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Ben Nevis posted:48. Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse I pulled off the big list from the beginning and just restricted it to last month so I can keep track of where I am. This was a bit of a mixes month. A couple didn't pan out as well as I'd hoped. One was way good (and was an unsolicited reputation from a colleague of my wife's). 2 were focused on civil wars I don't know too much about. I didn't make huge strides on the challenge this month, other than numbers. I do have 3 selected for some remaining challenges, so I can hopefully pare this down a bit in September. 59. The Bottom of the Sky by Fresan Rodrigo - This was an odd read and any description I provide likely sells it short. It's not so much sci-fi as it is about what sci-fi means or why sci-fi. It does this through the relationship of 3 friends, starting in a sci-fi club when they are young. There's hope, sci-fi, novels, 9/11, aliens, and at what cost is the world saved? I enjoyed this, but I'm left with the lingering feeling that I didn't quite get it. There's something about Argentinian writers, perhaps. 60. Black Helicopters by Caitlin R Kiernan - The previous goon was right. This isn't bad, it's weaker than her previous story, and ultimately, not a sequel, despite being sorta billed as one. 61. The Judge Hunter by Christopher Buckley - I wasn't familiar with Buckley, but apparently I ought to have been. Samuel Pepys has a leech for a nephew and arranges for him to be sent off to the Colonies to hunt down 2 judges who signed the warrant for the execution of Charles I. Balty, his nephew, tramps around falling in love with a Quaker while falling out with various governors and unwittingly setting the stage for the second Dutch English war. This was a fun read, a bit of a romp through 17th century New England. There are few comparisons to modern day America that caught my eye and provided a bit more substance than a strict romp. I'm quite likely to pick up more from Buckley in the future. 62. My Cat Yugoslavia by Patjim Statovci - This book has 2 stories intertwined, a woman in Kosovo falls in love and marries an abusive man and their family has to flee Kosovo with the growing violence under Milosevic and a young man the child of refugees who falls in love with an abusive cat and tries to find some connection to his home. The parallels between the two stories are interesting, and it's well written, it just never quite comes together as much as I'd like. Not bad though. 62. A Man Called Ove by Frederic Backman - This is a book about a curmudgeon stuck in his ways with distinct ideas of what's right and how things should be and what he does with his time after his forced early retirement. I really enjoyed this one. Highlight of the month for me and one of the most enjoyable reads of the year so far. 63. Half Gods by Akil Kumarasamy - This is a collection of linked short stories. The focus is on a Tamil family who fled Sri Lanka during the Sir Lankan civil war. While not ordered chronologically, the stories show a glimpse of the world before the civil war, during the start of it, the difficulties of fleeing and becoming refugees, the troubles integrating and growing up in America, and friends left behind. This was a well done series of stories. 64. Noir by Christopher Moore - While not bad, this was pretty much the most disappointing of the month. I like Moore. I enjoy noir. Somehow this just didn't synch up though. It starts fairly strong, but goes off the rails a bit until it's no longer the noir parody it ostensibly started as but some other thing entirely, and I didn't enjoy the other thing as much. 65. Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennet - The starting novel of RJB's new series. Basically fantasy with some tech, driven by "scrived" sigils that can change some properties of materials. The city is rules by vast merchant houses and completely lawless otherwise. Sancia is a thief who finds herself is possession of something quite valuable the could change society as they know it. There's several heists, lots of action, and a pretty interesting world with some critiques of capitalism. I enjoyed, I'll most likely read the remainder of the series when it comes out. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge - 65/80 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 22 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you: 18 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 18 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you: 15 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. - The Merry Spinster 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). - Lincoln in the Bardo 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) - A Man Called Ove 8. Read something written before you were born. bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born - Going After Cacciato 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - The Night Market 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 - Frankenstein in Baghdad 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 - 7 14. Read a play. bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years - Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike 15. Read something involving history. bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. - The Opium War 16. Read something biographical. - Eat the Apple 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
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Sep 4, 2018 17:11
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16. Left Behind: Busted! -- Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins 17. Contact -- Carl Sagan 18. Left Behind: Death Strike -- Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins 19. Out of Your Mind -- Alan Watts 20. The Alchemist -- Paulo Coelho BL Challenges Completed: 1 | 2 | 3 |
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Sep 10, 2018 06:39
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2018 Reading Challenge Theme Week #13 - Challenge no. 18: Read something from a non-traditional perspective. This is another really open ended one and I am excited to hear what people decide to read for this one. It is also kind of a cheat IMO because "traditional perspective" is vague enough to mean whatever you feel like, although I would interpret it as a first or third person narrative told by a human(ish) narrator. In past year's I've read Orhan Pamuk's My Name is Red which has chapter narrated by inanimate objects or abstract concepts like the color red. Last year I read Helen Oyeyemi's White is for Witching which is narrated in part by a haunted house. This year I've read a couple that could apply including Vorrh which shifts between different narrative styles and POV's depending on which part of the story is being told, I've also read Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov which has some chapters narrated by a dog. Bonus challenge: Read something narrated in the 2nd person This is a little more narrow but there's several good ones out there and probably more on the periphery. Popular/famous ones are Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, Albert Camus' The Fall, and Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerny. I am picking up Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins at the library after work, I'm pretty excited as I haven't read one from him in a long while and I want to see if he holds up.
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Sep 10, 2018 15:59
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A significant portion of NK Jemisin's The Inheritance Trilogy (first book is The Fifth Season) is in second person too, if people want a fantasy book for that challenge. I feel like I read another one this year that fits this but I can't remember what it would have been.
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Sep 10, 2018 16:07
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August! 43. Norse Mythology. Neil Gaiman. A very decent introduction to Norse myths. Kind of funny, kind of sad, a little too simple, but that is fine. 44. Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist. Thomas Levenson. A pretty entertaining book, especially the parts about Newton and his investigations. Too bad it got boring after a while. 45. Statistics for Dummies. Deborah J. Rumsey. For learning and reference. Just fine for beginners, I suppose. I still need to learn more, though. 46. Overlord, Vol. 1. Kugane Maruyama. Nothing special, the premise is ok and the art is generic, at least it was quick and fun. 47. The Crystal Cave. Mary Steward. I don't understand how this book got popular, it reads a little amateurish and with a lot of forced events. The only interesting character is Merlin and not that much. The story is just okay, but it had many plots that went nowhere. Just mediocre. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge: (47/60) bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you 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 (5/6) 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 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 bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) 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 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 bonus: Read a major religious text bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person 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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Sep 12, 2018 20:05
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Guy A. Person posted:2018 Reading Challenge Theme Week #13 - Challenge no. 18: Read something from a non-traditional perspective. To this I might add Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey, a collection of 10 short stories told by animals caught up in human conflicts. Each story also has a tie to another author, whether it's a Kerouac-ian mussel or Tolstoy's turtle. It's an interesting collection and pretty good all told. quote:Bonus challenge: Read something narrated in the 2nd person Thanks for this, I wasn't real sure where to start here, since some of the lists I've looked up definitely have things I wouldn't quie consider on them. My library has that Robbins book as well, so I may wait for you to see how that turns out.
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Sep 12, 2018 20:46
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Ben Nevis posted:Thanks for this, I wasn't real sure where to start here, since some of the lists I've looked up definitely have things I wouldn't quie consider on them. My library has that Robbins book as well, so I may wait for you to see how that turns out. If you haven't read If on a Winter's Night I would highly recommend that as well. I had already read that and the other two I mentioned and they are all good for different reasons, but Calvino is fantastic. Weirdly I had read a bunch of his stuff and thought it was okay 5-10+ years ago but then I read The Nonexistant Knight and something clicked and I have loved everything I have read by him since, even when revisiting the ones that didn't blow me away before. Only IoaWNaT is from second person of course, but he has a lot of really good stuff.
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Sep 13, 2018 16:02
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Guy A. Person posted:If you haven't read If on a Winter's Night I would highly recommend that as well. I had already read that and the other two I mentioned and they are all good for different reasons, but Calvino is fantastic. Weirdly I had read a bunch of his stuff and thought it was okay 5-10+ years ago but then I read The Nonexistant Knight and something clicked and I have loved everything I have read by him since, even when revisiting the ones that didn't blow me away before. Only IoaWNaT is from second person of course, but he has a lot of really good stuff. Yeah, it's on the list, broadly speaking. The library doesn't have that though, so it's up to vagaries of ILL.
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Sep 13, 2018 16:15
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2018 Reading Challenge Theme Week #14 - Challenge no. 19: Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. This week is Banned Books Week so uhhhhh read a banned or challenged book! This is pretty easy, there's lists all over the place and tons of books have been challenged at various points by various entities because they're are a lot of squares out there, so just pick one and go hog wild. I am currently reading War Trash by Ha Jin which was (and maybe still is?) banned in China. I actually found him searching for poets, although this is a novel, so I am hoping to check out some of his poetry if this is any good (so far it is!) Bonus challenge: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin This is a little trickier, since I never did find a comprehensive resource, but you should have luck by searching by a particular country. I actually read Touba and the Meaning of Night by Shahrnush Parsipur a few weeks ago for this; it had been on my list and I knew some of her other novels were banned, so I double checked and it seems like the ban still applies (or did as of a year ago). I didn't like it quite as much as Women without Men which is still pretty high praise since that one was brilliant. It was still an extremely compelling read. I am pretty sure WwM is also still banned FYI, as is previous thread challenge The Blind Owl if anyone hasn't read that. I would highly recommend all three.
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Sep 26, 2018 18:53
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I read The Accusation: Forbidden Stories of North Korea by Bandi for this and the bonus challenge. It's a book of short stories by a pseudonymous author still living (or possibly no longer) in North Korea, about what it's like to live there, whose work was smuggled out of the country into South Korea. Also the Humble Bundle is offering a bunch for Banned Books Week: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/forbidden-books-2018?hmb_source=navbar&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=tile_index_6
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Sep 26, 2018 23:33
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I haven't gotten to this one yet (though I'm knocking out 4 other challenges this month). I'm glad to see it's Banned or Challenged, rather than just banned. Sometimes it's hard tracking down whether something was actually banned. Last year I read Lolita, and probably most people already know it's good. 2016 I went YA and read both The Chocolate War and A Day No Pigs Would Die. The Chocolate War was probably banned for trying to teach kids that the world is just full of bastards. It's right, but it's probably too young to snuff out some illusions. A Day No Pigs Would Die was one I really enjoyed, though it left me conflicted because the frequently quoted precepts of Shakerism were apparently more or less made up whole cloth. Nonetheless, pretty solid.
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Sep 27, 2018 19:48
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Yeah absolutely, it is even hard trying to find out what is still currently banned and where, and if it was fully banned or just challenged/censored. But I think the point of Banned Book Week (and therefor this challenge) is just to get people to look into how and why books get banned and to stick it to the man a bit by reading something that probably made some idiot conservative squirm at some point, so just do your best everyone! Oh! And I also forgot to recommend Censoring an Iranian Love Story which is really good and gets the bonus of being banned while being specifically about censoring in banning books
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Sep 27, 2018 20:00
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quote:
In August and September, I read twelve books: 32 - Infomocracy, by Malka Older. Near-future SF novel that explores the bureaucracy and tensions and cultural effects a one-world government system might actually have. In a world of "microdemocracy" the population is carved up into enclaves or "centenals" governed by corporate or ideological groups whose influence is truly global. Older flits between characters who all have skin in the election game: pollsters, influencers, activists - and each one feels personable and fleshed-out, even those the reader spends less time with. I was pleasantly surprised that a novel ostensibly about hardcore politicking and polling data turned out to be so exciting and interesting, and a genuine page-turner. I can't wait to check out the sequel! 33 - Dead Funny: Britain's Best Comedians Turn To Horror, edited by Robin Ince and Johnny Mains. An anthology of short horror stories (and one poem), all written by comedians. The stories vary wildly in topic and quality, but seem to centre around common themes of isolation, loss of control, delusion. I'm familiar enough with the comedy careers of the writers that I could definitely feel each one's voice in their stories: Stewart Lee's piece is essentially a long, self-indulgent monologue; Reece Shearsmith rubs the reader's face in awfulness before a final superfluous but satisfying twist; Tim Key writes a fun and oddly sweet little poem. I did have a good time with this collection, and phraes like "viscous dog" will stay with me for a long while. 34 - 920 London, by Remy Boydell. I read the first draft of this, as a Patreon backer. 920 London follows a pair of troubled queer dogs in 2005 London, with adventure-vignettes about bad exes, bad parties, cheap drugs and a home magic mushroom grow-op. Done in Boydell's signature style of soft watercolours and reappropriated cartoon animals, which throws harsher images and fraught emotional moments into sharp relief. I lived in and around north London in the years after this is set, and a lot of the locations and atmosphere were familiar to me, even if the social aspects weren't. 35 - The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin. A beautiful, deep and unnervingly relatable novel about an anarchist society twinned with an Earth-like civilisation, separated by space and politics and perhaps something much deeper: the gulf between ideologies. When Shevek, a scientist from a world without government, laws or private property, travels to the prosperous world of Urras, he becomes the catalyst for an ongoing dialectic between social norms, priorities and ethics. Contrasted with his collectivist life on his homeworld, LeGuin describes with rich detail and emotional honesty what a truly anarchist world might look like - and whether it would be truly "anarchist" at all. This book made me think hard about my own place in the world, and despite some heavy discussions of morality and political structure, still felt very human at its core. I can see why so many people consider this a masterpiece. 36 - Bone: The Complete Edition, by Jeff Smith. 1300-page omnibus collection of the epic fantasy graphic novel, where three cartoon cousins are displaced into a sweeping high-fantasy world of prophecy, rat-creatures and frightened townsfolk. There's a burly grandma, a dragon-slaying scam, and the adventure is tempered with a healthy dose of gentle humour throughout. The stakes rise inexorably as the tone darkens, and what starts as a good-natured romp morphs into a world's-end conflict of warring factions and near-death experiences. The pacing is superb, the artwork is simple but lovely (the sweeping vistas in particular really evoke that fantasy-wilderness feeling); almost every character feels like their own person. Reading this felt like a blend of Lord of the Rings, Asterix, and the glut of epic fantasy films of the 80s. I'm so glad I finally got round to reading through this whole saga. 37 - All Creatures Great And Small, by James Herriot. Book Barn BOTM pick, and I listened to the audiobook. This is just delightful. The memoirs of a country vet working in 1930s Yorkshire, it's a window to a bygone age and a profession that has changed immeasurably in the last 80 years. Written episodically, Herriot builds up a rich and vivid world of farmers, vets and rural society. Everything from the trouble with calving to cinema etiquette is described with good-natured wit and a real empathy that makes even the most inconsequential chapters feel warm and satisfying. Once or twice I found myself getting very emotional, as Herriot's respect for animals and the humans who care for them radiates off every page. There is a cast of characters who ended up fully-formed and real in my mind's eye, and even though I have little interest in country landscapes or agriculture I was drawn in utterly. I've never read much nature writing, or medical writing for that matter, and now I feel I really ought to read more. After a long and difficult summer, this was an excellent balm. 38 - , Said The Shotgun To The Head, by Saul Williams. An epic poem in the vein of 'Howl' - Ginsberg is even namechecked in the acknowledgements. This takes the form of a ten-part rambling, psychedelic monologue comparing and conflating religious and romantic love. The language and themes get increasingly fervent and stray into political thoughts here and there, and Williams builds a cosmology of the sacred feminine as the true embodiment of the divine. In terms of typography the book plays fast and loose with font sizes and layout, often with single thoughts or words getting an entire page to themselves. The effect, when read in a single sitting, is to capture the freewheeling euphoria of a life-changing attraction and romantic yearning. It does feel less developed and intricate than his other work, especially later poetry, but his passion is infectious and there are a good few turns of phrase that stuck with me. 39 - Londonstani, by Gautam Malkani. Novel about a teenage wannabe gangster in a majority-Asian borough of London. A smart kid who's fallen in with a bad crowd, Jas's narration is a blend of code-switching, slang and braggadocio that sometimes feels overwritten. Malkani weaves a pretty by-the-numbers tale of an aspiring hard man biting off far more than he can chew, and occasionally it works. Malkani has a lot to say about ideas of authenticity, of masculinity, of keeping up appearances, and every character is beset by self-conscious maintenance of their public image. There are a couple of satisfying reveals over the course of the book, and some of the characters are fleshed out enough for the reader to become invested. But a lot of this felt like a kind of cautionary tale written for young teens, crossed with a Clockwork Orange-style "youth of today" gawking. I can't ignore the truly staggering punchline twist at the end which had me frowning in disbelief, though. I'm not sure whom this book is for. No doubt it goes some way to capturing the experience of being a disaffected Asian teen under the clouds of mid-00s London. But as a whole I found this novel frustrating and often simply distracting. 40 - Soppy, by Philippa Rice. A short and very sweet book, mostly illustrations and comics, chronicling the growth of a romantic relationship. There are troubles, but they're small moments in a collection of small moments. Even brief kindnesses are given as much importance as major events. The book is exactly as soppy as its title and simple art style suggest, and I enjoyed it very much. 41 - The Three-Body Problem, by Liu Cixin. Fascinating and neargriping hard-SF set in the Tomorrow-AD future and during China's Cultural Revolution and its fallout. A scientist investigating shady research discovers a strange MMORPG and a web of conspiracy, and that's just the first two acts. The final thrust of the book is, as they said in the past, "off the chain", and had me grinning from ear to ear. Really great stuff, and I can absolutely see why this got the Hugo award a couple of years back. 42 - Y2K9: The Dog Who Saved The World, by Todd Strasser. I picked this up for a penny because the cover was very, very entertaining to me. The actual contents of the book are, at best, mediocre, and at worst dreadful. Even when I was in the target age range for this book I would have been immensely disappointed. 43 - Archangel, by William Gibson, Michael St. John Smith and Jackson Butch Guice. Gibson's first foray into comics, and it's a short WWII pulp thriller with a fun sci-fi hook. Unfortunately the entertaining and engrossing premise falls away around the halfway mark, and the overall feeling is of a very rushed production. This would have been excellent as a short story, or as a considerably longer comic miniseries. My suspicion is that jamming everything into five issues meant cutting out a lot of connective tissue between scenes and even between panels within scenes. While the artwork is dynamic and exciting, with each transition my brain had to take a few moments to fill in the gaps. The last scene feels hurried and tacked-on, and according to the afterword, it literally was changed at the last minute. While I was disappointed by the comic, I'd be interested to see Gibson tackle a longer project in the medium, perhaps one where he and his collaborators have space to breathe. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge - 52 - 43 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 1/3 of them are written by women. - 16 - 4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 23, 24, 30, 32, 35, 40 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you - 11 - 4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 23, 24, 32, 40 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 1/3 of them are written by someone non-white. - 15 - 5, 6, 11, 12, 18, 19, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 32, 38, 39, 41 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you - 10 - 5, 6, 11, 12, 19, 24, 25, 32, 39, 41 bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 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) - 'Redshirts' (suggested by flatmate). 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) bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language 14. Read a play. bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person bonus: Read a major religious text bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person 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
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Sep 30, 2018 05:05
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September! Got lots of books in because everything is terrible and I don't want to leave the house. 66. The Troop - Nick Cutter - This was a horror-genre darling when it came out, but honestly I was pretty let down by it. The body horror/gore was early-80s level but felt so contrived that it was never that gross, just tiresome. Definitely weaker, IMO, than some of Cutter's other work. The Deep is equally silly but better executed. 67. Sourcery - Terry Pratchett - So I know everybody loved Discworld and they're everybody's favorite funny fantasy books, but this is the first book where I kind of get it. I've enjoyed other Discworld novels so far, but this one was fun. 68. Born a Crime - Trevor Noah - Funny, interesting, painful, and personal. I was expecting a fairly straightforward comedian memoir with little bits of Noah's past peppered in for color, but the book maybe mentions the fact that he's a comedian once. I'm sure I would have known that if I read a synopsis beforehand, but it doesn't really matter, this was infinitely better than a standard memoir, and still cutting and funny in a way you expect from the author. Highly recommended. 69. The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison - This comes up a lot in the SF/F thread when people ask for cozy fantasy novels and boy howdy is it 100% that. The biggest complaint I see about it is that the protagonist kind of manages to solve all the problems without a great deal of struggle, but honestly that's a lot of the charm of the book. The struggles aren't world-ending evil magicians, they're just one guy trying very hard to do what he thinks is right as often as he can, despite being thrown into a totally unfamiliar world. Yeah, some of the conflict is contrived and the whole nature of the book means you know everything will work out in the end, but it was still a very inviting read and had some genuinely emotional moments for me. One of my favorite books this year. (side note, I've heard people say the audiobook version is a bit tough to follow. Having read the text version, I can totally see why, some of the names would be murder to keep track of without seeing them in print, and there's a fairly useful "glossary" of characters that you'd want at hand.) 70. Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett - This is my favorite Discworld so far, in large part because I got a degree in classical theater and the whole book is a string of Shakespearean references and dad jokes, often both. 71. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - I was a bit surprised how "just okay" this book seemed to me. I wonder how much of its popularity was a matter of timing. Not to say it's bad or contrived or anything, but it's a fairly familiar story, only with occasional cultural references to Afghani culture. tbh I was expecting to get thrown a little more in the deep end. Still, I enjoyed it, but I doubt I'll read anything else by Hosseini. He's not mindblowing or anything, and dear god the guy could not leave a single theme or symbol un-explained for the entire course of the book. Apparently he did not trust you to figure out that this book that's supposedly about the Afghan-Russian war and cultural displacement is secretly a book about a boy trying very hard to gain his father's approval :shh: 72. North American Lake Monsters - Nathan Ballingrud - This book reminds me a lot of Her Body and Other Parties in how it's nominally a collection of horror short stories, but digs much deeper into genuine human fears and shortcomings than normal horror fare. It's basically Horror Short Stories: Modern American Social Tensions Edition. Goes some dark places and really takes the mask off some tough realities. I can't say I enjoyed it, but I was riveted by it, and I think that means it was successful. 73. Pyramids - Terry Pratchett - This may be my least favorite Discworld so far, tied with Equal Rites. While that one was kind of boring to me, this one felt very disconnected and unfocused. It's basically an extended joke on a particular bit of new-age weirdness that went mostly out of style in the mid 80's, so there's a lot of cultural connections that were really missing for me. Still had its moments, but if I ever re-read Discworld somewhere down the line, I'm almost certainly skipping this one. 74. The Devil in Silver - Victor LaValle - Another "horror" novel that is really poorly served by the label. There's very little about it that's scary or even intended to be. It feels very much like LaValle's stab at writing a modern-day Cuckoo's Nest with a little more pathos for the long-term committed patients. Overall it's an okay book, had some good moments, but it has an insufferably annoying literary equivalent of the omniscient third-person narrator turning to the camera and pulling faces in response to what's happening in the book. Beyond that quirk, it was fine, though reading it in the hellscape that is Trump America, it's already dated, sometimes in distressingly funny ways. 75. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn - Wow. I somehow managed to go into this one blind, and I'm so very glad I did. Blew me away. The book drags occasionally after the twist is revealed and the last, like, sixth or eighth of the book is kind of painful to read, with a very "hmm" ending, but it was still pretty good. If you think you're remotely interested in reading this, just jump in, because I'm apparently the only one in my group of bookfriends who has ever managed to not have the book spoiled for them. 76. Altered Carbon - Richard Morgan - Overall a pretty decent cyberpunk-noir book. I kind of wish it had explored the idea of identity and personality and how it relates to sleeves a little more, and spent a little less time sniffing its own farts about how great a detective story the author thought it was, but I guess you can't ask for much from a first novel published in 2002, and I enjoyed it well enough. Would be a significantly better book if the painfully badly written sex scenes were cut, probably entirely. I guess Morgan's kind of notorious for awful sex scenes and holy poo poo, he should be. I've been embarrassed by bad sex in books before, but I've never been embarrassed for the author before. Challenges remaining 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge: 76/70 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language 17. Read something about religion. bonus: Read a major religious text
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Oct 1, 2018 19:33
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Havent updated in a couple of months. I have still been reading, but have also been quite busy. Not looking like Im going to hit my number for the year unless I go for a lot of short stories. 24. The Marquise of O and other Stories by Heinrich von Kleist. This was my wildcard. Honestly, not a big fan. The stories themselves were somewhat interesting, but they just ran on and on. For some reason, when a paragraph spans multiple pages, I find it extremely hard for me to read. And most of these stories were like that. 25. Revenge by Yoko Ogawa. Interesting little horror book. A group of stories that sort of follow each other. I enjoyed this. 26. Audition by Ryu Murakami. Read this for my local book club. Was hard to determine who the antagonist was honestly. Felt very dated even though the English translation was recent. 27. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James. One of those books I keep thinking about. A LONG book. Took me most of October to get through. However, very good. I found myself speaking Jamaican patois sometimes. 28. Home by Hyun Jin-gun. Short story. Old Korean literature, written during the colonial period. 29. The Overstory by Richard Powers. Another book club book. Really enjoyed this. Every time I see a tree getting cut or wood being used I get sad now. 30. The Accusation by Bandi. Korean literature from the other side of the border. Sad, but good. 31. 고구려 나들이 by Jeon Ho-tae. Korean childrens book read while waiting for a haircut. It counts for the bonus! 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. 31/40 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 9/31 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you. 7/9 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 14/31 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you 13/14 bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 1/31 bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum 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 bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) 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 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 person 17. Read something about religion. bonus: Read a major religious text bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of bonus: Read something about hunger 22. Read something about the future. bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year cryptoclastic fucked around with this message at 02:20 on Dec 9, 2018 |
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Oct 2, 2018 13:03
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Ben Nevis posted:59. The Bottom of the Sky by Fresan Rodrigo A pretty decent month this month. I read 7 books and managed to finish off 3 challenges. I realize earlier I'd said 4, but this last one is dragging. I'll have it done by the end of the week, but putting this off even longer to up that count seems like cheating. For bonus fun though, I stumbled into the one for Challenge 17. It was unplanned, and wound up being excellent. I should have a read about Music finished off shortly, and after that it's just needing a Wildcard, something from a non-traditional perspective and a banned book. The end is in sight. 66. Vengeance by Zachary Lazar - Lazar, the novel's main character, is writing an article about the passion play performed in a Louisiana prison. In talking with an inmate, the inmate reveals he was wrongly convicted because the jury didn't understand a complicated story. Lazar sets out to investigate the story and finds it complicated not just by the facts of the story, but by race, class, and other social factors. As he tries to unravel this, his view on whether the conviction was wrongful or not shifts. There's a lot crammed into this slim volume, but it was a pretty good read, and could count as political were you so inclined. 67. Any Man by Amber Tamblyn - Hey wait, wasn't she on House? Yes, yes she was. She's also married to David Cross, and apparently now a novelist. And quite involved in the #TimesUp aspect of the #MeToo movement. In a way, this is the novel that #MeToo wrote. Tamblyn imagined a female rapist who did horrible things, yet was as difficult to pin down prosecute as systemic misogyny. This was a brisk read, and a fairly enjoyable one. It maybe didn't make me think quite as much as I think Tamblyn might have hoped. If you're curious it deserves a recommendation just for the tweet chapter, which imagines tweets after the revelation to a new victim. It's hysterical and just nails how we react to and commodify tragedy. A pretty good read, and again, probably political if you'd like. 68. The Marvellous Equations of the Dread: A Novel in Bass Riddim by Marcia Douglas - This was my accidental read about Religion. The religion of course, is Rastafarianism. Douglas here focuses mainly on a deaf woman named Leenah, her family, and her association with Bob Marley. While they were never lovers, she and Bob are soul mates. When Bob returns from Zion inhabiting the body of a fallen angel and homeless busker, she's the only one to see him for who he is. And that's not the half of it. The novel ties through to music, to Rasta, to colonialism, to violence, and the unique history, culture, and bass riddim of Jamaica, land of sugar and sweet water. In poverty and downpressed the children of Jamaica call out for a way salvation. This frenetic read bounces through time and space, from slave ships to the modern day to Ethiopia and even to Zion itself. While it never drops into patois, there's a bit of dialect and a fair helping of Iyaric. The bass riddim of this one makes you want to stand up and chant down Babylon. Would recommend. 69. Tacky Goblin by T Sean Steele - A boy experiences psychosomatic leg pains on the even of moving out of his parents house. Fortunately, the spot on the wall takes his legs and gives him instead the legs of the intruder who was watching him sleep. Thus it is resolved that he moves out, and this collection of diary entries about moving out and in with his sister continues. This is all sort of crazy and off the wall. At times it seemed meaningful, but more often seemed monkeycheese. Somehow this is rated like 4.25 on goodreads. I don't get it. 70. Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein - A book about Hunger. Sort of. When faced with this challenge, I searched my library's catalog for books about Hunger. When that didn't turn up anything, then for books with Hunger in the title, which turned up this. Brownstein as you may be aware was a founding member of Sleater-Kinney and later went on to do Portlandia (and a Sleater-Kinney reunion). The book focuses on Brownstein's childhood and her time with the band. Touching on the theme (and title) it's very much about Brownstein's hunger (if you will) for attention. Or recognition. You get a bit of an idea that if no one notices her, she isn't there. A solid read. 71. The Queen of Swords by RS Belcher - The third in Belcher's Golgotha series. Belcher leaves the Weird West with Maude on a pirate/legal adventure with the (maybe) magical (sort of?) assassin ladies. Generally good fun. 72. Blackacre by Monica Youn - So there I was standing outside my kids daycare chatting with the other parents about reading. Needing a poetry selection, I asked if anyone had any favorites. And one of them had gone to high school with someone who is apparently a good poet now, Monica Youn. I looked it up, and sure enough Youn had won some awards and general acclaim for her 2016 collection, Blackacre, so here we are. It's divided into 4 sections, the first centers on a hanging with a variety on hanged men and women and the hanging tree. The second I don't recall. The third is series (color)acre, that starts looking at a land through different seasons, and winds up being about people. The final is Blackacre, the titular work, which is meditations on Milton's Sonnet 19 and oblique comparisons to the author's own struggle with infertility. I'm not real sure what to make of all this. My favorite may be the second iteration of Goldacre, which was only sort of about Twinkies. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge - 72/80 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 26 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you: 22 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 20 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you: 17 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. - The Merry Spinster 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). - Lincoln in the Bardo 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) - A Man Called Ove 8. Read something written before you were born. bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born - Going After Cacciato 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - The Night Market 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 - Frankenstein in Baghdad 12. Read a poetry collection. - Blackacre 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 - 7 14. Read a play. bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years - Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike 15. Read something involving history. bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. - The Opium War 16. Read something biographical. - Eat the Apple bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person 17. Read something about religion. - The Marvellous Equations of the Dread 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 - Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl 22. Read something about the future. - Punch Escrow bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year
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Oct 2, 2018 16:08
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September! 64. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - Anne Fadiman 65. The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5) - Diana Gabaldon 66. Stones Fall - Iain Pears 67. Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng 68. Heart-Shaped Box - Joe Hill 69. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling 70. The Mars Room - Rachel Kushner 71. To the Bright Edge of the World - Eowyn Ivey 72. French Exit - Patrick DeWitt 73. Yes Please - Amy Poehler 74. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling Wow, I ended up reading a lot this month. Some were fairly lightweight (Yes Please, Harry Potter) and some were heavy (either size-wise - the Gabaldon) or subject-wise (Kushner and Fadiman). Standouts included The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which detailed the miscommunications between Hmong refugees and American doctors that led to the tragic fate of an epileptic little girl; Heart-Shaped Box, which was a seriously spooky and very good horror story; The Mars Room, which told the story of a women's prison and its detainees, filled with dark humor and startling insight; To the Bright Edge of the World, an almost epistolary novel about Alaskan exploration; and French Exit, a comedic little novel about formerly-rich, dissolute socialites descending into squalor. Stone's Fall, my wildcard, seemed to drag a little at times but had a quite memorable ending; I'm interested in reading more of Pears at some point. Honestly, this may have been the best month yet for sheer quantity of good books. Now I just need to find a poetry collection - I had thought about Leaves of Grass but the first few pages left me kind of cold. I'll have to do some looking around... 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (74/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Rowling, Gabaldon, Fadiman, Ng, Kushner, Ivey, Poehler 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - Ng 4. 5. 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. - Stone's Fall 7. 8. 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - French Exit, The Mars Room 10. 11. 12. Read a poetry collection. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Read something about religion. - The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.
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Oct 4, 2018 05:32
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September! 48. War and Peace. Leo Tolstoy. Amazing book, totally worth the time spent reading it and rereading again. 49. Reamde. Neal Stephenson. A pretty fun book with an interesting story and good characters... just too drat long. 50. Monster, Vol. 1. Naoki Urasawa. A very nice manga with good characters and an interesting mystery and story. Pretty good. 51. The Wasteland, Prufrock and Other Poems. T.S. Eliot. I'm still working on my comprehension of poetry. But I must say that this was pretty good, or at least, I took some from it. 52. La revolucioncita mexicana. Eduardo del Rνo. Pretty good, sometimes is interesting to read about historical events in a different perspective... I mean, different from the official line. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge: (52/60) bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you 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 (6/6) 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 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 bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in 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 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 bonus: Read a major religious text bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person 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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Oct 4, 2018 23:41
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Looking back over this, I'm going to need a Wild Card. Anyone?
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Oct 5, 2018 15:05
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Ben Nevis posted:Looking back over this, I'm going to need a Wild Card. Anyone? How about A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller Jr., purely because I was talking about it with someone earlier today.
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Oct 5, 2018 15:40
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MockingQuantum posted:How about A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller Jr., purely because I was talking about it with someone earlier today. It's a great book, but I've read it already.
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Oct 5, 2018 15:49
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Ben Nevis posted:It's a great book, but I've read it already. how about Space and Place by Yi-Fu Tuan
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Oct 5, 2018 15:57
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Guy A. Person posted:how about Space and Place by Yi-Fu Tuan Well now that's an interesting suggestion. Thanks!
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Oct 5, 2018 16:48
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I just read another one of his called Escapism, which I loved. I honestly can't remember if I learned about him on these forums or what but he's a super interesting guy, a geographer/philosopher essentially. His stuff is also super digestible. Enjoy!
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Oct 5, 2018 17:11
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SeptemberMilt Thompson posted:26 Books as a minimum, under 20% rereads (currently 28 books with 2 rereads) COMPLETED 24. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante 25. Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines 26. Ex-Patriots by Peter Clines 27. Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein 28. No Hunger In Paradise by Michael Calvin In progress: Pachinko by Min-Jin Lee A good month. My Brilliant Friend was definitely worth reading. I had heard that Elena Ferrante had become a literary phenomenon a few years back while I was living in Italy. This is the first of her Neapolitan Novels, a Bildungsroman about a young girl from Naples. It covers her emotional, physical and political coming-of-age in detail, and in a very engaging manner. The quality of the translation appears to be extremely high and I enjoyed it greatly. Peter Clines' Ex-Heroes and Ex-Patriots are a pair of very silly but rather fun novels about a world in which not only are there super-heroes, but also a global zombie crisis. These are not novels of any depth at all, with barely a nod to character development, but the world of the story is fun and Clines writes well enough to keep me engaged for at least these two novels. Pulpy, but nowhere near the quality of Soon I Will Be Invincible. Nudge concludes my lay study of behavioural economics for the time being. Where The Undoing Project looked at how this field of science got its start, and Thinking Fast And Slow presents many of its key concepts, Nudge looks at how to apply some of the theories of behavioural economics, through a series of case studies. Not as interesting as I hoped it would be, but never mind. No Hunger In Paradise examines the murky world of youth recruitment in professional soccer in Britain. Calvin is one of the leading writers about soccer, and this was an excellent and thorough investigation of the subject matter. There is a balanced mix of positive and negative stories, of young men who got swept away by the hype and of those who have kept their heads. Of particular interest to fans of English football is a long section devoted to the current England manager and his team of assistants. Most of my self-chosen challenges are complete. I just need to fill in the gaps around the edges, and so I hope to read the following books by the end of the year: The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis - to satisfy the politics challenge If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino - non-traditional perspective Civil War: The History of England Vol. 3 by Peter Ackroyd
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Oct 7, 2018 11:36
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2018 Reading Challenge Theme Week #15 - Challenge no. 17: Read something about religion. I phrased this in such a way that it can be interpreted however you want, as long as religion is the central theme of the book. Some random recommendations: Life and Death are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan features reincarnation as a central plot point Escapism by Yi-Fu Tuan is one I just finished and religion is one of the things he discusses Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco is like a non-lovely actually awesome Da Vinci Code Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright is a pretty good takedown of Scientology Obviously there are a ton more and I'm looking forward to hearing what other people are/have read based on their interpretation. I personally am waiting on Of Water and the Spirit by Malidoma Patrice Somι to be delivered to my local library branch hopefully in the next day or two Bonus challenge: Read a major religious text Another obvious, just pick a text and have at it. Was planning on reading the entirety of the Bible and still going to make an attempt but might need to stop at just the Torah and maybe some select other books.
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Oct 8, 2018 17:53
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Guy A. Person posted:2018 Reading Challenge Theme Week #15 - Challenge no. 17: Read something about religion. I stumbled into reading one here recently. I was a bit at sea on this one, but grabbed an interesting looking volume off the new book shelves at the library and wound up with The Marvellous Equations of the Dread: A Novel in Bass Riddim by Marcia Douglas. It has a few threads. Mostly it follows the life of Leenah, her parents, her childhood, her encounters with Bob Marley, her experiences with the (now fallen) Angel of Lust, and her daughter Anjahla. There's the Angel of Lust and his experiences as an angel and now as a homeless man. Lastly, there's Bob Marley, who is refused entry to Zion, ultimately to try and save Jamaica. This is not so much a novel where one could expect linearity. It bounces back and forth through time and place. You'll visit HIM Haile Selassie, in Ethiopia and sitting outside a recording studio in Zion. You'll learn all about Marcus Garvey, and what he meant to the poor of Jamaica. You'll meet Queen Nanny and others from Jamaica's history. Most of all, you'll see a Jamaica trying to cut through a history of colonialism, violence and iniquity to try and once again tap into the bass rhythm that so defines the island and ultimately provides a path to Zion. It's a messy, messy book that I really kind of loved. And if you couldn't tell the religion would be Rastafarianism. If you wanted to read it for the music challenge, that'd be fair as well.
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Oct 8, 2018 18:56
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21. The Waste Lands -- Stephen King 22. Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children -- Ransom Riggs 23. Heads -- Greg Bear 24. The Secret History -- Donna Tartt 25. Just So -- Alan Watts BL Challenges Completed: 1 | 2 | 3 |
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Oct 9, 2018 05:19
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Oh I forgot to announce this the other day but Anna Burns won the Man Booker for her book Milkman. Also since there's no Nobel this year, some group called the New Academy awarded Maryse Conde with their prize. Just announcing these for those doing challenge 9b. Happy reading!
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Oct 18, 2018 16:14
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I have Milkman on hold at the library, but it's not in yet and books on order can take months, so I may not get to read it this year. Next year, if this is a challenge, I'm going to try for the Man Booker International prize instead because that's announced in spring.This year it was Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, but unfortunately I didn't get on the library hold list early enough and there's still enough people ahead of me I won't be able to read it this year either. Their selection of Maryse Conde is also nearly non-existent, but that may change with the demand from winning the alternate Nobelwho knows, but it won't happen this year. So my fallback is The English Patient because it won the Golden Man Booker this year. Even if it's a past prize winner, I haven't read it yet and the fact it won the all-time Man Booker for their favorite in the past 50 years is what prompted me to finally bother reading it, so I figured it counts. Edit: Also I would like to try for the Shameful book thread challenge but it seems that thread is dead now.
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Oct 18, 2018 17:33
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Yeah fair points about the awards. That was my twist for this year but should have realized that winners of the bigger awards tend to get sucked up at local libraries. I'm lucky in that I am in Chicago so CPL ordered extra copies of all the shortlist to meet the demand, and also has a decent enough selection of Conde which hasn't had nearly the demand the actual Nobel usually pulls.Stuporstar posted:Edit: Also I would like to try for the Shameful book thread challenge but it seems that thread is dead now. Oh no prob I'll get you on this. I've been waiting since I had a bunch of longer books on my list but I'm probably near enough to my goal to tackle another one.
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Oct 18, 2018 18:04
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I may get lucky there, I'm 3rd on the list for Milkman, though it's technically "on order" still. They usually show up before too long. Conceivably, there's always the genre awards or various regional prizes as well if you really wanted to take a shot for it.
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Oct 18, 2018 18:32
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If I want to fulfil the challenges I haven't managed yet, I need to read at least nine more books this year, so I need to get my skates on. Also, I'm not sure what "get a wildcard from another thread in this forum" would entail? In service of that, someone please WILDCARD ME!
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Oct 24, 2018 02:54
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Gertrude Perkins posted:If I want to fulfil the challenges I haven't managed yet, I need to read at least nine more books this year, so I need to get my skates on. Also, I'm not sure what "get a wildcard from another thread in this forum" would entail? It means go to another thread in Book Barn (or well, I guess anywhere, but TBB is probably a safer bet) and ask the thread for a wildcard. So you could go ask the lit thread, or SF/F thread, or pagophiles thread or whatever, as your fancy suits you. As for wildcard... how about Crying of Lot 49 by Pynchon?
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Oct 24, 2018 04:41
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Well heck, I've never actually read Pynchon so this is as good an excuse as any. Thanks!
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Oct 24, 2018 15:08
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Gertrude Perkins posted:Well heck, I've never actually read Pynchon so this is as good an excuse as any. Thanks! There's a lot of disagreement on what is the "best" Pynchon to read as your first, but Lot 49 is short and gives you probably the mildest taste of Pynchon's style. You still kind of need to just buckle in and let a lot of it wash over you, but at least imo it's less intimidating of a commitment than Gravity's Rainbow or V if you're unsure about Pynchon in general.
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Oct 24, 2018 15:49
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MockingQuantum posted:It means go to another thread in Book Barn (or well, I guess anywhere, but TBB is probably a safer bet) and ask the thread for a wildcard. So you could go ask the lit thread, or SF/F thread, or pagophiles thread or whatever, as your fancy suits you. Yeah basically this. Sorry I was gonna answer when I got to work yesterday but MQ covered it. The initial idea was to get people to venture into other threads specifically in TBB but honestly if you want Goons with Spoons or whatever to rec you a book that's totally fine. Also ironically I just started rereading Lot 49, so good wildcard!
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Oct 25, 2018 05:20
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Guy A. Person posted:Also ironically I just started rereading Lot 49, so good wildcard! Is this your first Pynchon?
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Oct 25, 2018 16:18
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Franchescanado posted:Is this your first Pynchon? It was, back in the day! I've since done Inherent Vice, Bleeding Edge, and finally read Gravity's Rainbow 2 years or so ago even though I had owned it longer than any of those. I'm doing some re-reads this year and wanted to revisit Lot 49, it's as funny and clever as I remember but I'm definitely getting more out of it.
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Oct 25, 2018 16:23
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Guy A. Person posted:It was, back in the day! I've since done Inherent Vice, Bleeding Edge, and finally read Gravity's Rainbow 2 years or so ago even though I had owned it longer than any of those. I'm doing some re-reads this year and wanted to revisit Lot 49, it's as funny and clever as I remember but I'm definitely getting more out of it. I've read Lot 49 a couple of times now, mainly due to it being so short. I'm ready for a re-read of V.
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Oct 25, 2018 16:24
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