Challenged Reading 2015 Editon

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Talas: Aug 27, 2005

I did 86 last year, but since I'm starting a master's degree I am going to aim for 60 books and see how that goes.

As an addendum, I'm going to finish the Discworld novels this year. Only 20 to go...

# ¿ Jan 2, 2015 18:12

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 04:10

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

Blind Sally posted:

Actually, while I'm at it, could someone wildcard me, please?

"Pedro P�ramo" by Juan Rulfo. Bonus points if you can read in Spanish.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2015 06:09

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

January.

1. Transition. Iain M. Banks. Great book, a little confusing but awesome once you get it.
2. The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini. At times it seemed like I was reading two different books. The first part was good, the second was ok. (3. The non-white author)
3. Where Good Ideas Come From. Steve Johnson. Pretty good, but it kind of feels disjointed at times. (5. History)
4. The Great Hunt. Robert Jordan. It was good, quite different from the first book, for the better.
5. I Am Number Four. Pittacus Lore. It was pretty mediocre. It starts really slow and it pick ups almost at the end but by then, it's too late.
6. Burmese Days. George Orwell. Really good and depressing. Kind of hard to read.

6/60

# ¿ Jan 31, 2015 21:42

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

February.

07. Carpe Jugulum. Terry Pratchett. Pretty funny, even if kind of dark.
08. Los mentales. Pgarc�a. Pretencious, it was hard to find a story.
09. Fool Moon. Jim Butcher. Better than the first one. Fun read too.
10. Surface Detail. Iain M. Banks. Awesome. The end was great and satisfying.
11. Unless It Moves the Human Heart: The Craft and Art of Writing. Roger Rosenblatt. Not bad, but a little boring at times.
12. The Fifth Elephant. Terry Pratchett. Funny as hell, the story was really good too.
13. Me Before You. Jojo Moyes. Completely predictable. Some characters were terrible too.

13/60

# ¿ Mar 5, 2015 04:53

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

March.

14. Spook Country. William Gibson. This was just an interesting book until the last few chapters, then it became amazing
15. Harry Potter and the Magician's Stone. J.K. Rowling. A fun short read.
16. A Study in Emerald. Neil Gaiman. A great interpretation of a classic Holmes story.
17. Shards of Honor. Louis McMaster Bujold. Not bad, but a little on the bland side... all the plotting behind the scenes is pretty good but we get lost sometimes, just like the characters.
18. The Truth. Terry Pratchett. Completely awesome and that's the truth.
19. El Hombre Duplicado. Jos� Saramago. This author is always kind of hard to read. But the story is good enough to keep going to the end.

19/60

# ¿ Apr 1, 2015 21:20

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

April.

20. Absolution Gap. Alastair Reynolds. Pretty slow but it picks up fast by the end.
21. Thief of Time. Terry Pratchett. Another amazing book. Even if some of the jokes got tiring fast, the characters and the story makes up for it.
22. Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking. Christopher Hadnagy. Not bad. It was not a academical as I was thinking at first, it was more on the entertaining side.
23. Pebble in the Sky. Isaac Asimov. It was interesting but something was off. The characters just didn't click for me, but I can understand them in the context of the time of writing.

23/60

# ¿ May 2, 2015 19:20

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

May.

24. We Need to Talk About Kevin. Lionel Shriver. This was and interesting book, it was kind of hard to read and frankly, the epistolary form didn't help that much. The story is pretty good but the characters exude antipathy.
25. The Last Hero. Terry Pratchett. Good quick story. At times it felt disjointed but it was entertaining
26. Grave Peril. Jim Butcher. Better than the others in the series. The story has some big holes but it's entertaining enough.
27. Barrayar. Louis McMaster Bujold. Pretty good. Something was off with the characters, but it works within the story.
28. The Art of Deception. Kevin Mitnick. The examples of social engineering are pretty good, Mitnick doesn't have enough material by himself but he still knows are lot about it. A good read.
29. The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. Terry Pratchett. You can notice the audience this book was written for. It was still good.

29/60

# ¿ Jun 4, 2015 04:51

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

June.

30. Fight Club. Chuck Palahniuk. It was pretty good, even if I already saw the movie.
31. The Weird of the White Wolf. Michael Moorcock. Some short stories. From good to mediocre.
32. The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Neil Gaiman. It felt a lot like a personal story, but in the end, more fantasy should be like this.
33. Fantastic Voyage. Isaac Asimov. Just ok, the movie was better
34. Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians. Brandon Sanderson. Fun but kind of mediocre. Sanderson was just finding his "thing".
35. Night Watch. Terry Pratchett. A great read that mix the best of what Discworld has to offer.

35/60

# ¿ Jul 2, 2015 03:33

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

July.

36. Crime and Punishment. Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I didn't know why I couldn't finish it before, I should've done that a while ago. Now I can easily say it's one of my favorites. Yes, Dostoyevsky likes to ramble, but it's still good.
37. Monsters and Demons. Charlotte Montague. Only an easy intro to the themes.
38. Red 1-2-3. John Katzenbach. It was very meh, I was promised a psychological thriller and got some kind of weird Red Riding Hood fan-fiction with plain characters and a somewhat interesting story that never goes beyond the mediocre.
39. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. J.K. Rowling. I feel like I already read this in the first book. Regular.
40. The Martian. Andy Weir. The story is interesting but all the train of facts got boring. Very predictable too, but still enjoyable for some reason.
41. The Wee Free Men. Terry Pratchett. Pretty good, even if you can tell the target audience, that works great with the story and the characters.
42. The Wendigo. Algernon Blackwood . Good story, but kind of hard to read. The descriptions are amazing.
43. Xenocide. Orson Scott Card. Good book, but kind of plain. It felt like every single character was trying to make think like them by telling me exactly what they were thinking at all points with their weird philosophies.
44. The Fortress of the Pearl. Michael Moorcock. Regular, the story is pretty good but the book turn kind of tedious at some points.

1. The vanilla read a set number of books in a year: 44/60
2. Read a female author: Jojo Moyes and others.
3. The non-white author: Khaled Hosseini and others.
4. Philosophy
5. History: Monsters and Demons, Charlotte Montague.
6. An essay: Unless It Moves the Human Heart: The Craft and Art of Writing, Roger Rosenblatt.
7. A collection of poetry
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: Transition, Iain M. Banks.
13. Something dealing with the unreal: Los mentales, Pgarc�a.
14. Wildcard (Some one else taking the challenge will tell you what to read)
15. Something published this year or the past three months
16. That one book that has been sitting on your desk waiting for a long time: Harry Potter and the Magician's Stone,J.K. Rowling.
17. A play
18. Biography
19. The color red: Red 1-2-3, John Katzenbach.
20. Something banned or censored
21. Short story(s)
22. A mystery

Discworld challenge 30/41

# ¿ Aug 2, 2015 18:15

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

August.

45. Endymion. Dan Simmons. At the end I felt like I read the first chapter of a way longer book. Still good.
46. Monstrous Regiment. Terry Pratchett. This one was a weird book, it started slow and got boring at the middle and then it started to pick up fast by the end to get pretty awesome. Characters were awesome too.
47. Glasshouse. Charles Stross. Started confusing but got better by the middle, then confusing again and awesome by the end.
48. A Hat Full of Sky. Terry Pratchett. The story was quite simple but the characters make the book amazing.
49. The Warrior's Apprentice. Louis McMaster Bujold. Fun story, but some characters were too one-dimensional for my tastes.
50. Going Postal. Terry Pratchett. Awesome book, the protagonist is one of the best in the series.

1. The vanilla read a set number of books in a year: 50/60
2. Read a female author: Jojo Moyes and others.
3. The non-white author: Khaled Hosseini and others.
4. Philosophy
5. History: Monsters and Demons, Charlotte Montague.
6. An essay: Unless It Moves the Human Heart: The Craft and Art of Writing, Roger Rosenblatt.
7. A collection of poetry
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: We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver.
12. Something dealing with space: Transition, Iain M. Banks.
13. Something dealing with the unreal: Los mentales, Pgarc�a.
14. Wildcard (Some one else taking the challenge will tell you what to read)
15. Something published this year or the past three months
16. That one book that has been sitting on your desk waiting for a long time: Harry Potter and the Magician's Stone,J.K. Rowling.
17. A play
18. Biography
19. The color red: Red 1-2-3, John Katzenbach.
20. Something banned or censored: Burmese Days, George Orwell.
21. Short story(s)
22. A mystery

Discworld challenge 33/41

I need a wildcard, please!

# ¿ Sep 2, 2015 03:08

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

September.

51. The Prefect. Alastair Reynolds. The story was great and even if some mysteries were obvious, they work fine.
52. Thud!. Terry Pratchett. The Watch is the best and this confirms it.
53. Burning Chrome. William Gibson. A good collection of short stories, some good, some great.
54. Thus Spake Zarathustra. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. Weirdly philosophical. I think I need a guide to understand some of the images, but everything was very interesting.
55. Timeline. Michael Crichton. Regular, I actually think the movie was a little bit better. The story has more hard science in the book, but some of the plot holes were pretty ridiculous.
56. Wintersmith. Terry Pratchett. Good, but kind of slow. The antagonist wasn't that good.
57. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. Karen Armstrong. An excellent biography full of facts and opposing views of one of history's most famous prophets.

1. The vanilla read a set number of books in a year: 57/60
2. Read a female author: Jojo Moyes and others.
3. The non-white author: Khaled Hosseini and others.
4. Philosophy: Thus Spake Zarathustra, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
5. History: Monsters and Demons, Charlotte Montague.
6. An essay: Unless It Moves the Human Heart: The Craft and Art of Writing, Roger Rosenblatt.
7. A collection of poetry
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: We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver.
12. Something dealing with space: Transition, Iain M. Banks.
13. Something dealing with the unreal: Los mentales, Pgarc�a.
14. Wildcard (Some one else taking the challenge will tell you what to read) (Amberville by Tim Davys)
15. Something published this year or the past three months
16. That one book that has been sitting on your desk waiting for a long time: Harry Potter and the Magician's Stone,J.K. Rowling.
17. A play
18. Biography: Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet
19. The color red: Red 1-2-3, John Katzenbach.
20. Something banned or censored: Burmese Days, George Orwell.
21. Short story(s): Burning Chrome, William Gibson.
22. A mystery: The Prefect. Alastair Reynolds.

Discworld challenge 35/41

# ¿ Oct 1, 2015 00:46

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

October.

58. Making Money. Terry Pratchett. A great book, even if the antagonists were in the lackluster side.
59. Zero History. William Gibson. I'm almost convinced that Gibson gives us a dull start just to finish in an awesome way in all his Blue Ant books.
60. Mitos y Leyendas. Muy Interesante. A brief compilation of myths and legends.
61. Tales from Earthsea. Ursula K. Le Guin. A nice collection of Earthsea stories, some good, some awesome.
62. The Shining. Stephen King. Regular story, quite different from the movie. I think the book is more standard King and predictable.
63. Unseen Academicals. Terry Pratchett. Good book but a minor one in the Discworld series.
64. Managing Risk and Information Security: Protect to Enable. Malcolm Harkins. Good security reference, but too much Intel for my taste.
65. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Seth Grahame-Smith. Mediocre but mercifully quick.

1. The vanilla read a set number of books in a year: 65/60
2. Read a female author: Jojo Moyes and others.
3. The non-white author: Khaled Hosseini and others.
4. Philosophy: Thus Spake Zarathustra, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
5. History: Monsters and Demons, Charlotte Montague.
6. An essay: Unless It Moves the Human Heart: The Craft and Art of Writing, Roger Rosenblatt.
7. A collection of poetry
8. Something post-modern: Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk.
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: We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver.
12. Something dealing with space: Transition, Iain M. Banks.
13. Something dealing with the unreal: Los mentales, Pgarc�a.
14. Wildcard (Some one else taking the challenge will tell you what to read) (Amberville by Tim Davys)
15. Something published this year or the past three months: Mitos y Leyendas. Muy Interesante.
16. That one book that has been sitting on your desk waiting for a long time: Harry Potter and the Magician's Stone,J.K. Rowling.
17. A play
18. Biography: Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet
19. The color red: Red 1-2-3, John Katzenbach.
20. Something banned or censored: Burmese Days, George Orwell.
21. Short story(s): Burning Chrome, William Gibson.
22. A mystery: The Prefect. Alastair Reynolds.

Discworld challenge 37/41

Talas fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Nov 28, 2015

# ¿ Nov 1, 2015 20:26

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

November.

66. Cloud Atlas. David Mitchell. Some of the stories were kind of bad, mediocre in general... but I still liked it for some reason.
67. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Benjamin Alire S�enz. This book felt like it was trying too hard. It's short, thankfully.
68. I Shall Wear Midnight. Terry Pratchett. The best Aching story. Great characters too, even the ones we thought one-dimensional for a moment.
69. Amberville. Tim Davys. Noir gone weird. Some twist were kind of unexpected, but it didn't had much to the story.
70. The Gods Themselves. Isaac Asimov. Three connected stories, one bad, one great, one regular. Good in average.
71. Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper. Robert Bloch. Weird short story, I'm not sure if it was predictable or completely bonkers.

1. The vanilla read a set number of books in a year: 71/60
2. Read a female author: Jojo Moyes and others.
3. The non-white author: Khaled Hosseini and others.
4. Philosophy: Thus Spake Zarathustra, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
5. History: Monsters and Demons, Charlotte Montague.
6. An essay: Unless It Moves the Human Heart: The Craft and Art of Writing, Roger Rosenblatt.
7. A collection of poetry
8. Something post-modern: Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk.
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: We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver.
12. Something dealing with space: Transition, Iain M. Banks.
13. Something dealing with the unreal: Los mentales, Pgarc�a.
14. Wildcard (Some one else taking the challenge will tell you what to read): Amberville, by Tim Davys.
15. Something published this year or the past three months: Mitos y Leyendas. Muy Interesante.
16. That one book that has been sitting on your desk waiting for a long time: Harry Potter and the Magician's Stone,J.K. Rowling.
17. A play
18. Biography: Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet
19. The color red: Red 1-2-3, John Katzenbach.
20. Something banned or censored: Burmese Days, George Orwell.
21. Short story(s): Burning Chrome, William Gibson.
22. A mystery: The Prefect. Alastair Reynolds.

Discworld challenge 38/41

# ¿ Dec 2, 2015 05:20

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 04:10

Talas: Aug 27, 2005

December.

72. Cosmos. Carl Sagan. Sagan is amazing as usual, still a great read even if some of the themes are very dated.
73. Snuff. Terry Pratchett. Great book, the social commentary was pretty well handled among the humor and the action. Vimes is the best.
74. Perfume. Patrick S�skind. The story is good, but the characters besides the protagonist are kind of uni-dimensional. The descriptions and all the smell stuff were great, good in average.
75. Poems by Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman. Well, I suddenly feel more american than yesterday. I still have some trouble with poetry, but this book was kind of interesting.
76. Raising Steam. Terry Pratchett . Still good but kind of disjointed and preachy, some jokes fell flat... still not as bad as some of the middle-tier Discworld books.
77. The Blind Owl. Sadegh Hedayat. My brain is full of things, thoughts of destruction and the ravings of a crazy mind. I can't say I liked this book... but. oh boy, it was an experience.
78. As You Like It. William Shakespeare. A reread, still funny.
79. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. J.K. Rowling. Short and interesting, the end feels rushed and it could use better its characters.
80. The Sheperd's Crown. Terry Pratchett. The final Discworld novel is not a finished work but that doesn't mean it's not good. Some characters needed a fleshing out and some parts of the story were very reminiscent of other Discworld books... but somehow, it's still good.

Booklord challenge completed!

1. The vanilla read a set number of books in a year: 80/60
2. Read a female author: Jojo Moyes and others.
3. The non-white author: Khaled Hosseini and others.
4. Philosophy: Thus Spake Zarathustra, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
5. History: Monsters and Demons, Charlotte Montague.
6. An essay: Unless It Moves the Human Heart: The Craft and Art of Writing, Roger Rosenblatt.
7. A collection of poetry: Poems by Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman.
8. Something post-modern: Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk.
9. Something absurdist: Perfume. Patrick S�skind.
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: We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver.
12. Something dealing with space: Transition, Iain M. Banks.
13. Something dealing with the unreal: Los mentales, Pgarc�a.
14. Wildcard (Some one else taking the challenge will tell you what to read): Amberville, by Tim Davys.
15. Something published this year or the past three months: Mitos y Leyendas. Muy Interesante.
16. That one book that has been sitting on your desk waiting for a long time: Harry Potter and the Magician's Stone,J.K. Rowling.
17. A play: As You Like It. William Shakespeare.
18. Biography: Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet
19. The color red: Red 1-2-3, John Katzenbach.
20. Something banned or censored: Burmese Days, George Orwell.
21. Short story(s): Burning Chrome, William Gibson.
22. A mystery: The Prefect. Alastair Reynolds.

Discworld challenge 41/41... RIP Terry :sigh:

# ¿ Dec 31, 2015 19:32

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