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I'm in for 52 books and the booklord challenge as well. Challenge looks a bit more difficult but up for it and will hopefully improve my variety of books next year.
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Dec 27, 2016 03:37
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Sandwolf posted:What's everyone's first book of the year? Mine's God Knows by Joseph Heller, read Catch 22 last year for the first time and fell in love with it, so I'm trying Heller's foray in religion. Been alternating between Shogun and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone since Christmas. One is for my son, one for me. I think he is enjoying the adventures of Anjin-san, but not sure since he can't talk yet.
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Jan 2, 2017 01:05
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A little slow as I have been working through the 1100 pages of Shogun, which should be finished this month, but still some progress! 1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling 2. Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston 3. Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey January update: I’ve seen a few of the movies, but never read Harry Potter and thought it was time to do so. I don’t know what more I can say about it that has not been written before. It was a children's book but good. I was surprised how much time the book spent talking about how bad the Dursleys were to Harry, it was nearly 1/4 of the book until Harry and Hagrid go off to buy supplies. I thought the ending was a bit rushed. Each challenge to get to the Sorcerer’s Stone was only given a page and a half or so and it was always easy challenges for first years to conquer. Even with the rushed ending, I’ll pick up the other books later to read. Babylon’s Ashes was pretty good. Felt more like a conclusion to the previous book and introduced the next big bad problem for the series. The end was a bit anticlimactic with how Marcos was dealt with. It was nice to see at least a bit of improved technology, though not powerful enough to make existing tech useless. With so much focus on humanity, I’m wondering if we’re ever going to get back to more alien stuff. It’s been a while since I read anything about pre-columbian societies and Lost City of the Monkey God was a pretty quick and easy read about an unknown society in Honduras. Based mostly on a few centuries old comments and folk tales, some guys and girls research then head off to find the Lost City of the Monkey God. It’s based on rather recent research(2014-2016) so there are no definitive answers but good for a popular history book. 1) Read some books. Set a number and go hog wild. 2) Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 1/8 (HPaTSS) 3) Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 4) Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 5) Read at least one TBB BoTM and post in the monthly thread about it. 6) Read a book someone else in the thread recommends (a wildcard!) 7) Read something that was recently published (anything from after 1st January 2016). 8) Read something which was published before you were born. 9) Read something in translation. 10) Read something from somewhere you want to travel. 11) Read something political. 12) 12a) Read something about the First World War. 13) Read something biographical. 14) Read some poetry. 15) Read a play. 16) Read a collection of short stories. 17) Read something long (500+ pages). 18) Read something which was banned or censored. 19) Read a satire. 20) Read something about honour. 21) Read something about fear. 22) Read something about one (or more!) of the seven sins. 23) Read something that you love. 24) Read something from a non-human perspective.
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Feb 1, 2017 02:38
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Much better progress in February. Trying to make sure most of my books meet the booklord challenge so I can just read bad zombie apocalypse stuff at the end of the year  Also trying to make #2 and #3 on the booklord challenge mutually exclusive so I'm not searching for 10 books by non-white females that fit other categories as well. ltr posted:
4. Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold 5. Shogun by James Clavell 6. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers 7. The Queue by Basma Abdul Aziz 8. The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham 9. Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick 10. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor So Shogun, 1100 pages of 1600s Japan, Conflict between Japanese rulers, tension between feudal Japan and the Catholic Church, Eastern vs Western culture, . I’ll say it was quite good with a mediocre ending. There were some small errors with japanese words, but not too horrible. There is tons of culture, which is dated and sometimes incorrect, but in a lot of ways it does help explain more traditional views in Japanese society. I guess I’m reading this book through the lens of having a Japanese wife and my interactions with her very traditional, rural lifestyle father. A Closed and Common Orbit was a good sequel to A Long Way To A Small Angry Planet. It follows two side characters from the first book. Not much action, mostly more human and non-human interactions. a fun light read which is what I needed after finishing Shogun. The Queue its about a dystopian country, an absurdist totalitarian government, people wait in an endless line to take care of basic needs such as a surgery to save their life. While some events do happen, this is another character drive book. It was my first foray into middle eastern authors. It parallels the Arab Spring movement quite a bit, but in a fictional country run by the Gate. I liked The Dragon’s Path. It did not lay too many invented words for common things and strange character names that some epic fantasy seems to. I was more interested where Marcus’s story went than Geders, but overall it was good. I felt like Geder needed to be fleshed out a little more as to why he did what he did half way into the book. He was this guy who was teased and picked on by more “warrior” like people around him because he preferred to read and write, then once those guys are out of the picture, he acts very rashly. Binti was good up until the ending. I was just too feel good ending for me. Why did the university suddenly accept a race that they were at war with and who had just killed a bunch of new students? Binti ended up some Meduse/Human, even she would be a risk to the university. It was definitely a different take on sci-fi, but I’m not sure I want to pick up the sequel. 1) 10/52 2) Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 4/10 (HPaTSS, Mirror Dance, ACaCO, Scrappy Little Nobody) 3) Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 2/10 (The Queue, Binti) 4) Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 5) Read at least one TBB BoTM and post in the monthly thread about it. 6) Read a book someone else in the thread recommends (a wildcard!) 7) 8) Read something which was published before you were born. 9) 10) Read something from somewhere you want to travel. 11) Read something political. 12) 12a) Read something about the First World War. 13) 14) Read some poetry. 15) Read a play. 16) Read a collection of short stories. 17) 18) Read something which was banned or censored. 19) Read a satire. 20) 21) Read something about fear. 22) Read something about one (or more!) of the seven sins. 23) Read something that you love. 24) Read something from a non-human perspective.
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Mar 4, 2017 04:00
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ltr posted:
March Update! 11. The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany 12. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Leguin 13. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid 14. The Man in The High Castle by Phillip K. Dick March update: I really liked the world building in The Man In The High Castle, even to the point where the book which plays a part in the story has a different history of how World War Two was won by the Allies. In some ways it felt like three novellas(?) all slightly linked playing out at the same time. Not sure why Frank’s part of the story was included except to link Tagomi story to Julianne’s. I preferred The Dispossessed over Left Hand of Darkness which I read a few years ago. I felt it really showed how ways of governance(anarchist vs capitalist) taken to extremes are not nearly as free and open as one would think. Exit West started out quite good, definitely interesting reading about normal people’s struggles in a war zone. The last third as another reviewer said, seems to run out of steam. Spoilers for the rest since this is a new book. The doors seemed a quick way to get around the long travel of refugees so we can get to the struggles refugees have when they finally arrive at a semi-permanent home. Once they settled in California, I felt it started running out of steam. With little external conflict, their personal reasons for staying together began to fall apart as well. even with the problems in the last third, it was a quick read 1) 14/52 2) Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 5/10 (HPaTSS, Mirror Dance, ACaCO, Scrappy Little Nobody, The Dispossessed) 3) Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 3/10 (The Queue, Binti, Exit West) 4) Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 5) 6) Read a book someone else in the thread recommends (a wildcard!) 7) 8) 9) 10) Read something from somewhere you want to travel. 11) Read something political. 12) 12a) Read something about the First World War. 13) 14) Read some poetry. 15) Read a play. 16) Read a collection of short stories. 17) 18) Read something which was banned or censored. 19) Read a satire. 20) 21) Read something about fear. 22) Read something about one (or more!) of the seven sins. 23) Read something that you love. 24) Read something from a non-human perspective.
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Mar 30, 2017 02:05
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