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Corrode posted:January - 6: What did you think of this?
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Feb 2, 2018 00:32
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I meant to come in and post my January update yesterday while I was at work, but SA was down. So here it is, a day late. January Books 1 - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer - This was an interesting book. I can't really explain exactly why it was a good book, but it really was. Basically, it's the story of a messed up man with a super keen sense of smell and a photographic smell memory and his quest to make the perfect scent. If you are interested in something a little adventurous with some very pretty prose, check it out. 2 - To Kill a Mockingbird - I've always meant to read this and finally got into it due to the Shameful thread. It was great, I can see why it is considered a classic. If you haven't read it before, do so now. 3 - Check Six! A Thunderbolt Pilot's War Across the Pacific - A war memoir written by Jim Curran and fact checked/supplemented by another Terrence Popravak. The memoir itself is an interesting look at the day to day life of a pilot in the Pacific theater, but the story really shines because of Popravak's footnotes and annotations. Curran will talk about escorting a PT boat, and Popravak will go into detail about what the PT boat was doing at the time in the footnotes. It's not an action packed story, there is remarkably little action in it, but it does seem to be a pretty authentic tale of what life was like in the Pacific. 4, 5, and 6 - Abaddon's Gate, The Churn, and Cibola Burn - Rolled these together because they are all part of The Expanse (books 3, 0.2, and 4, respectively). If you are looking for a fun scifi series, check it out.
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Feb 2, 2018 02:02
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Safety Biscuits posted:What did you think of this? Your post has reminded me that I never actually talked about the books I read  It's good. It's pretty lacking in traditional plot - very little "happens" which is an odd thing to say about a book which incorporates a tidal wave and a giant vortex of plastic garbage washing up on the coast of Taiwan, and of what story there is very little gets resolved. It's more about the combination of environmentalism, reactions to trauma, and I guess what you might call a focus on "return to the land" since most of the characters gain their greatest satisfaction from running away from Taipei and living in aboriginal villages out in the forests and mountains. In some ways it's a book whose moment has come with the current chatter around single-use plastics and the enormously wasteful lifestyles of Western and Western-influenced societies, and while it doesn't say anything especially revolutionary about those things, it's a coherent look at them through a slanted magical-realist lens. There's also some Taiwan-specific stuff with the prominence of aboriginal characters, since from some brief Googling I understand there's increasing prominence of aboriginal Taiwanese in the country and this book is very interested in their varied cultures and histories. Also tons of cool poo poo happens including the titular man with the compound eyes appearing in weird places, and a house which is overwhelmed by the sea, and magic sperm whale ghosts of dead Polynesians. And grief so strong that Alice invents a fictional version of her dead son which her husband buys into until he, the husband, falls off a cliff and dies and the man with the compound eyes shows him that he was alone the whole time, except the fictional boy is so fully realised that he's still a pov character for like three chapters. Living Image fucked around with this message at 10:33 on Feb 2, 2018 |
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Feb 2, 2018 10:30
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January update 1. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman - Great read for mythology fans - I'm not sure it provides anything new if you are already super familiar with the stories but I found them entertaining. 2. Blindness by Jose Saramago - This took me ages to read. I can't say I liked the writing style and the first half (at least) is full of horrors, but there was something about it that just drew me in. 3. Last to Die by Tess Gerritson - I have a weakness for female led crime writing/thrillers, this hit the spot. 4. The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up by Marie Kondo - so this woman is clearly insane, but I was looking for some inspiration to declutter and this does have some helpful tips and advice if you ignore the weird bits. 5. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto - very short, sweet read but I think the translation leaves something to be desired, some of the language felt quite clunky and off. Booklord challenges completed: 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge: 5/40 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women: 3/5 (60%) 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 3/5 (60%) 10. Read something translated from another language: Kitchen & Blindness 13. Read a collection of short stories: Norse Mythology Currently reading: - The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann - It by Stephen King I'm seriously hoping I finish both of these in February but gently caress me they are long books.
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Feb 2, 2018 14:45
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January 1. Children of God - Maria Dora Russell 2. Sleeping Beauties - Stephen King and Owen King 3. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 4. All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery - Henry Mayer 5. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis 6. The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid - Colin Meloy 7. Leviathan Wakes (Expanse #1) - James S.A. Corey 8. Crazy Heart - Thomas Cobb 9. Blackwater - Michael McDowell 10. Caliban’s War (Expanse #2) - James S.A. Corey A pretty solid start to the year with this month's books. I finished a few old favorites that I read to my son (Narnia and Christmas Carol), got a few "I've had this on my shelves forever" books down, and started the Expanse series, which was a lot of fun. Standouts include All on Fire, a very very detailed biography of William Lloyd Garrison that took me quite a while (I started it at the beginning of October and slowly worked through it); The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid, which was a fun YA caper book by the lead singer of the Decemberists; and Blackwater, which loving RULED. I enjoyed the hell out of that book. It was southern soap opera with the occasional underwater disemboweling, so basically it was the best. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (10/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Maria Doria Russell - so only 10% so far. 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - None. Crap. 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. 8. Read something written before you were born. - Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe, and A Christmas Carol 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). 10. Read something translated from another language. 11. Read something political. 12. Read a poetry collection. 13. Read a collection of short stories. 14. Read a play. 15. Read something involving history. 16. Read something biographical. - All on Fire 17. Read something about religion. - Children of God 18. Read something from a non-traditional perspective. - Children of God 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. 20. Read something about music. - Crazy Heart 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. 22. Read something about the future. - Children of God, Expanse 1 and 2
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Feb 2, 2018 21:24
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Shooting for 75 this year. I've ranged 40-120 over the last decade. Doing the booklord challenge + whatever bonuses I reasonably can. January (Wow, didn't read much this month considering I'm currently unemployed) 1. Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee 2. Raven Stratagem - Yoon Ha Lee 3. Bridge of Birds - Barry Hughart 4. Aurora - Kim Stanley Robinson Average page count: 384 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (4/75) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. (0/15) 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. (2/15) (Yoon Ha Lee) 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. (2/8 for 10%) (Yoon Ha Lee, double dipping) 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018. 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. 8. Read something written before you were born. (Bridge of Birds) 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). 10. Read something translated from another language. 11. Read something political. 12. Read a poetry collection. 13. Read a collection of short stories. 14. Read a play. 15. Read something involving history. 16. Read something biographical. 17. Read something about religion. 18. Read something from a non-traditional perspective. 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. 20. Read something about music. 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. 22. Read something about the future. - 3 of my 4 books in January Also, requesting my wildcard. Loutre fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Feb 2, 2018 |
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Feb 2, 2018 22:15
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January 1. How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City, by Joan DeJean This book covers urban changes in Paris from the late medieval period to the early modern, with a heavy emphasis on posters, paintings, travel guides, and plays as sources. Joan really provides a delight of visual information to go with the text. You’ll read about the expansion of foot traffic along the Pont Neuf and the new boulevards of the city, as well as how these let Paris become the Mecca of fashion. My favorite theme throughout the book was how crime changed its patterns to complement those of the city itself. (5/5) 2. Dark Pools, by Scott Patterson Scott has written a person and business focused history of the last twenty years of trading, which gets on my nerves. Even in the last stage of the book, a development in policy or a corporate merger must be introduced with a personal biography of some dude involved in the deal. Also, the author relies too much on analogy and metaphor to describe relatively simple financial things, so that I had to turn to other sources to find out what he literally meant. On the other hand, he really does write the various characters in an entertaining way, and I had a decent experience reading this. (3/5) 3. The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism, by David Golumbia An important caveat here: David’s not talking about Right-Wing as in MAGA hats and white nationalism, he’s talking about it in the sense of “government small enough to drown in a bathtub” and other more libertarian-adjacent ideas. It’s a fairly short and focused book that does a great job of pinning the ideas motivating major cryptocurrency thinkers to that libertarian tradition. A major point in here is that many of the motivating ideas of bitcoiners are assumptions from a far-right perspective that are very arguable when explicitly laid out. (4/5) 4. The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy, by Carol Lynn Pearson So the Mormon church back in the 19th century practiced polygamy. That’s inarguable; when Utah began pushing for admission as a state the church relented and issued guidance that polygamy was to be temporarily suspended. The Mormons also preach that their marriages are eternal (this is strictly opposed to the vast majority of Christian teaching), continuing in heaven with each wife and her children bound to her husband in eternity. In modern Mormon society, these facts create the expectation that once they get to the afterlife, people who are monogamous now will find themselves in polygamous marriages. People feel real grief, anguish, of even delight at this possibility. Stories that stand out to me are an unmarried woman whose brother-in-law helpfully offers to marry her in heaven so that she won’t be alone forever, and a woman who expresses to her husband that she’d rather be in hell alone than in heaven with hum and another woman. Carol Pearson is a poet and leader of Mormon women who has spun together many personal testimonies and her own historical and theological analysis to make this amazing book. This is going to be one of my highlights for the year, I am sure. (5/5) 5. The Violent American Century, by John W. Dower Here John contrasts the popular view of “The American Century” (that is, the years 1945 to the present) as one of progress, peace and prosperity with the effects of American foreign policy abroad. It covers both the overt and secret wars America has waged over the years just enough to let curious readers explore on their own later. Overall I’d recommend this book to anyone who needs an inoculation against the popular view of America’s wars, especially a young person. (4/5) 6. Against Apartheid: The Case for Boycotting Israeli Universities, edited by Ashley Dawson and Bill V. Mullen Like a lot of essay collections on a single subject, this book succeeds at presenting a diversity of perspectives but had honestly too much repetition of basic fact. You aren’t going to get “both sides” of the academic boycott, but you will get essays written by Israeli Jews, Palestinian academics, members of the diaspora, and supporters abroad. Most of the essays are informative, well-argued and worth reading. (3.5/5) 7. Njal’s Saga, translated by Robert Cook This book is sick as hell. It’s an epic set 10th century Iceland where the national hobbies are vengeance and lawsuits (also horse fighting). People keep on getting unlawfully killed, and all attempts to make the sides leave well enough alone fall apart. This goes on for several different cycles, with well told fight scenes capped off by action movie-style one liners. The Njal from the title is man who values friendship, family, peace, and the law, but these things come into tragic conflict with each other. You should probably expect to see this on prestige television once all the 20th century fantasy epics get churned out. (5/5) For the Booklord, I'm just going to slot each book into a category once, and do the proportional challenges at the end. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. (7/80) 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). Njal’s Saga 11. Read something political. The Violent American Century 15. Read something involving history. How Paris Became Paris 17. Read something about religion. The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy
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Feb 3, 2018 00:26
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Loutre posted:Also, requesting my wildcard. Your wildcard is Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions by Valeria Luiselli. Could someone give me a wildcard?
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Feb 3, 2018 01:00
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thatdarnedbob posted:Your wildcard is Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions by Valeria Luiselli. Letters from the Dust Bowl by Caroline Henderson
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Feb 3, 2018 02:19
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Milt Thompson posted:For me, the challenges are really what I'm interested in, and where the bonus is listed, that is the aim. Somebody issue me a wildcard! I think this got lost in the shuffle so: read White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi Hungry posted:I'm determined to do as many of the bonuses as I can, and unfortunately for me this one was triggered by my half-asleep husband mumbling "You're gonna read Gai-jin, right?" Which is, of course, a half-million word doorstop of a novel. Holy moley. I'm impressed you're sticking to the letter of the challenge and good luck!
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Feb 3, 2018 02:52
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My wildcard request got lost in my post as well I think. I need one, please!
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Feb 3, 2018 03:21
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cryptoclastic posted:My wildcard request got lost in my post as well I think. I need one, please! Heinrich von Kleist's short stories.
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Feb 3, 2018 10:36
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Last year I tried to post about every book I read here, and the upshot of that was that I ended up never posting because writing up notes for each book and then converting them into a format that was readable on SA was  . So this year I'm going to dial it back and just post about the challenges, and/or about books I felt particularly strongly about.Or perhaps I will upgrade my book-journaling software to emit bbcode, and just copy-paste. At the moment I -- very unusually -- have three books in flight; Njal's Saga for the BOTM thread (didn't finish it in time for the end of the month), The Zen of Graphics Programming by Michael Abrash for nonfiction (it's knowledge I will never use, but I've played a lot of games that used these techniques and it's neat to get an inside look), and Dragon Student by Bard Bloom for sorely needed comfort reading. Notable books of the month: Binti: The Night Masquerade was a deft and satisfying conclusion to the Binti trilogy, and Tuf Voyaging was vastly more enjoyable than anything else GRRM has written. pre: 7 Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. (bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018)
<> 2018-01-12 <> The Forge of God by Greg Bear
<> 2018-01-19 <> The Anvil of Stars by Greg Bear
The two books were very different, the first one being a sort of cross-section about how people deal with the end of the world, the second a look at a small group of people under extreme pressure to find an overwhelmingly powerful enemy and then decide whether to commit genocide for an extended period of time. Both enjoyable, although I'd have liked to see more of the Braids in Anvil. pre: 9 Read a book published in 2018 or the latter half of 2017. (bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced)
<> 2018-01-23 <> Into the Drowning Deep by Seanan McGuire
pre:22 Read something about the future. (bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year)
<> 2018-01-12 <> Soonish by Kelly & Zach Weinersmith
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Feb 3, 2018 13:50
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My father passed away in December, he left me numerous books. I'm talking two full Ikea book shelves full of nothing but Sci Fi and fantasy, plus a few cookbooks. Since I've gathered all of his books together and place them in my home I decided to read the ENTIRE Wheel of time series, all twelve of them. My father loved that series and its only fitting that I read the books he enjoyed. That is my challenge for the year, to finish the Wheel of Time series.
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Feb 4, 2018 19:56
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Continuing to set a bad example as booklord, here's my January update: 1. The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington by Leonora Carrington 2. John Dies at the End by David Wong 3. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff 4. This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It by David Wong 5. J R by William Gaddis I had started Carrington's stories as a light thing to read over the holidays but was still too busy to read more than one so I reread that one and the rest in January. They were great, full of really wonderful surrealist imagery and logic. I'm happy I decided to buy it, I can definitely see picking it up at random to read a surreal short story when I'm feeling whimsical. I also read JDatE and the sequel since there's a third book in the series that just came out and I wanted to refresh my memory. Just about to finish the third book as my first book in February. They're not the best lit but they're fun, quick reads full of really inventive ideas. I already talked about Fire and Fury above. JR took up the bulk of my month, it was a long and pretty difficult book, but well worth it. I read it for the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read which is good and you should all check out since it's one of the bonus challenges anyway! I also just got this challenge in a meeting at work: Guy A. Person posted:— bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) ...and it's Atomic Design by Brad Frost! I kind of figured it would be one of my friends telling me to read some fantasy book (I think he's reading the Kingkiller Chronicles?) so I didn't have super high hopes anyway, this was an interesting twist. MuRLinn posted:My father passed away in December, he left me numerous books. I'm talking two full Ikea book shelves full of nothing but Sci Fi and fantasy, plus a few cookbooks. Since I've gathered all of his books together and place them in my home I decided to read the ENTIRE Wheel of time series, all twelve of them. My father loved that series and its only fitting that I read the books he enjoyed. That is my challenge for the year, to finish the Wheel of Time series. Sorry about your loss, and good luck on the challenge
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Feb 5, 2018 17:38
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January Update!Milt Thompson posted:I'm joining in with this. I am always looking to broaden my reading horizons, so I'm setting the following challenge: I know I joined late, but here are some thoughts so far: The Damned United is a great little book, a fictionalised history of part of the life and career of football manager Brian Clough. Clough was always a controversial figure and Peace gives us a glimpse into an arrogant and hubristic version of the man. The film is good too. Player One was enjoyable, dealing with crises in the lives of four people set against the backdrop of a world gone mad. Coupland depicts his characters with great humanity, and although the story gets dark in places, the prose is written with a pleasingly light touch and humour. The Undoing Project is, in my opinion, not one of Lewis' best books. It deals with the lives and partnership of psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman and while the descriptions of their work and its applications in the real world are fascinating, the more biographical portions were quite slow. Still good overall, though. The Sirens of Titan was excellent. There is something about Vonnegut's writing that elevates it into a different class. I found it accessible, funny and moving. The Underground Railroad left me feeling quite angry at the world. The novel itself is excellent. Yet it's clear that Whitehead isn't just writing about the injustices faced by African-American slaves - the humiliations inflicted on them seem to have never ended. If Whitehead's point is that despite emancipation, African-Americans are still not considered entirely human by both covert and overt detractors, or indeed entirely free - then I find myself agreeing with him. Guy A. Person posted:I think this got lost in the shuffle so: read White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi It's been added to my shopping list. Thanks!
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Feb 6, 2018 13:06
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January! 1) Here I am - Jonathan Safran Foer 2) Universal Harvester - John Darnielle 3) 50 Stories in 50 States - Kevin B Parsons 4) Summer in the Invisible City - Julia Romano 5) Wolf in the White Van - John Darnielle Everything was good with the exception of that 50 stories book. gently caress that guy. 5/30 Currently reading: Slouching Toward Bethlehem - Joan Didon
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Feb 7, 2018 23:44
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Corrode posted:Your post has reminded me that I never actually talked about the books I read Oops, forgot to reply... Glad you liked it. I thought it was a good examination of modern life. Thibgs have been getting better for the aboriginal people recently, yeah, and most writing about Taiwan stresses the Chinese population.
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Feb 8, 2018 04:46
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A human heart posted:A Question of Power, by Bessie Head This is phenomenal so far. Thanks.
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Feb 11, 2018 21:37
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Hey just wanted to check in and give an update on my new plan for theme weeks. The way I originally envisioned these was just as a week to discuss a certain challenge topic and trade recs and interpretations, but it seems like a few people actually wanted to read a book for that theme during the week, which uh makes a lot more sense and makes me feel dumb. So what I am going to do is announce the upcoming theme weeks in advance so everyone can pick a book and read along, combining the recommendations/idea trading alongside actual reviews and stuff. I might likely end up creating a full schedule to post, but for now we are going to start our second theme week on Monday, March 5th and the topic will be women authors, in honor of Women's history month. That should also be a super broad (heh) topic and shouldn't be hard to find something in your reading list. I'll once again do an effort post full of my own recommendations and what I plan on reading, and encourage anyone else to post their thoughts. Keep on trucking, reading-wise.
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Feb 21, 2018 23:03
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I'm in for 100 books, and will do the Booklord challenge also. Re-reads don't count.
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Feb 23, 2018 01:09
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So the first two months of the year hit me like a series of trucks, and I only managed to get a little reading done. Hoping to pick up the pace majorly! I read four books in Jan/Feb: 1 - Saga, vol. 8, by Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan. The latest trade dials back the abject bleakness of volume 7, while offering equal parts closure and momentum. Also features some very frank political commentary - not that it feels out of place given the circumstances. 2 - Sandman: Book of Dreams, edited by Neil Gaiman and Ed Kramer. Been reading this off and on for a few months now, but finally finished it. A collection of short stories by various writers, all set in Gaiman's Sandman universe. Essentially 300 pages of authorised fan fiction, the ratio of good to less-good is about what I expected given the book's premise. The good stuff was very good, though, and often managed to capture the same moods as the comic series. Susanna Clarke's 'Stopp'd-Clock Yard' and Delia Sherman's 'The Witch's Heart' stick particularly hard in my memory for their explorations of grief and darker themes without resorting to some of the shock-value edginess seen elsewhere in the collection. That said, the Will Shetterly story 'Splatter' was very satisfying, with a colourful cast of serial killers. There are a couple of issues carried over from the main comic series to this collection, as I should probably have expected: a couple of the stories are dreadfully clumsy with portrayals of mental illness, and the two writers who try grappling with the lone transgender character Wanda do so unsatisfyingly. Overall though I'm glad I picked this up, as it's a nice way to dip back into Sandman stuff and also to sample some of the narrative trends and themes that Gaiman evoked in the minds of other writers. 3 - October: The Story of the Russian Revolution, by China Miéville. A month-by-month, blow-by-blow telling of the revolution's first year of 1917. Focusing on figure big and small, Miéville explores small uprisings, major upheavals and dense, political conference discussions with equal excitement and enthusiasm. There were plenty of details of which I was unaware - the 1917 All-Russian Muslim Women's Conference; the proto-fascist Black Hundreds; Lenin's cartoonish disguises during his exile. With an enormous cast of characters, he was thoughtful enough to include a glossary of names as well as an index, which is a nice addition. The prologue and epilogue, detailing the origins and the aftermath of the revolutions, were particularly interesting, as he finds clear narrative and ideological threads across years and decades. The epilogue in particular, where he addresses the failures and the horrors of what the USSR became, are especially sad. Throughout the book there is a sense of true desperation and hope - even through the denser, more clerical episodes of parliamentary and intra-movement debate. For all the ways in which the events of 1917 are mythologised, seeing them laid out in a clear, chronological narrative helped bring the people -figureheads and masses alike - to life. 4 - The Bloody Chamber and other stories by Angela Carter. Read this over a couple of months, dipping in for one or two stories at a time. Carter's prose is so dense and florid that I had trouble with some of the longer stories, even though I very much enjoyed them. This collection mainly consists of fairytales and folk stories with Carter's dark, playful twists, and there were some very satisfying entries. I was particularly fond of the titular Bloody Chamber, as well as The Company Of Wolves and Lady In The House Of Love. Sexuality and femininity - especially female puberty - are a constant focus across the stories, lending even the shorter and less detailed tales a sense of viscerality. This is the first Carter I've properly read, and I'm curious how I'd get on with a full novel - hopefully well, since I like a lot of what I read here. The first recommendation I got this year, unsolicited, was John Scalzi's Redshirts, so that's on my to-read pile. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge - 52 - 4 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 1/3 of them are written by women. - - 4, — bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you - - 4, 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 1/3 of them are written by someone non-white. - - — bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you - - 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. — bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). — bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. — bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. — bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) 8. Read something written before you were born. — bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born — bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) 10. Read something translated from another language. — bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language 11. Read something political. — bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in 12. Read a poetry collection. — bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets 14. Read a play. — bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years — bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. 16. Read something biographical. — bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person4 17. Read something about religion. — bonus: Read a major religious text 18. Read something from a non-traditional perspective. — bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. — bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. — bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. — bonus: Read something about hunger 22. Read something about the future. — bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year
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Mar 1, 2018 04:17
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February! 9. Knife of Dreams. Robert Jordan. Finally, things are moving again and it's an awesome feeling. The WoT series at its best. 10. The Art of Neil Gaiman. Hayley Campbell. It's always interesting to read about the process in the creation of art, especially the written kind. 11. Kokoro. Natsume Soseki. A depressing story in the setting of a changing Japan. It's sad and dry, but in the end, it sticks in the mind for days. 12. Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture, Volume 1. Ishikawa Masayuki. A weird tale about a boy who can see bacteria and his adventures in an agriculture school. Characters could better, we'll see how this goes. 13. Planet of Exile. Ursula K. Le Guin. An average read. The ideas were pretty good and the setting was awesome, but the story and the characters were lacking. 14. Momo. Michael Ende. The right book at the right time, moving the strings of a broken hearth. Showing me how time is never wasted and there are things that take exactly that. Beautiful. 15. Crystal Express. Bruce Sterling. A pretty good collection of short stories. As usual, some are mediocre, some are good and some are very good. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge: (15/60) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. (2/12) — bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. (4/12) — bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you — bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors (2/6) 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). — bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. — bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. — bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) — bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). — bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) 11. Read something political. — bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in 12. Read a poetry collection. — bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets — bonus: Read short stories by at least 10 different authors 14. Read a play. — bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years 15. Read something involving history. — bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. — bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person 17. Read something about religion. — bonus: Read a major religious text 18. Read something from a non-traditional perspective. — bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. — bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. — bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. — bonus: Read something about hunger — bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year
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Mar 1, 2018 05:00
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 I've fallen a little behind, but I reckon once I finish The Melancholy of Resistance by code:
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Mar 1, 2018 05:38
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CestMoi posted:
I recommend reading The Man Who Was Thursday 4900 times to get you most of the way there
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Mar 1, 2018 09:56
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just read Derrida's essay on being naked 5000 times
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Mar 1, 2018 09:57
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February's done, a few more books down. 6. Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89 - Rodric Braithwaite. (bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S.) This was very in-depth and very readable, and contains a lot of absolutely fascinating details, those little quirks of history which seem to throw askew our comfortable well-categorized image of the world. Should be required reading for anybody to talk about the graveyard of empires. 7. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe. Been meaning to read this for about a decade now (since the first time I read Heart of Darkness at university) but it's just one of those things I never got around to. Very odd experience, like a modernist novel but about colonial Nigeria. It tells the life story of an important and ambitious man in a relatively powerful tribe, who is completely unaware of the nature or power of the European colonial forces which are going to destroy his way of life. Ending is very powerful. 8. Schoolgirl - Osamu Dazai. (Read something translated from another language.) Very short and extremely Japanese. A single day in the life of a schoolgirl in 1930s Japan, told as a stream of consciousness. I feel like I didn't really "get" it, but perhaps there was nothing to get. 9. North American Lake Monsters - Nathan Ballingrud. One of the best single-author horror short story collections I've ever read. The style and tone of these came like a breath of fresh air. Often the horror elements are subtle and unexplained, or a single violent encounter which changes a character's internal life forever. Perfectly balanced stories. 10. This Book is Full of Spiders - David Wong. The sequel to the more infamous first book, John Dies at the End, this was ... not as good. JDatE is one of my favourite horror novels because it manages to rise above and perfect its own satire and has enough genuine emotion to become something very real. This was, eh, fun and amusing but doesn't really follow on from the first book. Instead it's an attempt to apply the same style of satire to the (then-popular) zombie fiction craze. I'm probably being too harsh on it. It was fun, it just had big boots to fill. 11. A History of England: Volume Two, The Tudors - Peter Ackroyd. From Henry the 8th to the death of Good Queen Bess, this is a lot rougher read than the first volume because it's not broken up with those lovely little inserted chapters about the historical context. Instead it's a forced march through monarchical history, which is still written in a very consumable and interesting way, just chewier.
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Mar 1, 2018 11:09
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February update, picked up the pace a bit this month: 6. What the Hell Did I Just Read by David Wong 7. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi 8. Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe by Lisa Randall 9. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan 10. The Little Book of Black Holes by Steven S. Gubser, Frans Pretorius 11. The Doll's Alphabet by Camilla Grudova 12. The Great Movies by Roger Ebert The third of David Wong's John and David series continues its downward trend, but it still had some fun sequences and ideas. Helen Oyeyemi's books always delight me, I need to space those out a bit more because I am running out. I actually read the Doll's Alphabet based on a recommendation from the book store clerk when I was buying another Oyeyemi, and it was similar to her style while being a bit more macabre so it was enjoyable. The two physics books were a little heady for my bus rides, but still full of some really interesting information. I wish the one had more dinosaurs and less dark matter tho. Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore came together a bit at the end but still felt super amateurish. The fascination with Google as a company was extremely dumb. The Great Movies is a series of essays by Ebert about what he considers the 100 most influential/important movies in history. It's extremely interesting and makes me want to read the sequels and watch a bunch of these movies, which might cut into my ability to finish my own challenge. ------- Also a quick reminder to get your books written by women ready for our upcoming theme week starting on Monday, March 5
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Mar 1, 2018 18:43
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Ben Nevis posted:1. Djinn City by Saad Hossein February was a big reading month for me. I finished off a big book that'd slowed me down in January. Then polished off another a couple days later at jury duty. After a few genre novels, I found myself at the library with no idea what to check out and a dead phone, so I grabbed 4 short books from the new books section. I judged them by the covers, natch. I enjoyed some new to me authors and reading without a plan. It was a pleasantly mild adventure that took me some places I might not have otherwise. It may have artificially inflated my book count a little, but here we are. 7. Gnomon by Nick Harkaway - I was excited to see a new book by Harkaway since I've enjoyed the previous I've read. In the near future Britain has become a panopticon and problems are corrected before they can even begin, leading to a happier well adjusted populace. Issues are decided by votes and public debate with a system designed to ensure an invested and informed populace. Diana Hunter, a refusenik who opts out of the system as much as possible, dies during a routine scan, and our main character, Witness Neith is called to investigate. Nieth, and the reader, quickly find themselves tossed into another story, trying to piece together what happened from the unifying threads of several different histories HUnter has internalized. This is a really fascinating book, in that it tells several different stories all to tell one big one. It tickles those pattern matching parts of the brain as well. 8. All Systems Red by Martha Wells - The first of the Murderbot Diaries, this is a bit of xeno exploration, a bit mystery, and a bit thriller. A nice light book starring a murderbot. Intended be part of a panopticon trilogy, but the murderbot wasn't as expected. 9. Null States by Malka Older - The follow up to Infomocracy, this was a good look at a place where Information was incomplete. The biggest downside is that it's mostly a set up for book 3. 10. The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo by Ian Stansel - The first of 4 random shortish fiction books. A classic revenge western with a wife chasing down her husband'ss killer (and brother) on horseback. The twist, it's in modern day California. It actually works. It's a good story, well realized characters, and some meditation on brotherhood and revenge. 11. For Isabel: A Mandala by Antonio Tabucchi - This is billed as an investigation where each new circle of the 'mandala' reveals new information, going deeper and deeper into the life and mysterious death of Isabel. It wasn't so much. I'm not sure why we were even looking for Isabel. The later bits take a weird mysticism (maybe not unexpected give the subtitle). This wasn't bad it just didn't click with me and what I wanted or expected at all. 12. The Silence of the Spirits by Wilfried N'Sonde - The story of an illegal immigrant seeking asylum and redemption in Paris. Clovis is from a war torn African country and fled to Paris to try and find his sister and escape the horror left behind. This was good, and I think a viable entry as a political book, as it really look at the plight of asylum seekers and the need for people and peoples to face up to what they've done. If I don't read anything else that does, I'll throw it in that box. 13. Glory Days by Melissa Fraterrigo - It's debatable whether this is a series of connected short stories or a novella with unusually disconnected chapters. Either way it tells the story of Ingleside a farming town that becomes a weekend destination as farms are bought up for subdivisions and to become an amusement park, the eponymous Glory Days. There's a small cast, mainly Teensy and his daughter Luanne, but a handful of other recurring characters as we see the old ways disappearing and supplanted by a new but temporary revival. This is gritty and ultimately pretty grim as well. It's a well told, and interesting. 14. Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly - Realized I'd read only one (middling) book from the Nebula nominees and this was the first alphabetically. This turned out to be a lot of fun. Set in an alternate world in a time frame that seems to mirror pre-WW2 Germany, this is a mostly a spy novel, with spies and smugglers skulking around trying to make arrangements as a fascist movement comes to power. I thought the characters were good, the story was good, and once it laid it's foundations, it was a pretty exciting read as well. Of the 2 Nebula noms I've read, this one has my vote. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge - 14/80 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 6/14 — bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you: 5 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 3/6 — bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you: 3 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. — bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). — bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. — bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. — bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) 8. Read something written before you were born. — bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). — bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) 10. Read something translated from another language. - For Isabel, A Mandala — bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language 11. Read something political. — bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in 12. Read a poetry collection. — bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets 13. Read a collection of short stories. - Dreams of Falling and Flying — bonus: Read short stories by at least 10 different authors - 2 14. Read a play. — bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years 15. Read something involving history. — bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. 16. Read something biographical. — bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person 17. Read something about religion. — bonus: Read a major religious text 18. Read something from a non-traditional perspective. — bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. — bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. — bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. — bonus: Read something about hunger 22. Read something about the future. - Punch Escrow — bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year Ben Nevis fucked around with this message at 19:14 on Mar 1, 2018 |
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Mar 1, 2018 19:11
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Guy A. Person posted:Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore came together a bit at the end but still felt super amateurish. The fascination with Google as a company was extremely dumb. This is a really apt description of Penumbra. I couldn't put my finger on specific things, but amateurish is about right.
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Mar 1, 2018 19:16
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Ben Nevis posted:This is a really apt description of Penumbra. I couldn't put my finger on specific things, but amateurish is about right. My feeling about both Penumbra and Sourdough was that I enjoyed reading them while I was reading them and they were fun, but when I finished them I didn't feel the desire for more or the need to think or talk about it. I also agree that the obsession with Google in Penumbra is weird and detracts from the book. It really feels like product placement.
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Mar 1, 2018 21:01
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Guy A. Person posted:The third of David Wong's John and David series continues its downward trend, but it still had some fun sequences and ideas. Gah, that's disappointing to hear. I was really hoping he'd somehow picked back up again in the third book. I'm almost tempted to just reread the first rather than bother with the next one.
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Mar 1, 2018 21:03
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Hungry posted:Gah, that's disappointing to hear. I was really hoping he'd somehow picked back up again in the third book. I'm almost tempted to just reread the first rather than bother with the next one. tbf I reread the first two to refresh my memory for the third since they're quick reads, and I enjoyed the second one a lot better the second time around, since I wasn't waiting for it to attain the level of the first one. The third is more of the same and it probably would have been better to just read it fresh though. But yeah the first one was obviously years of his best ideas serialized and then refined for publishing, while the follow ups have some cool ideas they're never going to seem as fresh unless he abandons the world he's already created and goes someplace totally new with it.
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Mar 1, 2018 21:20
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Belated: put me down for 100 books in 2018. If anyone's on Goodreads and wants to be friends, add me here! My reading this year is taking a different tack. At the end of 2017, I compiled a list of ~80 books I really wanted to read in 2018, and have been somewhat successful so far: about 50% of my reading in January/February is from the 'planned' list. January: Lucifer's Hammer - L Niven Homesick for Another World - O Moshfegh Saga, vol 6 Saga, vol 7 Saga, vol 8 Fire and Fury - M Wolff LSD: My Problem Child - A Hoffman The History of Love - N Krauss The Moth Presents All These Wonders: True Stories about Facing the Unknown - Assort. In the Distance - H Diaz Her Body and Other Parties - C Maria Machado Eileen - O Moshfegh February: Rebecca - D de Maurier Freya - A Quinn The Ballad of Black Tom - V LaValle Exit West - M Hamid Future Home of the Living God - L rdrich The Power - N Alderman Hunger - K Hamsun Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube - B Braverman 300 Arguments - S Manguso The Plot Against America - P Roth
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Mar 2, 2018 03:33
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The end of January was hell for me, so here are my thoughts on January and February's books in one huge post: Babel-17, by Samuel R. Delany - I never know what to expect with old sci-fi, and this book pleasantly surprised me. The world and ideas presented varied between interesting and progressive, charmingly 60s-future (you can order a starship crew at a moment’s notice, but you need to use a phone booth to do it), and straight-up bizarre. I doubt that I’ll read more by Delany, but I’m glad I picked this up on a whim. Bird Box, by Josh Malerman - Good atmospheric horror Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf - I read this book wrong. I kept waiting for a plot to happen, only to realize too late that there was no plot, and I should have been reading for the characters and the mood. I’ll probably reread it at some point; I really want to like Virginia Woolf. The Ballad of Black Tom, by Victor LaValle - This was good for Lovecraftian horror - I appreciated that the horror was actually written, instead of being described as “too horrific to describe” or similar, and the book's inversion of the source material made it a fun read. The Golden Notebook, by Doris Lessing - I read this at the wrong time. It was crunch time at work, so I would spend 45 minutes on the bus each morning immersed in the dreary world of this book. Then I would work for 12-14 hours, get a ride home, and fall into bed. Repeat for five weeks, during which time I grew to resent and eventually hate the book for occupying my sole free time with dead, gray 1950s Britain and with Anna Wolf’s whining. Whining about the fall of communism, whining about her bad taste in men, whining about gay people existing, whining about the possibility of someday having to work for a living… When crunch time finished, I flew through the end of the blue notebook and the culminating golden notebook section in one long sitting, missing most of the catharsis that followed the buildup at the end. However, the neatness, for lack of a better word, of the ending was not lost on me. The way that the novel builds Anna up piece by piece, only to swallow its own tail at the end and reveal that she never existed as a character outside of her own writing was fascinating and left me almost (almost) wanting to go back through what was originally presented as the framing story and reread it in this new light. I loved the form of this novel, but I hated the content so, so much. North American Lake Monsters, by Nathan Ballingrud - The more I think about the collection the more I dislike it. Almost every story introduces some interesting sounding Weird poo poo near the beginning, and then does its best to ignore all that while it examines some unmemorable characters and their uninteresting inner selves for the remainder of the story. It’s probably possible to write good stories about human nature while supernatural stuff exists in the background, but you have to have something interesting to say about human nature first. I know this is a big favorite here, but I just wasn’t feeling it. Agents of Dreamland, by Caitlin R. Kiernan - Delivered on the Weird poo poo, even if it was 2010 flavored Weird poo poo (did you know that there’s a fungus that makes zombie ants??). Mostly entertaining trash. The Bone Clocks, by David Mitchell - I loved this. Some sections work better than others and the neologisms get Challenges completed: 8, 11 (and bonus), 13, 15, 22
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Mar 2, 2018 21:36
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Challenge takers -- the BotM for March poll is up if you want a hand in deciding your fate: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3850667
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Mar 2, 2018 22:47
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Here's what I read in February. 6. All Systems Red, by Martha Wells. Fast and fun sci-fi novella with an interesting concept. Ultimately I think there wasn't really enough space to let the characters breathe and let the events and their repercussions really land. Still, good enough for me to anticipate the sequels. 7. The Black Tides of Heaven, by JY Yang (LGBTQIA+ Author). Really cool setting, similar problems as the above. I was aching for more worldbuilding, but there just weren't enough pages. I think I liked this one a little better than the above because of the interesting setting and more fleshed-out characters. Will definitely read the companion novella. 8. Zenith, by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings. A lovely first novel by a person who should not be writing novels at all. Nine different point of view characters, all characterized and written about with the same exact tone. Tons of completely unnecessary worldbuilding, cringeworthy dialogue, and a boring, cliché plot that plays out painfully slow. One of the worst things I've ever read. 9. The Sign of Four, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (SA BotM). The first novel-length Sherlock I've read. A bit underwhelming. Sherlock isn't that cool or fun here and spends more time explaining what he did or what he's going to do than actually doing. Then there's a weird exposition dump at the end that doesn't really justify itself. 10. A Question of Power, by Bessie Head (Wildcard). A woman in a kind of psychic battle with the metaphorical God and metaphorical Satan. I was amazed at the representation of Elizabeth's breaks with reality. Marred slightly by some out-of-left-field homophobia. Goals 1. 10/50 Books Read. 2. %Women Authors: 40% 3. %Authors of Color: 30% 4. LGBTQIA+ Author: Yes: The Black Tides of Heaven, by JY Yang. 5. TBB BotM Participation: Yes: The Sign of Four, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 6. Wildcard: Yes: A Question of Power, by Bessie Head.
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Mar 3, 2018 13:16
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FebruaryMilt Thompson posted:26 Books as a minimum, under 20% rereads (currently 7 books with 1 reread) It was hard to find time to read much this month, but I did finish Thinking Fast and Slow. It's an interesting read, but very information dense, at times dauntingly slow. If you are curious about the fact that your mind can be said to operate at two different speeds with dramatically different results - a fast, instinctive aspect and a slow, introspective one - then it's worth picking up or borrowing from the library. Side Jobs is a collection of short stories from The Dresden Files universe. I enjoyed it on the whole, but especially the stories where Dresden himself is not the narrator. One for fans of the series. I'm adding the following books to the Coming Soon list: The Line Of Beauty by Alan Hollingsworth White Is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell Tales From Development Hell by David Hughes I'll be attempting On Beauty during the theme week. The last time I picked it up, I couldn't get into it, but I'm willing to give it a few more chapters.
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Mar 3, 2018 15:43
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February! 11. Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) - Pierce Brown 12. Pachinko - Min Jin Lee 13. Dear Cyborgs - Eugene Lim 14. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl 15. Carter Beats the Devil - Glen David Gold 16. Abaddon’s Gate (Expanse #3) - James S.A. Corey 17. Idaho - Emily Ruskovich 18. Sing Unburied Sing - Jesmyn Ward 19. Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng I had a good month, reading a lot of good books (thanks to the Tournament of Books, mostly). Pachinko, Idaho, and Sing Unburied Sing were all stellar books, while Dear Cyborgs was... kinda not. I had some good rereads (Charlie, Carter) and continued reading my goofy-rear end sci-fi series (Red Rising, the Expanse). Finally, Little Fires Everywhere was something of a book-club-book but was quite well-written and at times quite funny. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (19/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Ward, Ng, Lee, Ruskovich (25%) 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - Lim, Ward, Ng, Lee (Just over 20%!) 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. 8. Read something written before you were born. - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - Iron Gold 10. Read something translated from another language. 11. Read something political. 12. Read a poetry collection. 13. Read a collection of short stories. 14. Read a play. 15. Read something involving history. 16. 17. 18. 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. 20. 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. 22. Read something about the future. - Iron Gold, Expanse 3
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Mar 4, 2018 00:41
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I finally finished the dense non-fiction book I was reading. I've also started a new job and all the fun that goes with that, so I haven't been reading as much as I would like. I'm on track for the year but still need to do more. Only four books in February. 5. The Sign of the Four - Arthur Conan Doyle. My first Sherlock novel, and boy was it filled with colonial racism and sexism. The book was interesting for a while, but the ending seemed to drag on. In the BotM thread I think I read that the short stories are better, so I may have to find some of those for later. 6. Korea Through Myths and Legends - Robin Rhee. A lot of my reading will likely be Korean or Korea-related this year, as I live here and want to know more about the history and style of the people. I haven't read many Korean authors either, and much Korean literature is unknown in the west. So I guess this is part of my personal challenge to learn more and experience more of the culture I live in. Anyway, this book featured a lot of small little stories about Korean myths and folklore. Some of them were very interesting. Especially the one about the guy stabbing a baby and then marrying her as an adult, and that signifies the happy marriage bond. 7. Asia's Unknown Uprisings Volume 1: South Korean Social Movements in the 20th Century - George Katsiaficas. This book was pretty much a textbook. Tough read, tiny font, the works. But so much information. I learned about how terrible the previous governments of Korea have been, Japanese colonialism, and US meddling. Sad. 8. A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin. An easier read after the harder book. A little disappointing. Too much riding around in a boat. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. 8/40, 20% 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 3/8, 37.5% — bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you. 2/3, 66% 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 1/8, 12.5% — bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you 1/1, 100% 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 0 — bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 0/8, 0% — bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it.The Marquise of O- and Other Stories by Heinrich von Kleist — bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. — bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) Beloved - Toni Morrison. My wife told me to read this the other day. — bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). — bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) — bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language — bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in 12. Read a poetry collection. — bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets 13. Read a collection of short stories. — bonus: Read short stories by at least 10 different authors 14. Read a play. — bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years 15. Read something involving history. — bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. 16. Read something biographical. — bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person 17. Read something about religion. — bonus: Read a major religious text 18. Read something from a non-traditional perspective. — bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. — bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. — bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. — bonus: Read something about hunger 22. Read something about the future. — bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year
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Mar 4, 2018 04:16
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