|
I'm trying for 70 books this year. At least 10 of them will be classics. I'm taking a crack at Ulysses this year. I'll also attempt your list. I'm currently reading a book by a black woman, so that will take care of two of them!
|
#
¿
Jan 1, 2015 22:40
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 21, 2024 06:48 |
|
|
I am really struggling reading Ulysses. I really enjoy the language, but I honestly can't tell what, if anything, is going on. Is that a problem? Should I resort to reading Sparknotes after I finish a section?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 21, 2015 23:00
|
|
|
PatMarshall posted:
I'm glad to hear that, because that is where I am. I'll just stick it out. Thanks for the advice, everyone.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2015 21:53
|
|
|
Here's my January update. 1. Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay- I loved this. I appreciate her perspective on things even if I don't agree with everything and found most of this pretty funny. This counts as my collection of essays for the booklord challenge. 2. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson- I usually don't like poems, but I found these quite charming. This takes care of the poetry part of my challenge. 3. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky- Classic #1/10 4. Memories of the Future by Wil Wheaton- I love hearing insider stuff about the Next Generation, but I honestly find his writing style really annoying. It's like a meme fest. 5. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates 6. The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths- run of the mill mystery thriller. This is a book by a woman for the challenge.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 31, 2015 22:41
|
|
|
February update: 13/70 done 7. Dragon Age: Asunder by David Gaider: Honestly, this is a pretty good book, despite being a video game novel. The plot is interesting and the characters are really believable. 8. Ulysses by James Joyce (banned book) (classic #2/10): Most of the language is extremely beautiful. 9. Bring up the Bodies by Hillary Mantel- I will read anything having to do with the Tudors and honestly this book is one of the best. Dark, depressing, full of intrigue. I can't wait for her next book. 10. I Hated, Hated, Hated this Movie by Roger Ebert: This book is hilarious and I love his writing. My favorite thing about his reviews is that if the movie was completely unbelievable he'd start asking questions about the premise that apparently the filmmakers had never thought of. I miss Ebert a lot.  11. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (classic 3/10)- This is the first Jane Austen that I have read that I haven't absolutely hated. I still didn't like it much. I don't know what it is, I just find her style very dry and boring. I love a good period piece, but can never get into these. 12. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein- Manipulative (I hate tearjerkers) and drivel. It reads like an MRA wrote it. 13. 1776 by David McCullough (history for the Book Lord Challenge)- Ordinarily I couldn't care less about the revolutionary war, but this book made it very interesting. I'll have to read more of his stuff.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 28, 2015 16:10
|
|
|
I slacked a bit this month. Didn't make any progress on the Book Lord challenge. 14. The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman- 15. More Information Than You Require by John Hodgman- I love his humor, so these books are great for me. Nothing I have read recently has made me laugh out loud as often as these have. The first was harder to read, but they get progressively funnier. 16. I Wear the Black Hat by Chuck Klosterman- Love Klosterman, but this one wasn't as good as some of his other essays.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 1, 2015 18:02
|
|
|
April update: 22/70 books finished. 3/10 Classics read. 17. That is All by John Hodgman- Love this man and everything he does. This is the best of his books. It's hilarious. 18. Traffic: Why we Drive the Way that We Do (and what it says about us) by Tom Vanderbilt- About the psychology of driving, this one started out really interesting, but I feel like it never really delivered. 19. So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson- (book that came out in the last 3 months for booklord challenge) This book has been kind of controversial, but I loved it. I thought it was very insightful. I've seen criticism that argues that he is only writing because he's worried that white men are somehow less powerful and disenfranchised groups now have more power through social media shaming. It seems like people who say that have not read it, since he spends a lot of time focusing on a woman (Justine Sacco, the author of the infamous “AIDS tweet”). None of this book seemed to be personally about Jon Ronson except where he talks about how he has participated in shaming himself. The only argument he seems to be making is that no one deserves to have their life ruined for months because of a dumb thing that they said. Overall, I found this a fascinating read. 20. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel- This was very different than what I expected. I saw this listed as sci-fi, but it's dystopian and one of the more emotional stories that I've read in a while. Very cool and definitely well-written. 21. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline- Loved the premise and the plot of this one, but it's really bogged down by extensive descriptions and explanations both of how the game in the book work and of vintage video games and movies. There's a lot of nerd masturbation in this book. I'm pretty nerdy myself, but even I was getting sick of all the Star Trek and other nerdbait references. It's interesting that both this and the last book that I read are dystopian, but this book spends very little time on the world and circumstances outside of the game and the last one was really only about the people inhabiting the world. As for the Book Lord Challenge so far: 2. 3. The non-white author 4. Philosophy 5. 6. 7. 8. Something post-modern 9. Something absurdist 10. The Blind Owl (Free translation if your ok with reading on a screen or cant find a copy!) 11. Something on either hate or love 12. Something dealing with space 13. Something dealing with the unreal 14. Wildcard (Some one else taking the challenge will tell you what to read) 15. 16. That one book that has been sitting on your desk waiting for a long time 17. A play 18. Biography 19. The color red 20. 21. Short story(s) 22. A mystery Namirsolo fucked around with this message at 18:11 on May 2, 2015 |
|
#
¿
May 2, 2015 18:06
|
|
|
I set my goal very high this year and I'm currently 3 behind. I think I can make it up, but we'll see. Also, someone give me a wildcard.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 19, 2015 00:15
|
|
|
Here's my update for May through August since I haven't updated in forever. 22. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (classic #4) 23. The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis 24. Joe Dimaggio: The Hero's Life by Richard Ben Cramer (a biography)- Interesting, although I think the author is much too sympathetic to Dimaggio and his wife-beating. 25. A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths (a mystery)- Easy read, enjoyable. 26. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman 27. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston- (non-white) (classic #5)- The language in this is simply beautiful. 28. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (space)- Got this from the library because I didn't want to give Card any money. This was a fun book. 29. Invisible Ma by Ralph Ellison (classic #6) 30. Daughter of the Saints Growing Up in Polygamy by Dorothy Allred Solomon- Fascinating look into polygamy. 31. Leave of Grass by Walt Whitman (classic #7) 32. Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey- Honestly had no idea gorilla behavior was this interesting. 33. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Arebe 34. The Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Sojourner Truth (classic #8) 35. The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin - Loved this and found it very interesting the whole way through. (This is my book that has been sitting on my shelf) 36. The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory 37. Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever by Walter Kirn 38. The Color Purple by Alice Walker The vanilla read a set number of books in a year. 38/70
|
|
#
¿
Aug 5, 2015 02:03
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 21, 2024 06:48 |
|
|
I set my number of books this year way too high (70) and I'm struggling to hit it, so I am going to fail the booklord challenge since I started reading books that I knew would be easier for me to hit my number. I have 6 books to read in the next month and I probably won't hit it, but at least I'll have read more books this year than I have before.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 28, 2015 17:26
|
|