Still have a few of the challenge weeks with specific ideas for those, so I think I am fairly good, although there are a few of the challenges like the recommendations that I have books for I just haven't read, and my rereads are going terribly, and some of the more ambitious bonuses (specifically, read something in another language and read a religious text) might get sidelined because life happened, but we will see!
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2018 19:15
|
|
|
July! I got lots of reading done due to downtime at work, and having some time off to raise newborn puppies. 47. Ring - Koji Suzuki - This is the basis for the Japanese film Ringu (which then got turned into The Ring) but it isn't a direct adaptation from the book, which is honestly... good. The book is pretty rough, and the justification for why spooky things are happening is a little more ridiculous, if kind of creative. The movies actually do a better job with the video conceit though, imo. Also the writing itself was kind of weak, though that could be chalked up to a so-so translator for all I know. 48. Kill Creek - Scott Thomas - I love horror, a lot. There's a lot of bad horror. There's a lot of trite horror. This, somehow, managed to be good, even while not really doing anything crazy or unique or really all that unexpected. It was just a well-written, pacey horror novel that sort of knew you could see the twists coming but still made you excited to get there. Overall one of the better horror novels I've read this year, though like I said it doesn't exactly do anything that new. 49. Hunger - Roxane Gay - I went into this one without many expectations, and found it to be just okay. I remember reading somewhere on the forums (Possibly in this thread) that the book is oddly disconnected and dispassionate for being such a personal subject and the fact that it's a memoir, and I couldn't agree more. It's hard to tear down a book that was clearly personally important to the author, but I felt like Gay kind of kept the book at arms length for the entirety. Still not sure what to make of this one. 50. The Devil Crept In - Ania Ahlborn - Auggh I feel like I complained about this with a previous book, but I. Hate. Crappy. Child. Protagonists. And this was one of the worst. Horror novels in particular seem to glom onto child protagonists when they really shouldn't, I think because it's easy to make a child feel vulnerable to a physical threat. This was a glacier of a book, without a very good central conceit, plagued by a not very believable child-that-thinks-like-an-adult protagonist. It also commits a common sin in horror novels where the writer got attached to an unrelatable main character, so to fix that they just surrounded him with even shittier, more unlikeable, more inconsistent characters. It wasn't godawful, as horror goes, but it was not one I'd recommend. 51. Night Film - Marisha Pessl - Ahh, and then at the other end of the spectrum, here's a (big) compelling, entertaining mystery/horror novel that does some really creative things. Imagine if David Lynch and Orson Welles were the same person, and also he was possibly a devil-worshipper who might actually be able to do black magic, and suddenly his daughter commits suicide. The book is the story of an investigative reporter trying to piece together what's truth and what's dream. This is a very strange and sometimes surreal mystery that I loved. 52. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - This is the first time I've read Jane Eyre, and it was fine. Sort of similar to my reaction to P&P, I can totally see why this is a classic, and I enjoyed reading it, but it's really not my cup of tea. I probably found it a little less engaging than P&P to be honest. There's only so much time I'm willing to give to descriptions of how this rich British aristocrat is slightly less rich than this other rich person and parsing out how that's important to the story. 53. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest - Ken Kesey - Brilliant, better than the movie in a lot of ways. In fact it's kind of weird that the movie totally threw away the fact that the book is written from Chief Bromden's perspective, especially given it feels a lot more like it's his story, rather than McMurphy's. Side note, I did the audiobook, which was read by John C. Reilly and was absolutely fantastic. 54. House on the Borderland - William Hope Hodgson - Imagine if HP Lovecraft wrote down the worst of his fever dreams and refused to add a plot. This is definitely the blueprint that Lovecraft (and a lot of other horror/weird writers) was writing from. It's seriously incomprehensible at times, but that's the source of a lot of the wonder and horror. 55. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers - Beautiful, heartbreaking, fascinating. It's a hard book to encapsulate in a description because it's so much about putting you in the lives of the protagonists and the process of understanding who they are as humans. Just great. 56. American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis - If anything, this is more brutal than the movie, which is saying something. I think it also succeeds much better at the message it was trying to convey than the movie was. I'm glad I read it, I'll probably never re-read it. Also it's hard to tell how much was intentionally funny, and how much is now funny in retrospect but would have been relatively straight-faced at the time. 57. Black Helicopters - Caitlin Kiernan - So this was billed as a follow-up to Agents of Dreamlands, which I really liked, but actually isn't. It was released as a chapbook a few years before Agents, and Kiernan re-released it with some new chapters that supposedly tie it into the bigger mythology of Dreamland. In reality, I feel like this is a big mess of a book and a huge missed opportunity. There's a lot of dropped threads and incomprehensibility here. The incomprehensibility is very much intentional, but it feels a bit like Kiernan forgot to tell a story in the midst of it. There's also some nonsense to do with quantum mathematics in the mix. It's possible I'm too dumb to have "gotten" the book but it honestly feels like some of Kiernan's weakest work that I've read to date. I'm proceeding well on my challenges! Found a fun book for my birth year (Howl's Moving Castle), and I've started in on A Brief History of Seven Killings, which hopefully I'll finish before the end of the year. Challenges remaining 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge: 57/70 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. 17. Read something about religion. bonus: Read a major religious text 20. Read something about music. bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2018 22:16
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:57. Black Helicopters - Caitlin Kiernan - So this was billed as a follow-up to Agents of Dreamlands, which I really liked, but actually isn't. It was released as a chapbook a few years before Agents, and Kiernan re-released it with some new chapters that supposedly tie it into the bigger mythology of Dreamland. In reality, I feel like this is a big mess of a book and a huge missed opportunity. There's a lot of dropped threads and incomprehensibility here. The incomprehensibility is very much intentional, but it feels a bit like Kiernan forgot to tell a story in the midst of it. There's also some nonsense to do with quantum mathematics in the mix. It's possible I'm too dumb to have "gotten" the book but it honestly feels like some of Kiernan's weakest work that I've read to date. This is literally the next book in my queue, so I'm a little less excited now.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2018 00:46
|
|
|
Only got through two books in June, so here's my June AND July. 24. The City & The City, by China Miιville. A drawn out but mostly interesting tale of two cities, both occupying the same space. There are crossovers and places that are "in" both cities and there are places that are in one or the other. Makes for an interesting setting for a murder mystery. But the mystery dragged on a bit and the conclusion was just kind of a conclusion. Worth reading for Miιville's wonderful prose and the concept. 25. The Freeze-Frame Revolution, by Peter Watts. Shorter than I would have liked, but, luckily, it's a novella in a universe Watts has written a lot of other stories in! It's depressing and funny and scary in all the ways I love. I did really miss out by not knowing anything about the setting though. There's no recap for newbies. Once I make a lap through the other stories I'm sure I'll return to this and love it all the more. 26. Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee. Doesn't quite reach the highs of either of the previous two books. It drags its heels a little bit and focuses on characters that are less compelling than the ones I liked in books one and two. But the setting is still amazing and I'm sad to see Lee leaving it behind. Eager for whatever he does next. 27. Shell-Shocked: On the Ground Under Israel's Gaza Assault, by Mohammed Omer. Despite the books short page count and the fact that each "chapter" is usually one to two pages long, this thing took me a while to get through. It is brutal. The book is made up of Omer's reports from Gaza during the Israeli bombardment in 2014. Omer focuses on the stories of people whose stories usually don't get out. Regular people closing their shops because of blockades. Parent waiting for the bombs to stop so they can get their child's corpse from the street. It's all so horrifying it is hard to think it's real. But as the body count rises with each new account I felt like I couldn't look away. 28. A Rising Man, by Abir Mukherjee. Another detective novel, this one taking place in colonial Calcutta in 1919. The main character is Sam Wyndham, a sort of detective wunderkind whose wife died while he was fighting in WWI. He developed an opium habit. This was a really confusing novel. I sort of expected to get a subversion of the horror of colonial occupation, but Mukherjee was never very critical, at least not in any direct way. The main character was a drag, hugely outshined by his partner, Surendranath. Surendranath has the charisma and detective skills to be a main character, but somehow we're stuck in Wyndham's guilty and condescending racism and sexism. 29. Too Many People?, by Ian Angus and Simon Butler. That question mark is important, there. Angus and Butler take on the myths of overpopulation and its effects on the climate. They do a really convincing job while also being very entertaining. I never really knew about the populationist theory of climate change, that more people = more pollution. On its face it makes sense. Angus and Butler prove how ridiculous the notion is. They also point out that blaming it all on increasing population and immigration distracts from really horrible things the richest people and corporations in the world are doing. I also appreciated hearing more viewpoints than just the US's. Angus is Canadian and Butler is Australian. I feel like a lot of what I've read on climate change comes out of the US, so this was refreshing as well as elucidating. 30. Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells. I love Murderbot, but I'm not in love with these novellas so far. This one is a little subdued compared to the first with more character growth for Murderbot. Some other characters are involved but I have no idea if they're going to be long term or not because I did not end up caring about them one bit. I realized this could have been a stylistic thing since Murderbot hates its humans and wishes they weren't so stupid so it could just sit around and watch soap operas. But a book can't really hold me if there's only one compelling character and that character spends a majority of the page count trying not to do what makes it so compelling. Goals 1. 30/50 Books Read. 2. %Women Authors: 40% 3. %Authors of Color: 33.3% 4. LGBTQIA+ Author: Yes: The Black Tides of Heaven, by JY Yang. 5. TBB BotM Participation: Yes: The Sign of Four, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 6. Wildcard: Yes: A Question of Power, by Bessie Head.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2018 02:21
|
|
|
Ben Nevis posted:This is literally the next book in my queue, so I'm a little less excited now. Ehh don't let me dissuade you entirely, it was mostly very different from what I was expecting based on all the (kind of bad-faith) marketing that made it out to be a sequel to Black Helicopters. I think the kind of loose, stream-of-consciousness sort of existential conspiracy horror she does in this book may work for some, it just didn't do it for me at all. Some chapters were great, some I had significantly less patience for. Ironically the ones I had the least patience for were (I believe) the ones she added after she wrote Agents of Dreamland. Also there's an entire chapter where the characters only speak in French, for... reasons? I was never very clear, and I didn't have a great deal of patience at that point so I ended up skimming it and sort of getting the gist of the chapter with my college-freshman level French comprehension. It's weird, in a way Agents (and a lot of her other stuff) isn't, and I think that turned me off more than anything. I'd be very interested to hear what another goon and avid reader thinks of it, most of the reactions I've seen have been in half-baked Goodreads reviews which are their own brand of incomprehensible weirdness, generally speaking.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2018 06:31
|
|
|
July: 48. Persepolis Rising (Expanse #7) - James S.A. Corey 49. Americanized - Sara Saedi 50. Ahabs Wife - Sena Jeter Naslund 51. Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks 52. Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck - Adam Cohen 53. Suburra - Carlo Bonini & Giancarlo de Cataldo This was a good month for books, I thought. I'm reading a lot less these days, but I'm reading some good stuff. I finished the Expanse series with Persepolis Rising (at least, until book 8 shows up in December - man, those guys are prolific). I read some nonfiction with Americanized (a memoir about being an illegal Iranian immigrant) and Imbeciles (a retelling of one of the Supreme Court's least stellar cases). Finally, I read Ahab's Wife, which was a gloriously good (and dense, rich) book. I really loved that drat book, though little Moby-Dick knowledge is necessary to appreciate it. Really the best one I read this month, by far. Suburra was translated-from-Italian, mafioso-vs-Italian cop trash, but kind of fun despite it. For August I've already got some good stuff lined up (and finished~), including my wild card. Still need to get a play and a poetry collection, though... 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (53/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Saedi, Naslund, Brooks 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - Saedi 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 5. 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. 7. 8. 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - Americanized 10. Read something translated from another language. - Suburra 11. Read something political. - Imbeciles 12. Read a poetry collection. 13. 14. Read a play. 15. Read something involving history. - Imbeciles 16. Read something biographical. - Americanized (autobiographical) 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Chamberk fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Aug 3, 2018 |
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2018 21:14
|
|
|
July! 38. Red Mars. Kim Stanley Robinson. A pretty good narration of the colonization of Mars, but a little frustrating because the characters are very unlikeable. 39. Uglies. Scott Westerfeld. This dystopian story is interesting and quick, the main characters not so much and it suffers from many YA tropes, but it's good enough, I guess. 40. Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West. Cormac McCarthy. Completely awesome and brutal. Since my father is from Chihuahua, it was amazing to read about places I have been to. Better every time I read it. 41. DMZ, Vol. 1: On the Ground. Brian Wood. Not really my thing, it seems interesting and it has some pretty nice art, but the story is lacking. 42. Gifts. Ursula K. Le Guin. Even if this is clearly a YA fantasy short book, it was very enjoyable. Not big, not epic, focused in characters with a great worldbuilding. Pretty good. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge: (42/60) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. (10/12) bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. (11/12) bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors (5/6) 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in 12. Read a poetry collection. bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets bonus: Read short stories by at least 10 different authors 14. Read a play. bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person bonus: Read a major religious text bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. bonus: Read something about hunger bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2018 17:12
|
|
|
Omne posted:Man, I hosed up March and April and May by selecting a book that was a) kind of long and b) awfully boring. Took me from 3/8 to 5/20 to finish! The Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne. I selected it because my wife and I were going to Paris for a trip and I wanted to learn some more about the history of the city. Instead, this book was very boring, used a lot of inside jokes in French, and assumed you had a deep understanding of French history (and European history as well) before reading. It was a friggin' chore to get through. Since this....I've marginally improved. Still WAY behind my goal and failing at all challenges... Unbelievable by Katy Tur. Her account of the 2016 presidential election. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Takes place in Shaker Heights, OH, near where I grew up. My good friend taught Celeste's sister. I hear Netflix is making it into a series? The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane. Recommended to me by a coworker. I thought it would be more science-based, but it's really more a book about improving executive presence. 1984 by George Orwell. Classic, and horrifying. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. Super interesting account of the murders of a Native American tribe in the U.S. in the early part of the 20th century, and the rise of the FBI.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2018 01:36
|
|
|
2018 Reading Challenge Theme Week #11 - Challenge no. 22: Read something about the future. This is probably a challenge you can have some more fun with. Obviously lots of sci-fi and speculative fiction as well as non-fiction about how we're all doomed due to global warming, there's definitely some flexibility in what you choose. I am planning to read Michio Kaku's The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth released earlier this year. I am a fan of Kaku's mostly because of how optimistic he is in comparison to a lot of the other science non-fic essays/books I've read over the past few years which tend to focus on the massive damage we've done to the planet and how we're very likely past the point of no return. Kaku tends to treat that as "well that sucks but we'll probably solve it somehow but anyway how cool will it be when we can control computers with our minds!" It comes off a tad naive at times but it's cool to read someone who is more focused on all the cool possibilities than the crushing threats to humanity. Read something about a future that takes place before the current year This is another challenge I'm pretty proud of. There's obvious stuff like 1984 and 2001: A Space Odyssey and you can probably find a ton of stuff that specifically calls out a specific year relative to the book's future but before our current time. I've had this book on my "to read" shelf forever called Golf in the Year 2000 written by a guy named J. McCullough in 1892. It apparently gets a bunch of stuff impressively right like televised golf matches while presumably getting a bunch of stuff bonkers wrong, which I am looking forward to reading.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2018 16:51
|
|
|
2018 Reading Challenge Theme Week #12 - Challenge no. 15: Read something involving history. Last challenge was about the future so this one is about history. I personally just started reading India: A History by John Keay after some recommendations in the History Book Thread which is probably a good place to check out for non-fic recommendations. Of course, you don't necessarily have to go non-fic, you can read a historical novel like Wolf Hall. Or uhhhh something else "involving" history. That is left kind of vague to give you some flexibility. Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. Would love any recs on something like this, otherwise I will continue digging through the History Thread for something. Happy reading everyone!
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2018 16:25
|
|
|
I just finished The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy, which could probably count for the latter because it strongly features the numerous conflicts in Kashmir. Also, I added my own personal challenge to read more books by Native American authors this year, and The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King is a good historical and political read. Edit: I should also ask for a wildcard, since I haven't done that yet. Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Aug 26, 2018 |
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2018 17:03
|
|
|
Guy A. Person posted:Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. For this one I read The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams, and the Making of Modern China by Julia Lovell. I don't normally read much of this sort of thing, so it's hard for me to judge against others of the type. It's about 1/3 buildup to the Opium War, 1/3 the first Opium War, 15% the second, and the rest views of the Opium War over time, how it was used rhetorically by different parties vying to rule China. Lovell gives a good overview, and makes the case that at the time, the Opium War wasn't viewed as that big of a deal in comparison to domestic conflicts, but was reinterpreted later as a foundational moment of Modern China. It goes to some effort of dispelling the notion that China was, at the time, a closed off xenophobic society that was "opened" by British traders. From looking around, it was generally pretty well received, though it's occasionally noted that it could have used more historical Chinese sources. It was an interesting read, and I feel like I left knowing more about the time period generally, as well as the war itself.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2018 16:19
|
|
|
Guy A. Person posted:Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. I'm going to read either Xenophon's Anabasis or The Kite Runner for this. I started Anabasis but it's pretty dry (though no more so than anything of its age). The Afghan-Soviet war technically "involved" the US in peripheral ways, I guess, but it's hard to find a war post 1950 that didn't involve at least some American schmo in some way or another. Also For Whom the Bell Tolls is set in the Spanish Civil War, so it probably counts as well, though it's an American author.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2018 17:21
|
|
|
Stuporstar posted:Edit: I should also ask for a wildcard, since I haven't done that yet. This has sat for a few days, so I'll issue one. Umami by Laia Jufresa. It was one of my favorites of last year and judging by your posts in the genre thread it seems like something you might enjoy. If not, well, at least it helps with a few of the challenges.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2018 18:07
|
|
|
Thanks for the foreign war suggestions guys. I actually looked through my backlogged list and put a hold on Soldiers and Ghosts, but the rest of these are going on my list.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2018 19:52
|
|
|
Ben Nevis posted:This has sat for a few days, so I'll issue one. Umami by Laia Jufresa. It was one of my favorites of last year and judging by your posts in the genre thread it seems like something you might enjoy. If not, well, at least it helps with a few of the challenges. Thanks, Ben! It looks interesting.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2018 22:41
|
|
|
August 54. The Year of the French - Thomas Flanagan 55. Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel 56. Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers #3) - Becky Chambers 57. Bluebeard - Kurt Vonnegut 58. The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaValle 59. Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson 60. The Word for World is Forest - Ursula K. LeGuin 61. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie 62. The Talisman - Stephen King & Peter Straub 63. Our Town - Thornton Wilder A pretty hefty amount read this month - probably the last heavy-reading month in a while (going back to school next month) but it was full of goodies. The Year of the French was a great historical fiction about an Irish rebellion in 1798, aided by a small contingent of French troops fresh from the Revolution. Probably my favorite of the month. Station Eleven was a reread and a real good one. Record of a Spaceborn Few was cute (like the other Wayfarers books) and so earnest that sometimes I get embarassed for the book but it's a fun time nonetheless. The Ballad of Black Tom was a solid novella of Lovecraftian mythos, but from an African-American perspective (reminds me of Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country, which was also excellent) The Talisman was one of King's old ones I'd never read, but I could see him fleshing out some ideas for the Dark Tower in this particular book. Our Town - my entry for #14 - was a surprisingly deep and heartfelt drama; I wasn't expecting it to get so serious and heartbreaking. (Then again, I read his Bridge of San Luis Rey a few years back and was also impressed by that book's depth, as well) 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (63/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Mandel, Chambers, Leguin 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - LaValle, Alexie 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. - Record of a Spaceborn Few 5. 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. 7. 8. 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - Record of a Spaceborn Few 10. 11. 12. Read a poetry collection. 13. 14. Read a play. - Our Town 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Coming up - I'm working on my wildcard and have my eye on a collection of poems, so hopefully I'll have the booklord challenge in hand once classes start taking over all my time.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2018 17:13
|
|
|
August! Got a few read that I've been meaning to get to for a while now. Overall mostly good ones with a couple of duds. 58. The Immaculate Void - Brian Hodge - An excellent (quick) cosmic horror novel that really gets the cosmic part of the subgenre right. Most cosmic horror only gives a passing nod to how maybe something came from space or how the infinite dark is kind of spooky, but this one digs in deep and commits to a very interesting idea. 59. The Alienist - Caleb Carr - I was gonna barf up a bunch of words about this, but Ill shorten it to say: flat, unbelievable characters, sort of boring mystery, historically rigorous but tedious. Overall one of my least favorite books this year. 60. Human Acts - Han Kang: Fascinating and wrenching book surrounding a historical event I somehow never heard of. This was a very good read, though I think I didnt find it quite as emotional and impactful as the person who recommended it to me. Still excellent. 61. Rosemarys Baby - Ira Levin: I can see why its a classic, and how it makes for a good movie, but this book is a bit of a dud if you already know the twist, though its alright once you catch up with the point where the book starts heavily implying the ending. It does have some cringeworthy elements that can only kind of be brushed off as issues of the time (calling all black people Negroes, one very minor Japanese character whose dialogue is written with rs instead of ls, the fact that Rosemary is effectively raped, but it was by her husband so maybe shes just overreacting and clearly shes the one at fault ) 62. Howls Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones: This is the most charming, heartwarming, fun fantasy I've read in a long time, without feeling sappy or (too) twee. I enjoyed it a great deal. Can't remember the movie that well but very little felt familiar so I'm guessing the movie took some creative liberties. 63. A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James: An excellent book and some loving fantastic prose. I'm not sure I was quite as blown away by it as much as a lot of people I talked to--I felt like the late-middle part of the book spent a lot of time rehashing some of the same ideas and themes as a lot of what came before it, and overall the book felt a little longer than I wanted it to be--but this is still one of the best books I've read this year, hands-down. 64. The Hound of the Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle: I can't recall for certain, but I think this may be the first Sherlock Holmes I've ever actually read. It was about what I expected. I'm a big mystery fan, when it's done well, and most of what I really enjoy in the genre owes a lot to Doyle, so this felt very homey, though if you know the story there's not really anything here that's going to surprise or impress. 65. The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion - Margaret Killjoy: This is a quick novella about a spirit-deer-god-thing that's killing people in a punk anarchist commune. The concept is cool and original, and the prose and story is just fine. Killjoy's political views are very transparently on display, which sometimes feels a little too ~*woke*~ and preachy, even if I agree with most of what she has to say. To be fair the book kind of makes it clear that's how things are going to be from the start, so if that doesn't put you off right away, there's only one or two moments where it really starts to feel more like a PSA than a book. Challenges remaining 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge: 65/70 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. 17. Read something about religion. bonus: Read a major religious text
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2018 06:22
|
|
|
Been a while since I've updated. I've been trying to get back into reading though. The summer is over and it's back to work for the fall semester, so I will have less time to just be lazy and watch TV. I hope to read more books again instead! I averaged about one book a month since May. Oops. 16. Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders 17. A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson 18. King Leopold's Ghost - Adam Hochschild 19. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. 19/40, 47.5% 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 6/19, 32% bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you. 4/6, 66% 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 5/19, 26% bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you 4/5, 100% bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 1/19, 5% bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it.The Marquise of O- and Other Stories by Heinrich von Kleist bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in 12. Read a poetry collection. bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets 13. Read a collection of short stories. bonus: Read short stories by at least 10 different authors 14. Read a play. bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. 16. Read something biographical. bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person 17. Read something about religion. bonus: Read a major religious text bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. bonus: Read something about hunger 22. Read something about the future. bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2018 14:56
|
|
|
July and August UpdateMilt Thompson posted:26 Books as a minimum, under 20% rereads (currently 23 books with 2 rereads) July is always very busy for me - EFL summer school - so I wasn't able to read much. August was better. The Mixer isn't a book I'd recommend unless you are a fan of England's Premier League. It is a tactical history of the Premier League, starting with how goalkeepers reacted to a change in the back-pass law, and goes on from there to look at how tactis evolved over the last twenty or so years in response to rule changes, labour law changes and the influence of foreign managers on football in England. If you're a football fan, I'd rank it just below the essential Inverting the Pyramid in terms of quality and readability. The Trees was simultaneously an annoying and enjoyable read. Although it is presented as a British ecological answer to The Road, it is more properly a kind of fantasy novel, featuring strong magical elements. What made it enjoyable was partly its premise - society is destroyed by a global eruption of mature trees, wrecking cities and obsoleting technology - combined with a protagonist who is one of the weakest to head a story that I've read. What made it annoying was the author's ham-fisted dialogue and tendency to overwrite descriptions. Shaw also saw fit to include a major character who is (somehow simultaneously) a teenage Japanese girl, raised by a Californian survivalist, who just happened to be in Britain during the tree apocalypse. Her appearance in the novel was quite jarring and weakened every part of the story she featured in. I wish I had chosen a different book for the music challenge. This Is Your Brain On Music is much less about music and much more about cognitive psychology, which is fair enough, but I was looking for something which combined more music theory alongside the science. Often I felt that Levitin went too in depth into the minutiae of cognitive psychology and not enough into keeping the strands between science and music connected, making the book a battle to get through. Nonetheless, there were many interesting revelations, but I'd hesitate to recommend it. Slouching Towards Babylon, on the other hand, I devoured over the space of three or four days. It's a collection of Didion's essays from the mid 1960s, looking at the counter-culture movement, along with reflections from Didion's own life. It's at its best when Didion isn't writing about herself, as she wears her neuroses very openly. For example, there is a real sense that she never felt like she fitted in anywhere, and this feeling of isolation is pervasive. But overall, the quality in her writing shines through.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2018 14:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 14:00 |
|
|
August books that I read: 59. Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov 60. The Vorrh by Brian Catling 61. The Future of Humanity by Michio Kaku 62. Golf in the Year 2000 by J. McCullough 63. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote 64. John Crow's Devil by Marlon James 65. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones 66. Satantango by Lαszlσ Krasznahorkai 67. India: A History by John Keay 68. No Knives in the Kitchens of This City by Khaled Khalifa This was a very good month. I read a lot and even some longer stuff although I did sneak in some novellas for variety and that seemed to help grease the wheels so to speak. Think I will continue doing that to keep getting a good variety of perspectives and genres while I try some longer books later in the year. Heart of a Dog was great if anyone is looking for more Bulgakov outside of the Master and Margarita. The Vorrh was recommended somewhere around here and it was really excellent; shifting narrative styles and techniques not typically seen in fantasy, and used really well. Similarly Howl's Moving Castle was more just traditional fantasy but was very self aware and smart; it was even better having read Italian Folktales a few years back so being fully versed in all the cliches she was playing with made it even more delightful. Golf in the Year 2000 was goofy and kind of dumb but still cool to see someone's predictions from 1890-ish about what the year 2000 would be like (especially liked the "women now pretty much run things but that's kind of unnatural and weird" subplot). The Future of Humanity was not quite as good as Kaku's other books on similar subjects (Physics of the Impossible is still the best IMO) but it was more up-to-date and still super intriguing. Satantango was my "wildcard from another thread" and it was super good, bleak and cynical but still very compelling. No Knives in the Kitchens of this City I had heard was good then I had heard was not good but then it turned out to be much better than I expected. I liked the way details about characters and events were spread out and sprinkled throughout the narrative, causing your assumptions and understanding of things to constantly evolve. And sometimes something very important about a character was just casually dropped into the middle of a paragraph that seemed to be about something else, which caused me to pay more attention and enjoy the flow of the story a good deal more. India and John Crow's Devil were also good but I don't have a ton to say about them at the moment.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2018 16:49
|
|