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I love the idea of a challenge like this, I really want to expand my uh, reading horizons I guess? I'll go for 35 books in 2016 and the booklord challenge.
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Dec 28, 2015 13:20
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screenwritersblues can you amend my entry please? Should read 35 books rather than 30. I have to say I'm in awe of those of you aiming for ~100 books, I have no idea how you do it. Maybe once I've finished my doctorate in a couple of years I'll aim for one a week...
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Dec 29, 2015 16:22
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January Update Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler- Interesting premise and wanting to find out exactly what was going on kept me reading but oh boy, there is a LOT of graphic torture in this. Not for the fainthearted. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - One I've been meaning to re-read for a while, I think I last read it as a teenager. As enjoyable as I remembered, weirdly longer than I expected, I think I assumed that loads had been added to the films but actually it wasn't that much, more the background to some of the random events in the book. The Serpent by Claire North - It took me a little while to get my head around the writing style (it's written as if you are a dispassionate observer of what's happening) but once I did I loved it. Beautifully written, I'll definitely read the rest of the series. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott - A family book club read (not chosen by me) and quite a specific premise, letters written to music artists picking apart their lyrics and the replies received from said artists. Some made me giggle but it got repetitive fairly quickly and may have been more appreciated by a bigger music lover. Booklord Challenge Progress 1) Vanilla Number - 4/35 3) Something Written by a nonwhite author 4) Something written in the 1800s 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) 6) A book about or narrated by an animal 7) A collection of essays. 8) A work of Science Fiction 9) Something written by a musician 10) Read a long book, something over 500 pages 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 13) Read Something YA 14) Wildcard! 15) Something recently published 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 18) A biography or autobiography 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection 22) It’s a Mystery. I'll have to pay a bit more attention to the booklord challenge in my next book selections! I'm currently working on House of Leaves which should meet the long book criteria, Bossypants by Tina Fey which will fit the autobiography criteria and have a couple of others planned that should satisfy some criteria. I'm trying not to count books in more than two categories but we'll see.
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Jan 31, 2016 17:56
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Previously read: 1. Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 3. The Serpent by Claire North 4. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott February 5. Bossypants by Tina Fey 6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 7. The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman 8. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Steifvater 9. The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Steifvater 10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Steifvater 11. Modern Romance by Aziz Anzari A good month for me reading wise, helped a lot by being off work last week and starting the Raven Cycle series that I read over a couple of days. They were pretty enjoyable overall and the plot kept me reading although I found some of the characters annoying in an unspecified 'oh for god's sake' kind of way. Probably quite typical for YA books though. Certainly a nice change from House of Leaves that I started in early January and took well over a month to finish. While I haven't really bought into the whole hidden messages cult thing about the book and just read it for what it was, it definitely left an impression and was worth the read. I don't expect I'll read as many in March, I have a couple of long and involved books on my list to read. Booklord Challenge Progress 1) Vanilla Number - 11/35 4) Something written in the 1800s 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) 6) A book about or narrated by an animal 7) A collection of essays. 8) A work of Science Fiction 9) Something written by a musician 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 13) Read Something YA 14) Wildcard! 15) Something recently published 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection 22) It’s a Mystery.
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Feb 28, 2016 17:08
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Previously read: 1. Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 3. The Serpent by Claire North 4. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott 5. Bossypants] by Tina Fey 6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 7. The Books of Magic] by Neil Gaiman 8. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Steifvater 9. The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Steifvater 10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Steifvater 11. Modern Romance] by Aziz Anzari March update 12. Legend by Marie Lu. This was my YA read for the book lord challenge. It was pretty typical for a YA novel - set in a dystopian future in the former US after some kind of plague thing. Fairly enjoyable for that kind of novel if very predictable. 13. Sabriel by Garth Nix I'm a sucker for fantasy and well written female characters so I really enjoyed this. 14. Three men on a boat by Jerome K Jerome I'm a bit late on this one but grabbed it on my kindle after seeing it was the BotM for January. It was free so why not. Thoroughly enjoyed the snarky moaning and piss taking of three pretty much useless men setting off on their little adventure, very British. I admit I skimmed over some of the lengthier descriptions of the river and neighbouring countryside though. 15. Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche Well at least I can say I've read Nietzsche now? Had to really struggle on with this, not helped by initially picking up the free Kaufmann (I think) translation which was filled with 'thous' and '-eths' that made me want to hurl the book across the room. I found an alternative translation that wasn't, which helped. I can't say I enjoyed it or evevn really understood it, but then I'm not sure I was supposed to. I quite liked that the book spent a lot of time criticizing religion while at the same time reading like a religious text and involving a great deal of sermonising and parables in very religious style, probably a deliberate parody. Nietzsche has some not very great ideas about women though which grated quite a lot. One of the introductions I read suggested that this wasn't exactly Nietzsche's personal view, but it seemed like trying to excuse him after the fact rather than the truth. Anyway, I got to be smug for a month about reading a famous philosophical text. 16. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel I loved this. As may be obvious by my reading history I do love a bit of dystopian apocalyptic type stuff and this was a great example that I devoured over a couple of days. It isn't the obvious, over dramatic sort of dystopia that often appears in the YA world which was very refreshing. Booklord Challenge Progress 1) Vanilla Number - 16/35 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) 6) A book about or narrated by an animal 7) A collection of essays. 8) A work of Science Fiction 9) Something written by a musician 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 14) Wildcard! 15) Something recently published 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection 22) It’s a Mystery.
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Apr 1, 2016 08:51
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Previously read: 1. Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 3. The Serpent by Claire North 4. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott 5. Bossypants] by Tina Fey 6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 7. The Books of Magic] by Neil Gaiman 8. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Steifvater 9. The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Steifvater 10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Steifvater 11. Modern Romance] by Aziz Anzari 12. Legend by Marie Lu 13. Sabriel by Garth Nix 14. Three men on a boat by Jerome K Jerome 15. Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche 16. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel April update Very slow month for some reason, I could have sworn I read more than three books but apparently not! 17. Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris: A Doctor Who series book that I picked up - I'm a bit of a DW nerd and this was a pretty enjoyable and very quick read. 18. River of Ink by Paul M M Cooper: This was actually recommended by my sister who knows the guy somehow, plus it's new so fitted into a challenge category. It was definitely worth the punt, a beautifully written and engaging book although it took me a little while to get into the style. 19. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling: Fun and frivolous anecdotes about her life, passed the time nicely. Booklord Challenge Progress 1) Vanilla Number - 19/35 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) 6) A book about or narrated by an animal 7) A collection of essays. 9) Something written by a musician 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 14) Wildcard! 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection 22) It’s a Mystery.
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May 4, 2016 18:07
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Previously read: 1. Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 3. The Serpent by Claire North 4. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott 5. Bossypants] by Tina Fey 6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 7. The Books of Magic] by Neil Gaiman 8. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Steifvater 9. The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Steifvater 10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Steifvater 11. Modern Romance] by Aziz Anzari 12. Legend by Marie Lu 13. Sabriel by Garth Nix 14. Three men on a boat by Jerome K Jerome 15. Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche 16. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 17. Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris 18. River of Ink by Paul M M Cooper 19. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling May Steaming ahead this month, I think my 35 book goal was quite tame, I'll have to up it next year! 20. Mr Mercedes by Steven King: I mostly liked this, I didn't know much about it so didn't expect a detective novel rather than a horror but it was OK. I think I was put off by the experienced but retired detective pursuing a clearly dangerous and pretty unstable killer while flimsily justifying not telling the police a drat thing. 21. I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir: An Icelandic horror/mystery novel which I really enjoyed, I definitely felt the tension and suspense. I think some of the dialogue was a bit lost in translation as it felt a bit clunky but overall a good read. 22. Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson: Another detective/mystery type novel about children abducted from their parents. I clearly was on a bit of a kick of this type of novel last month, this was an interesting take on it with a lot of focus on the investigation methods. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in the 'big reveal' at the end, I think the author was focused on having it be an unexpected twist but it just left me feeling '....oh'. 23. Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Tom Cox: As a self confessed cat lady I quite enjoyed the random stories of a man bumbling around trying to care for his four (I think?) cats and adjust to rural life. 24. I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki: Now this was a totally different type of cat book, Japanese life in the early 1900s dictated by a nameless and pretty sarcastic cat. It was very densely written, superbly descriptive and a strange mixture of funny, intriguing and dull. Although for the most part I enjoyed reading it, I could only take it in fairly small doses and found it difficult to generate the motivation to continue reading. I'm glad I persevered though, a worthwhile effort to hear the insights of a very judgmental cat. 25. The Girl You Lost by Kathryn Croft: Yet another detective novel, a quick read and inoffensively written (despite some extreme material) but eh, quite a few plot holes and contrivances. Booklord Challenge Progress 1) Vanilla Number - 25/35 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) 7) A collection of essays. 9) Something written by a musician 11) Read something about or set in NYC 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 14) Wildcard! 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection
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Jun 1, 2016 20:43
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Previously read: 1. Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 3. The Serpent by Claire North 4. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott 5. Bossypants] by Tina Fey 6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 7. The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman 8. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Steifvater 9. The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Steifvater 10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Steifvater 11. Modern Romance by Aziz Anzari 12. Legend by Marie Lu 13. Sabriel by Garth Nix 14. Three men on a boat by Jerome K Jerome 15. Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche 16. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 17. Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris 18. River of Ink by Paul M M Cooper 19. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling 20. Mr Mercedes by Steven King 21. I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir 22. Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson 23. Close Encounters of the Furred Kind by Tom Cox 24. I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki 25. The Girl You Lost by Kathryn Croft June update 26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling 27. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling These two don't really need a review/introduction - I'm a big fan of the Harry Potter world for a bit of light reading and entertainment, and haven't re-read them in a while so thought I'd make a start before the Cursed Child comes out. I definitely notice more plot holes reading them now than when I was a teenager, but they are still fun reads so I don't really mind. 28. The Infinite Wait and Other Stories by Julia Wertz: Found my way into a comic book shop on holiday and picked up a few graphic novels from their stand on female writers. This one was pretty different to my normal picks as it's a selected autobiography in graphic novel form. Very readable though, and it makes me want to read her other stuff - can't say no to fart jokes and masturbation right? 29. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann: This was my New York themed read and I really liked it. It tells the story of a few individuals living in 70s New York and how their lives intertwine. Pretty gritty stuff but very well told. 30. Spectacles by Sue Perkins: Ah gotta love Sue Perks. Not much more to say about this, I normally read comedian's autobiographies as they usually have a bit more to them than 'I went here and did this thing then I met that person', and this was no exception. Surprisingly touching in places too. Booklord Challenge Progress 1) Vanilla Number - 30/35 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) 7) A collection of essays. 9) Something written by a musician 12) Read Airplane fiction (Patterson, ect) 14) Wildcard! 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book 21) A Short Story collection
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Jul 2, 2016 11:49
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Previously read: 1. Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 3. The Serpent by Claire North 4. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott 5. Bossypants] by Tina Fey 6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 7. The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman 8. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Steifvater 9. The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Steifvater 10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Steifvater 11. Modern Romance by Aziz Anzari 12. Legend by Marie Lu 13. Sabriel by Garth Nix 14. Three men on a boat by Jerome K Jerome 15. Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche 16. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 17. Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris 18. River of Ink by Paul M M Cooper 19. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling 20. Mr Mercedes by Steven King 21. I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir 22. Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson 23. Close Encounters of the Furred Kind by Tom Cox 24. I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki 25. The Girl You Lost by Kathryn Croft 26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling 27. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling 28. The Infinite Wait and Other Stories by Julia Wertz 29. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann 30. Spectacles by Sue Perkins July update 31. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison: A collection of pretty disturbing science fiction short stories - I like a bit of sci fi and horror so these were definitely up my alley as it were. Very much tainted by his misogynistic portrayal of women though, it was very tiresome that every woman was portrayed as a whore who would endure any humiliation as long as she could get sex out of it. 32. Career of Evil by Robert Galbreith: The third of the Cormoran Strike detective series and as enjoyable as the first two. There was a bit too much 'will they won't they' about the main two characters going on, but very readable. 33. The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly. Ugh. I was expecting a quick and dirty Jurassic Park style read but dear god, everything that happens is simultaneously unbelievable and predictable. I almost didn't finish but I hate abandoning a book, and at least it was over fast. 34 The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross. The third Laundry Files book (I'm all about the third in a series this month apparently, currently working on the third Harry Potter too...) about 'Bob', a civil servant who also happens to be a demonologist. As a civil servant myself as well as a fantasy/sci fi fan I enjoy the mix of occupational pedantry and red-tape alongside horrific entities from beyond. Occasionally gets a bit too caught up in technical language for me, but otherwise enjoyable. Almost at my vanilla number, will have to up the ante a bit next year! Booklord Challenge Progress 1) Vanilla Number - 34/35 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) 7) A collection of essays. 9) Something written by a musician 14) Wildcard! 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book Robot Mil fucked around with this message at 11:40 on Aug 25, 2016 |
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Aug 4, 2016 09:40
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Previously read: 1. Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 3. The Serpent by Claire North 4. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott 5. Bossypants by Tina Fey 6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 7. The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman 8. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Steifvater 9. The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Steifvater 10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Steifvater 11. Modern Romance by Aziz Anzari 12. Legend by Marie Lu 13. Sabriel by Garth Nix 14. Three men on a boat by Jerome K Jerome 15. Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche 16. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 17. Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris 18. River of Ink by Paul M M Cooper 19. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling 20. Mr Mercedes by Steven King 21. I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir 22. Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson 23. Close Encounters of the Furred Kind by Tom Cox 24. I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki 25. The Girl You Lost by Kathryn Croft 26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling 27. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling 28. The Infinite Wait and Other Stories by Julia Wertz 29. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann 30. Spectacles by Sue Perkins 31. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison 32. Career of Evil by Robert Galbreith 33. The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly 34. The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross August update I only read three books this month but hit my vanilla number goal at least and not too far away from completing the booklord challenge. 35. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling: This has always been one of my favourites of the series, good blend of humour, plot and likeable characters, and before Harry et al start getting into whiny teenage mode. 36. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry: I wasn't sure what to expect with this book and it was a blend of mystery and historical fiction, exploring religion/superstition versus science and medicine in Victorian London. Very enjoyable read, I found myself getting drawn quickly to the characters and the setting. In fact the mystery part of the book was the least important to me, I was much more interested in the relationships. 37. The Apocolypse Files by Charles Stross The fourth in the Laundry Files series. It was OK (similar plot and set up to the previous books; a combination of computer science and demonology). I always get the feeling while reading this series that I should understand more references than I do, lots of weird case files referenced in capital letters which often mean nothing to me. Nothing majorly different or exciting from the previous books. I'm off on holiday for a week this month so should get a lot of reading done, can someone wildcard me please? Booklord Challenge Progress 5) Something History Related (fictional or non-fiction your choice) 7) A collection of essays. 9) Something written by a musician 14) Wildcard! 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book
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Sep 4, 2016 10:37
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david crosby posted:I've already wildcarded someone iirc so feel free to ignore this, but try The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz. This looks really interesting thanks!
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Sep 8, 2016 16:28
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Previously read: 1. Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 3. The Serpent by Claire North 4. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott 5. Bossypants by Tina Fey 6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 7. The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman 8. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Steifvater 9. The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Steifvater 10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Steifvater 11. Modern Romance by Aziz Anzari 12. Legend by Marie Lu 13. Sabriel by Garth Nix 14. Three men on a boat by Jerome K Jerome 15. Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche 16. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 17. Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris 18. River of Ink by Paul M M Cooper 19. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling 20. Mr Mercedes by Steven King 21. I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir 22. Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson 23. Close Encounters of the Furred Kind by Tom Cox 24. I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki 25. The Girl You Lost by Kathryn Croft 26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling 27. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling 28. The Infinite Wait and Other Stories by Julia Wertz 29. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann 30. Spectacles by Sue Perkins 31. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison 32. Career of Evil by Robert Galbreith 33. The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly 34. The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross 35. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling 36. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry 37. The Apocolypse Files by Charles Stross September update 38. The World Walker by Ian W. Sainsbury: I loved this - it took a little while as I initially was put off by the jumping around from character to character, but by the end I was pretty hooked. Will definitely read the next one. 39/40. Rat Queens Vol 2 & 3 by Kurtis J Weibe: I'm always on the lookout for rear end kicking ladies in graphic novels/comics so I enjoyed these. The third one perhaps a little less so than the first two I read, it seemed a bit confused and meandering. 41: Esio Trot by Roald Dahl: September was the celebration of Roal Dahl's birthday so I picked this up in honour of my childhood spent reading and re-reading his books. Such a cute, weird little story, although probably not my favourite of his. 42: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire : I rather like the slow start to the story taking in the Quidditch World Cup, even if it was skipped over pretty quickly in the film. I definitely enjoy the re-reads to remind myself what the films were missing, so many complementing plot points and asides. On reflection the plot of GoF makes very little sense, perhaps most out of all the books. Still, as always I enjoy absorbing myself in the wizarding world! 43. Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind by Yuval Noah Harari: Oof what a book. It covers well, the history of mankind, at rapid speed. I think I was expecting and perhaps would have liked more about the early origins of mankind than more recent history, but I take the author's point that actually we know very little and guess quite a lot. I wasn't too sure about some of his conclusions and emphasis, but a very absorbing and thought provoking read. 44. Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran: A collection of her articles and essays, with the theme of 'upgrading' UK politics. A good combination of serious and humorous, although a bit too many time-specific articles that date quickly. Booklord Challenge Progress 9) Something written by a musician 14) Wildcard! 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration 20) Read a banned book
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Oct 5, 2016 19:55
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Far too late October/November update... 1. Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 3. The Serpent by Claire North 4. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott 5. Bossypants by Tina Fey 6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 7. The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman 8. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Steifvater 9. The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Steifvater 10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Steifvater 11. Modern Romance by Aziz Anzari 12. Legend by Marie Lu 13. Sabriel by Garth Nix 14. Three men on a boat by Jerome K Jerome 15. Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche 16. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 17. Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris 18. River of Ink by Paul M M Cooper 19. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling 20. Mr Mercedes by Steven King 21. I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir 22. Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson 23. Close Encounters of the Furred Kind by Tom Cox 24. I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki 25. The Girl You Lost by Kathryn Croft 26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling 27. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling 28. The Infinite Wait and Other Stories by Julia Wertz 29. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann 30. Spectacles by Sue Perkins 31. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison 32. Career of Evil by Robert Galbreith 33. The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly 34. The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross 35. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling 36. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry 37. The Apocolypse Files by Charles Stross 38. The World Walker by Ian W. Sainsbury 39/40. Rat Queens Vol 2 & 3 by Kurtis J Weibe 41: Esio Trot by Roald Dahl 42: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 43. Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind by Yuval Noah Harari 44. Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran 45, 46 & 47: Harry Potter and the OotP/HBP/DH by JK Rowling. Finished the series off while on holiday, I always enjoy re-reading these and once it gets past the main teenage angst things improve considerably. I wish JK was a slightly better writer though. 48. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Well I am a giant nerd so it had to happen at some point. I actually listened to the audiobook and enjoyed Wil Wheaton's narration, and the plot did keep me interested. Jeepers I wish it was easier to skip ahead in audiobooks though, there is just so much time wasted by pointless, overlong descriptions of anything even vaguely geek related that added nothing to the plot or characters. It almost stopped me 49. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr I loved this - I'm not usually one for historical fiction, but this was a beautiful if occasionally horrifying book. Quite different, seeing the world from the perspective of a blind girl and a Nazi and how their lives eventually weave together. 50. Kingpin by Kevin Poulsen Fascinating look at hacking and cybercrime, told mostly through the life of 'Max Vision' (seriously) who while being probably a sociopath, at least tried to use his powers for good. Well, sometimes. I'm glad card security has got a lot better but it really drove home how huge cybercrime is, it's never going away. 51. The Passage by Justin Cronin I really liked this for the most part. A slightly different take on the post apocalyptic story, where you see the world as it was before and how the apocalypse part happened, and then move on to the world after. There were some really good sections, I liked the use of letters/emails to move the story on, and it kept me intrigued. Very bloated though and a bit too much going on, it was hard to keep track at points. It's the first in a trilogy but disappointingly from what I've read the second doesn't really pick up where this one left off so I'm not sure I'll read it. I still have a few books left on my challenge list - I'm working on the wildcard and 'book I've wanted to read for a while now' (The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell) but I still need to find something written by a musician, and something by the lost/beat generation. I have time off over Christmas so hopefully can get through four this month. Booklord Challenge Progress 9) Something written by a musician 14) Wildcard! 16) That one book you’ve wanted to read for a while now. 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Genneration
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Dec 5, 2016 11:13
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| # ¿ May 19, 2024 16:32 |
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Final 2016 tally: 1. Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien 3. The Serpent by Claire North 4. Dear Mr Kershaw: A Pensioner Writes by Derek Philpott 5. Bossypants by Tina Fey 6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 7. The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman 8. The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Steifvater 9. The Dream Thieves (Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Steifvater 10. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Steifvater 11. Modern Romance by Aziz Anzari 12. Legend by Marie Lu 13. Sabriel by Garth Nix 14. Three men on a boat by Jerome K Jerome 15. Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche 16. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 17. Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris 18. River of Ink by Paul M M Cooper 19. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling 20. Mr Mercedes by Steven King 21. I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir 22. Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson 23. Close Encounters of the Furred Kind by Tom Cox 24. I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki 25. The Girl You Lost by Kathryn Croft 26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling 27. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling 28. The Infinite Wait and Other Stories by Julia Wertz 29. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann 30. Spectacles by Sue Perkins 31. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison 32. Career of Evil by Robert Galbreith 33. The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly 34. The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross 35. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling 36. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry 37. The Apocolypse Files by Charles Stross 38. The World Walker by Ian W. Sainsbury 39/40. Rat Queens Vol 2 & 3 by Kurtis J Weibe 41: Esio Trot by Roald Dahl 42: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 43. Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind by Yuval Noah Harari 44. Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran 45, 46 & 47: Harry Potter and the OotP/HBP/DH by JK Rowling. 48. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 49. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 50. Kingpin by Kevin Poulsen 51. The Passage by Justin Cronin I only managed to read one book in December, knocking off one challenge off the list 52. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell: I liked this one although it seems to polarise opinion. It did take a bit of concentration and getting used to the story meandering about, but I liked the way that it told the story of the main character through a series of different people's lives and perspectives. I'm not sure it's meant as a warning about the future of humanity but given how 2016 has turned out, it certainly felt like it. Anyway, smashed my vanilla book number but didn't manage to get through all of the challenges, must try harder Booklord Challenge Progress 9) Something written by a musician 14) Wildcard! 19) Read something from the lost generation (Fitzgerald, Hemmingway, ect.) or from the Beat Generation
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Jan 1, 2017 13:32
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