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I'm going for 52 books again.
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Jan 2, 2014 10:38
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 22:04 |
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Hocus Pocus posted:First time trying to set a number, so I'll say 26 but if that's too easy I'll probably bump it up. Since you read 6 books already I would really recommend a higher goal rather than one you will easily pass even if your reading rate drops to 1/3 of what it was so far. There's no shame when you don't meet your goal, so take one that challenges yourself and see if you can surprise yourself!
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Jan 17, 2014 11:33
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Qwo posted:Okay, so I think that's it for January. I'm already 35% of the way towards my goal, geez. You should increase your goal! Even if you only read half as much as you did so far you'll end up with more than 100 books. Anyway, my list: 1. De helaasheid der dingen ---- Dimitri Verhulst 2. Worm, Pt 1 ---- J.McCrae 3. Worm, Pt 2 ---- J.McCrae 4. Worm, Pt 3 ---- J.McCrae 5. Promise of Blood ---- Brian McClellan 6. The Red Knight ---- Miles Cameron 7. The Fell Sword ---- Miles Cameron 8. Deathless ---- Catherynne M. Valente De helaasheid der dingen is a Belgian (Flemish) book with an intranslateable title. Seriously, if you translate literally you get something like "the melancholy of stuff everywhere" which kinda loses it's meaning. Good book tough. I decided to split Worm into 4 parts because of its size, but I ended up only reading the first 3 parts, can't get myself to read the rest. The Red Knight is one of the best fantasy novels I've read lately and I can recommend it to every fan of the genre. The Fell Sword is the sequel, it's good as well, but sets up so many storylines that will/may eventually be used in future books that the storyline of the book itself got too little attention. Deathless was extremely good and I've become a big fan of Valente. It is difficult to recommend her though, because I don't know many other writers who have the same writing style and/or genre.
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Jan 31, 2014 11:55
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Catch-22 is pretty much my favourite book ever, but I still find it a difficult book to recommend to friends. I could rave about it all day and write an essay about how brilliant the book is, yet when I recommend it to people I always feel that I have to give some disclaimers "don't worry if the overarching story is confusing", "it's not chronological but it doesn't matter", "there is slapstick, but it's necessary to counteract the otherwise depressing story", etc. I imagine it's one of those books you either fall in love with or don't get at all. However, I do have to admit that it's the only book ever where I had to give up on the English version and switch to a translation. I'm planning to try it again in English soon though.
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Feb 11, 2014 01:51
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Walh Hara posted:
Update for February: 9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ---- J. K. Rowling 10. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ---- J. K. Rowling 11. Dress Your Family in Curduroy and Denim ---- David Sedaris 12. The Way of Kings ---- Brandon Sanderson (reread) 13. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ---- J. K. Rowling 14. Catch-22 ---- Joseph Heller I don't think I have to say anything about Harry Potter. Finally got around to read them, not sure why I waited so long since they read so fast anyway. Dress Your Family in Curduroy and Denim is the weakest of Sedaris' books I read so far, but still decent. For me, Let's Cure Diabetis with Owls > Me Talk Pretty One Day > Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk > Dress Your Family in Curduroy and Denim. The Way of Kings reread is to prepare myself for Words of Radiance. Catch-22 reread was because it was quite some time ago I read it last. Great book, but I had forgotten how extremely bleak and depressing the book becomes at moments.
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Mar 1, 2014 10:26
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Walh Hara posted:9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ---- J. K. Rowling Update for March! 15. Words of Radiance ---- Brandon Sanderson 16. A Short History of Nearly Everything ---- Bill Bryson 17. The Sword-Edged Blonde ---- Alex Bledsoe 18. The Great Cat Massacre ---- Robert Darnton (in Dutch) 19. The Family Fang ---- Kevin Wilson So, Words of Radiance was a fun read. Not very deep or challenging, just a great story about heroes with magic swords. A Short History of Nearly Everything moved it from the pile "books I partially read 5 years ago before having to bring it back to the library" to the pile "read". Good book, great anecdotes and generally very accesible. The Sword-Edged Blonde: the only good things I'll say about this one is that it's short and reads very fast. The Great Cat Massacre is a non-fiction anthrophology book about France. I kinda liked it, but not that much. There are plenty of interesting stories and surprising facts in it, but also quite a bit of useless conjecture I did not care about. The Family Fang was great, although I do have some critism. It started wonderfully, the first half of the book is one mad story after another which are both funny and depressing that all create a great backstory. The author did very well to write that, but then it seemed like he didn't know how to end his book. In the end I quite disliked the ending/the plot of the 2nd half of the book (luckily I didn't read the partial spoiler on the back of the book as that would have made it even worse) since it seemed like the writer didn't know how to resolve anything. Still, overall a very good book I'd recommend to people. Now reading The Name of the Rose.
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Mar 31, 2014 11:33
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Whalley posted:I said I was going to do better for reading non-White Male Genre Authors Those are pretty hard to come by. I'm of course a month too late with these suggestions, but if you ever want to give female or non-white genre authors another try, consider: - Catherynne M Valente with The Orphan's Tales. Fantastic Matryoshka doll-like story that is very well written, funny, endearing and sad. - Connie Willis with The Doomsday Book and/or To Say Nothing of the Dog. The first is a book about the plague that is funny at times despite the very bleak setting, the second is a fun mystery novel. - Ted Chiang with Stories of Your Life and Others. Not really genre fiction and still American, but absolutely brilliant collection of award winning short stories. - Elizabeth Wein with Code Name Verity. It's historical fiction (WW2) that's hard to describe beyond "really good" without spoiling too much. It's technically YA, but great despite it.
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Mar 31, 2014 21:34
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Walh Hara posted:Update for March! Apparantly I forgot to update. So: books read in April: 20. The Name of the Rose ---- Umberto Eco 21. Retribution Falls ---- Chris Wooding 22. The Luminaries ---- Eleanor Catton 23. Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History ---- Ben Mezrich Books read in May so far: 24. Jurassic Park ---- Michael Crichton 25. Siddhartha ---- Herman Hesse 26. The Golem and the Jinni ---- Helene Wecker So, lots of great books. Umberto Eco was excellent, I enjoyed it although I did skim quite a bit of descriptions. Retribution falls is just braindead pulp fiction. The Luminaries was awesome and I loved how the myserty was slowly revealed (gradually instead of the "give a big explanation at the end of the book"). Sex on the moon was enjoyable despite not being very well written. Jurassic Park, I still haven't seen the movie, but I guess I should. Great book, but the mathematician is a narcistic prick. Siddhartha is my first novel by a German author, I'm still thinking about it. The Golem and the Jinni might very well be the best novel I read this year, I love how the 2 protagonists are so vastly different despite being in a similar situation of being in a society they did not know and had trouble to understand.
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May 12, 2014 23:56
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Roydrowsy posted:
That was a pretty good book. Nice story, but in my opinion not very well written (how overly dramatic can you make it?). I did wonder how accurate this book actually is though since the writer really gives the impression that he values sensationalism more than accuracy. Side note, am I the only one that was a bit annoyed/disturbed by how the FBI worked? If they hadn't become involved, the heist would probably never have happened. They pretty much encouraged somebody to commit a crime so they could catch him.
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May 26, 2014 12:20
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Walh Hara posted:Apparantly I forgot to update. Welp, I forgot updating this. Rest of May: 27. Pedro Paramo ---- Juan Rulfo 28. Bloodchild and Other Stories ---- Octavia E. Butler 29. Skin Game ---- Jim Butcher June 30. Stories of Eva Luna ---- Isabel Allende (Dutch translation) 31. Shogun ---- James Clavell July 32. Pact Pt 1 ---- J. McCrae 33. The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare ---- G. K. Chesterton August 34. The King Must Die ---- Mary Renault 35. When You Are Engulfed In Flames ---- David Sedaris September 36. The Habitation of the Blessed ---- Catherynne M. Valente 37. Little Green Men ---- Christopher Buckley 38. The Crying of Lot 49 ---- Thomas Pyncheon 39. The Scar ---- China Miéville 40. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales ---- Oliver Sacks 41. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love ---- Raymond Carver 42. The Old Man and the Sea ---- Ernest Hemingway I'm reading a lot less than the previous two years, but I'm still optimistic I'll hit my target of 52 books. Only 10 more books in 3 months, it should be doable even though I'm no longer a student and instead will spend my time earning money from now on. That said, the best book of this bunch was The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, the various stories were excellent and the analysis useful. You can't really imagine how those people must think (he picked mostly cases where the patient did not and/or could not realize their way of thinking is not normal) yet it's quite a fun excercise to try. None of the books really stood out in very positive or negative sense.
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Sep 28, 2014 15:28
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 22:04 |
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I reached my goal of 52 books somewhere in November  . January 1. De Helaasheid der Dingen Dimitri Verhulst 2. Worm, Pt 1 J. McCrae 3. Worm, Pt 2 J. McCrae 4. Worm, Pt 3 J. McCrae 5. Promise of Blood Brian McClellan 6. The Red Knight Miles Cameron 7. The Fell Sword Miles Cameron 8. Deathless Catherynne M. Valente February 9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling 10. Harry Potter and the HalfBlood Prince J. K. Rowling 11. Dress Your Family in Curduroy and Denim David Sedaris 12. The Way of Kings Brandon Sanderson (reread) 13. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J. K. Rowling 14. Catch-22 Joseph Heller (reread) March 15. Words of Radiance Brandon Sanderson 16. A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson 17. The Sword-Edged Blonde Alex Bledsoe 18. De Grote Kattenslachting & Andere Episoden uit de Culturele Geschiedenis van Frankrijk Robert Darnton (The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History.) 19. The Family Fang Kevin Wilson April 20. De Naam van de Roos Umberto Eco (The Name of the Rose) 21. Retribution Falls Chris Wooding 22. The Luminaries Eleanor Catton 23. Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History Ben Mezrich May 24. Jurassic Park Michael Crichton 25. Siddhartha Herman Hesse 26. The Golem and the Jinni Helene Wecker 27. Pedro Paramo Juan Rulfo 28. Bloodchild and Other Stories Octavia E. Butler 29. Skin Game Jim Butcher June 30. Het goud van Thomas Vargas, verhalen van Eva Luna Isabel Allende (Stories of Eva Luna) 31. Shogun James Clavell July 32. Pact Pt 1 J. McCrae 33. The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare G. K. Chesterton August 34. The King Must Die Mary Renault 35. When You Are Engulfed In Flames David Sedaris September 36. The Habitation of the Blessed Catherynne M. Valente 37. Little Green Men Christopher Buckley 38. The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pyncheon 39. The Scar China Miéville 40. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales Oliver Sacks 41. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver 42. The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway 43. Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel Milorad Pavic October 44. Het verborgen leven van bomen Alejandro Zambra (The Private Lives of Trees) 45. Fantastische verhalen Jorge Luis Borges (Ficciones) 46. De ridder die niet bestond Italo Calvino (The Nonexistent Knight) 47. De Aleph Jorge Luis Borges (The Aleph) 48. Candide Voltaire 49. Moordende Hoeren Roberto Bolano (Putas Asesinas, collection of short stories) 50. The View From Castle Rock Alice Munro November 51. Eva Luna Isabel Allende 52. 6 verhalen Emile Zola (6 stories) 53. De baron in de bomen Italo Calvino (The Baron in the Trees) 54. L’étranger Albert Camus (The Stranger) 55. Stories to Get You Through the Night Vintage Classics, anthology 56. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk Ben Fountain December 57. Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë 58. Onzichtbare Steden Italo Calvino (Invisible Cities) 59. New Selected Stories Alice Munro I bolded my favourite books of the year. The best book was certainly Ficciones which i incredible.
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Dec 24, 2014 19:03
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