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I'm in for 36 and the challenge; I've got another kid on the way and classes to start so I don't foresee myself reading as much as I have been. Now, off to post in the last year's thread...
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Jan 7, 2018 08:22
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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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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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Your wildcard should be The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James.
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Mar 30, 2018 21:09
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March! 20. Cibola Burn (Expanse #4) - James S.A. Corey 21. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John Le Carre 22. The Idiot - Elif Batuman 23. Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders 24. The Alienist - Caleb Carr 25. The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin 26. The Naked and the Dead - Norman Mailer 27. Eleanor and Park - Rainbow Rowell This was a generally good month for reading - even if I didn't read anything that blew me away on first read, everything was generally pretty solid, and rereading The Dispossessed and Lincoln in the Bardo was a treat. Cibola Burn was a solid continuation of the Expanse series, Tinker Tailor was a solid spy novel, The Idiot was a solid campus novel, The Alienist was a solid historical mystery, The Naked and the Dead was a solid war novel, and Eleanor and Park was a solid YA romance novel. Can't sing the absolute praises of any of them, but I wouldn't steer anyone clear of any of them either. A good month, all things considered! 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (27/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Rowell, Batuman, Le Guin (25%) 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - Batuman (18%) 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). - Lincoln in the Bardo 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. - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Dispossessed 9. 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. 16. 17. 18. 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. 20. 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. - The Idiot (a search for self-actualization) 22. Read something about the future. - Expanse 4
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Mar 30, 2018 21:51
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April! 28. Nemesis Games (Expanse #5) - James S.A. Corey 29. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter - Tom Franklin 30. Words are My Matter - Ursula K. Leguin 31. Babylon’s Ashes (Expanse #6) - James S.A. Corey 32. Live by Night - Dennis Lehane 33. Royal Flash - George MacDonald Fraser 34. Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi The standouts this month were Live by Night and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. Live by Night was as good as Lehane can usually be - following a gangster from Boston to Tampa in the years of Prohibition - while Crooked Letter was about a very rural Alabama town and its history of crimes. Both were really good. Royal Flash was classic Flashman. The Expanse books continued to be pretty entertaining, though I may hold off on book 7 until closer to the release date of book 8. The LeGuin had a lot of good essays and book reviews, but having them all collected together led to some redundancy and repetitiveness. Still, the woman was a wordsmith, no denying that. Finally, Children of Blood and Bone is the new hype-fantasy (it's African!!) and was, well, pretty okay. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (34/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Le Guin, Adeyemi (26%) 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - Adeyemi (17%) 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 5. 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. 8. 9. 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. 16. 17. 18. 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. 20. 21. 22. Read something about the future. - Expanse 5 and 6
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Apr 30, 2018 21:39
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Sorry Portrait of a Lady didn't work out for you, MockingQuantum - that was the Henry James that turned me around on Henry James, but if it didn't work for you, it didn't work. I'll go ahead and request a wildcard as well, since I don't believe I've done so so far.
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May 20, 2018 22:15
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May 36. Fire in the Hole - Elmore Leonard 37. & Sons - David Gilbert 38. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling 39. The Good Soldier Svejk - Jaroslav Hašek 40. The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike #2) - Robert Galbraith 41. Circe - Madeline Miller 42. Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier My reading has, in general, slowed down since the arrival of kid #2, but that hasn't stopped me from reading some good stuff. Fire in the Hole is classic Leonard in short-story form (#13 down), and Circe was another very good book along the lines of Miller's first book, Song of Achilles, which I read last year. I like how she takes these Greek myths about Great Men (Achilles, Odysseus, etc.) and attacks them from a different perspective - a female one in Circe, and a tender homosexual romance with Song of Achilles. Svejk was... well, I started it in February and finished it this month. It took me a long-rear end time. It wasn't a bad book, but it had the feel of a shaggy dog story about a guy who tells shaggy dog stories. It's subversive for its time and occasionally pretty funny, but it's long and meandering - more of a "pick it up and read it occasionally" than a page-turner. & Sons was a decent 'modern white writer writes about white writers' novel (reminded me a good bit of Franzen's Corrections, but not quite as dense or good) and Silkworm was a pretty solid mystery. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (42/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Rowling, Miller 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. (Nowhere near this percentage...) 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 5. 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. - Cold Mountain (my wife loved it) 8. 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - Circe 10. Read something translated from another language. - The Good Soldier Svejk 11. Read something political. 12. Read a poetry collection. 13. Read a collection of short stories. - Fire in the Hole 14. Read a play. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. - Svejk and (lol) Harry Potter, I guess. 20. 21. 22. I'll keep an eye out for that Iain Pears book, since I read Name of the Rose a few years ago. Though I guess I could reread it... edit: nice, Stone's Fall is in at the library. I'll check it out. Chamberk fucked around with this message at 05:13 on Jun 4, 2018 |
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Jun 4, 2018 05:06
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June~~ 43. Hide Me Among the Graves - Tim Powers 44. The Lowland - Jhumpa Lahiri 45. The Italian Teacher - Tom Rachman 46. The Stress of Her Regard - Tim Powers 47. My Antonia - Willa Cather Yeah, this two-kid situation has cut back on my reading, but at least the stuff I am reading is pretty solid. The Stress of Her Regard/Hide Me Among the Graves are some fun Tim Powers books; he always mixes up some history and some fantastical elements (in this case, vampiric spirits) for fun results. Poets such as Lord Byron and the Rosettis get involved in a couple of scrapes with strange vampiric creatures from before the dawn of man. I kinda messed up and read the sequel (Hide Me...) before the original (The Stress...) but I enjoyed both. The Lowland was an excellent book about dislocation and the strain it can have on family relations, something Lahiri often writes about. The Italian Teacher was a new one from Rachman, whose other novels I've enjoyed; this one told the story of a son of a famous painter and how he has to deal with his father and his father's legacy. Worth reading just for the ending. My Antonia was one of those books that I've been meaning to get around to for years (it's a classic, etc.) and when I did finally read it, it was quite good. It didn't do much in the way of plot, but the way it showed the passage of time both in the title character and the setting was quite well done. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (47/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Lahiri, Cather 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - Lahiri 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 5. 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. 7. 8. Read something written before you were born. - My Antonia 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - The Italian Teacher 10. 11. Read something political. 12. Read a poetry collection. 13. 14. Read a play. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.
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Jul 1, 2018 20:47
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July: 48. Persepolis Rising (Expanse #7) - James S.A. Corey 49. Americanized - Sara Saedi 50. Ahab’s Wife - Sena Jeter Naslund 51. Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks 52. Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck - Adam Cohen 53. Suburra - Carlo Bonini & Giancarlo de Cataldo This was a good month for books, I thought. I'm reading a lot less these days, but I'm reading some good stuff. I finished the Expanse series with Persepolis Rising (at least, until book 8 shows up in December - man, those guys are prolific). I read some nonfiction with Americanized (a memoir about being an illegal Iranian immigrant) and Imbeciles (a retelling of one of the Supreme Court's least stellar cases). Finally, I read Ahab's Wife, which was a gloriously good (and dense, rich) book. I really loved that drat book, though little Moby-Dick knowledge is necessary to appreciate it. Really the best one I read this month, by far. Suburra was translated-from-Italian, mafioso-vs-Italian cop trash, but kind of fun despite it. For August I've already got some good stuff lined up (and finished~), including my wild card. Still need to get a play and a poetry collection, though... 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (53/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Saedi, Naslund, Brooks 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - Saedi 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 5. 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. 7. 8. 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - Americanized 10. Read something translated from another language. - Suburra 11. Read something political. - Imbeciles 12. Read a poetry collection. 13. 14. Read a play. 15. Read something involving history. - Imbeciles 16. Read something biographical. - Americanized (autobiographical) 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Chamberk fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Aug 3, 2018 |
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Aug 3, 2018 21:14
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August 54. The Year of the French - Thomas Flanagan 55. Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel 56. Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers #3) - Becky Chambers 57. Bluebeard - Kurt Vonnegut 58. The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaValle 59. Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson 60. The Word for World is Forest - Ursula K. LeGuin 61. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie 62. The Talisman - Stephen King & Peter Straub 63. Our Town - Thornton Wilder A pretty hefty amount read this month - probably the last heavy-reading month in a while (going back to school next month) but it was full of goodies. The Year of the French was a great historical fiction about an Irish rebellion in 1798, aided by a small contingent of French troops fresh from the Revolution. Probably my favorite of the month. Station Eleven was a reread and a real good one. Record of a Spaceborn Few was cute (like the other Wayfarers books) and so earnest that sometimes I get embarassed for the book but it's a fun time nonetheless. The Ballad of Black Tom was a solid novella of Lovecraftian mythos, but from an African-American perspective (reminds me of Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country, which was also excellent) The Talisman was one of King's old ones I'd never read, but I could see him fleshing out some ideas for the Dark Tower in this particular book. Our Town - my entry for #14 - was a surprisingly deep and heartfelt drama; I wasn't expecting it to get so serious and heartbreaking. (Then again, I read his Bridge of San Luis Rey a few years back and was also impressed by that book's depth, as well) 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (63/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Mandel, Chambers, Leguin 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - LaValle, Alexie 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. - Record of a Spaceborn Few 5. 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. 7. 8. 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - Record of a Spaceborn Few 10. 11. 12. Read a poetry collection. 13. 14. Read a play. - Our Town 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Coming up - I'm working on my wildcard and have my eye on a collection of poems, so hopefully I'll have the booklord challenge in hand once classes start taking over all my time.
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Aug 31, 2018 17:13
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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. Stone’s 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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October~ 75. How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran 76. Uprooted - Naomi Novik 77. The Known World - Edward P. Jones 78. The Turner House - Angela Flournoy 79. Bridge of Clay - Markus Zusak 80. Throne of the Crescent Moon - Saladin Ahmed Not gonna lie, a semi-slow month, but The Known World is a very good novel about slavery - and black slave owners - and Throne of the Crescent Moon is a pretty fun Arabian fantasy novel with djinns and ghuls. Bridge of Clay is Zusak's followup to his huge hit The Book Thief, and it isn't quite as good. It's still affecting and well-done, but doesn't quite pack the punch of its predecessor. Still need to read a collection of poetry - do yall think I could do one large poem (i.e. the Inferno or Keats' Endymion) rather than a collection? Cause that's where I'm currently looking. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (80/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Moran, Novik, Flournoy 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - Jones, Flournoy, Ahmed 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - Bridge of Clay 10. 11. 12. Read a poetry collection. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.
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Nov 2, 2018 19:59
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81. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 82. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling 83. Selected Poems - Gwendolyn Brooks 84. The Animators - Kayla Rae Whitaker 85. The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden 86. So You Want to Talk About Race - Ijeoma Oluo 87. The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul - Douglas Adams 88. The Girl in the Tower - Katherine Arden 89. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling 90. Grant - Ron Chernow Overall, a good month, though with a number of rereads (Potter, I'm looking at you). I finished the booklord challenge with Gwendolyn Brooks's poems (some of which are really spectacular). I knocked a few off the "been on my shelf for ages", with the fairly-fun Douglas Adams and the quite-good The Animators, about two women who are, well, animators, and their friendship. The Winternight books (Arden's) are a fun little fantasy trilogy set in Russia, which is a nice shift from "generic European medieval analog" (Though after this and Uprooted, I'm getting a little sick of the 'plucky girl wins over powerful magician' trope... Howl's Moving Castle has inspired a ton of these books...) Oluo's So You Want to Talk About Race was a book club pick, and I gotta say that while not a whole lot of the information in there was new to me, it was good to see it laid out plainly and clearly in a way that might actually affect people. Finally, Ron Chernow's Grant biography was something that took me months to finish, but as with his Hamilton book, it was a pretty solid and thorough look at someone who's often underappreciated in American history, I really dug it. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (90/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Rowling, Brooks, Whitaker, Arden, Oluo (About 30%) 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - Oluo, Brooks (About 15%) 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - Girl in the Tower, So You Want to Talk About Race 10. 11. Read something political. - So You Want to Talk About Race 12. Read a poetry collection. - Selected Poems 13. 14. 15. Read something involving history. - Grant 16. Read something biographical. - Grant 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.
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Dec 4, 2018 18:24
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91. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling 92. Flash for Freedom! - George MacDonald Fraser 93. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid 94. Inside Out and Back Again - Thanhha Lai 95. Washington Black - Esi Edugyan (L) 96. City of Brass - R.A. Chakraborty 97. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling 98. Rules for a Knight - Ethan Hawke 99. The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster 100. Darkness at Noon - Arthur Koestler 101. Rose Under Fire - Katherine Wein 102. There There - Tommy Orange (L) 103. The Parking Lot Attendant - Nafkote Tamirat (L) Finishing up the year: I read a few laurel-winners of 2018 (There There, Washington Black) and reread a few favorites (Tollbooth, Potter). The Flashman series continues to be fun, and City of Brass was a promising start to another new trilogy. A short but excellent one was "The Reluctant Fundamentalist", by the writer who wrote Exit West - I get into that one more below. My challenge: 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge (103/36) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. - Rowling, Lai, Edugyan, Chakraborty, Wein, Tamirat ----I ended this with almost 40% women! Nice! 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. - Hamid, Lai, Edugyan, Chakraborty, Orange, Tamirat ----I ended this one with just about 20% - 21 books out of 103. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). - Washington Black, There There, The Parking Lot Attendant 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Read something involving history. - Flash for Freedom, Rose Under Fire 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. My favorites of the year: Blackwater - A southern gothic drama with carnivorous lake monsters. Pachinko - A multigenerational story (I’m a sucker for those) about Korean immigrants in Japan and the discrimination they face. Idaho - A difficult tale to read about a family whose life is disrupted by a horrific act of violence; in the years and decades to follow, the tale only becomes murkier as motivations and memories fade. Still, amazingly written. Circe - The life story of a witch/demigoddess who was only a minor player in the Odyssey; in here, Odysseus is the minor player in her life. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter - In a quiet Mississippi town, a man long suspected of an unsolved murder comes under suspicion again after another young girl disappears; the only person who could hold the key to the truth is the cop who, decades ago, was his only friend. Live by Night - Gangsters in Miami during Prohibition, what’s not to like? This is somewhat part of a series Lehane is writing about a family in the 1910s-1920s, but can be read on its own. Ahab’s Wife - Can be a companion piece to Moby-Dick, or could just be read on its own, it’s a beautiful story about a woman’s life in 19th century New England. My Antonia - Old school out on the prairie story about a girl from an immigrant family working hard and making (kind of) good throughout her life. Just a good story. The Year of the French - Fictionalized retelling of an Irish rising that was helped out by some French officers hoping to destabilize the Brits in their backyard. Things don’t go well. The Expanse - Good old fashioned science fiction for the fun of it, not really an “ideas” series as much as a pew-pew space thriller with cool interplanetary politics and mysterious alien technology. To the Bright Edge of the World - An epistolary novel, created of journals and letters between a husband and wife as the husband ventures into the vast Alaskan wilderness at the turn of the century. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - A fascinating look at a cultural disconnect between Hmong refugees and American doctors, which results in disaster as a Hmong family’s daughter suffers from complications of epilepsy. An incredibly interesting cultural study and investigation into how to approach these seemingly impossible cultural dilemmas. The Known World - Differs from your usual slavery novel in that the slaveholders are, for the most part, black. (This was a thing that happened.) Reminds me of a less fantastical 100 Years of Solitude, as the narrative often wanders into the future and the past instead of keeping a strictly chronological retelling. Bridge of Clay - Markus Zusak’s followup to his megahit “The Book Thief” is, well, not as good as The Book Thief. It’s a hard one to measure up to, to be sure. But his story of five brothers - including the one of the title, Clay - does have his unique style as well as his endearing characters, and it’s worth a read. Everything I Never Told You/Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng has a wonderful ability to tell the stories of families - mothers and daughters especially - and recognize the fault lines between cultures and ethnicities. Both of these books were quite wonderful, if in many ways quite sad. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - A short read, this is the tale of a young Pakistani man who comes to the U.S. to study at Princeton and work at a high-paying Wall Street job until he sees the effect of his adopted country on his own country. As the title suggests, he may not retain a particularly positive opinion of America, and the narration, spoken to an American audience in a Pakistani cafe, is entirely engaging. The Animators - A really good story about a friendship: two young women in art college team up and become underground heroes of animation, creating autobiographical movies about their childhoods and experiences, and the way they learn more about themselves through their work and how that affects the way they feel about each other. I feel like I’m underselling it? But it’s very good. Grant - A huge biography of a president I only knew a bit about; 960 pages later I emerged with a lot of information about the Civil War and Reconstruction, and a new concept of “that one guy whose administration was super corrupt.”
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Jan 7, 2019 17:12
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