|
MockingQuantum posted:I'm looking a bit ahead in my reading list, and I need some suggestions on: Shot in the dark here, but Owen Jones's Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class is a pretty great primer on British class culture and also very accessible.
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2018 05:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 18:52 |
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:I'm looking a bit ahead in my reading list, and I need some suggestions on: It's a trick challenge; all writing is political  For some real suggestions, Human Acts was a beautiful short read that destroyed me emotionally, and The Master and Margarita is a fast paced magical realist horror comedy extravaganza with some thoughtful and touching moments. Both are very political.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2018 07:46
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:I'm looking a bit ahead in my reading list, and I need some suggestions on: Earlier in the year you read Heart of Darkness; you could read King Leopold's Ghost to get more perspective there. Also Max Gladstone's work is intensely political, though also fantasy/satire. You could totally count those books as you read more!
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 17:27
|
|
|
thatdarnedbob posted:Earlier in the year you read Heart of Darkness; you could read King Leopold's Ghost to get more perspective there. I've been considering King Leopold's Ghost, maybe I'll dive into that. I've also been meaning to read Things Fall Apart, and some of Achebe's critiques of Heart of Darkness afterwards, so I think that would tie in well too. I guess I never would have thought of Gladstone's stuff as "political," but yeah it totally is, in a fictional context. I'm actually reading Two Serpents Rise right now.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 18:40
|
|
|
Sorry for the double-post, but I'm planning out the rest of my booklord challenge cuz it's fun, I need a couple of ideas/recs though. Any recommendations for: 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. bonus: Read something about hunger And also, are there any resources out there for finding out what books are currently banned in their country of origin? I can find a ton of lists of books that are commonly challenged/banned but not a good accounting of what is currently banned on a large scale.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2018 21:44
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:Any recommendations for: Will let anyone chime in with actual recommendations, but just wanted to remind that these are heavily up to personal interpretation and what you want to get out of the challenge. For the hierarchy you can choose something that actually involves discussion of the theory itself, or break it down to a specific need and read a novel covering that. Which uh, should be pretty easy since I would say you'd be hard pressed to not find a novel about surviving, making friends, finding safety, getting recognition, self-actualizing, etc Same with hunger. You can read a non-fic book about food preparation, a novel about people trying to find food or "hungering" in a more symbolic way, or one of the several literal books entitled "Hunger"
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2018 16:41
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:Sorry for the double-post, but I'm planning out the rest of my booklord challenge cuz it's fun, I need a couple of ideas/recs though. hunger by hamsun
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2018 17:12
|
|
|
jagstag posted:hunger by hamsun Heh I know nothing about this book but saw it discussed in the lit thread once upon a time and was tempted to read it for that challenge just on the title alone.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2018 17:35
|
|
|
FYI the other one I was thinking of was Hunger by Roxane Gay
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2018 18:18
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:Heh I know nothing about this book but saw it discussed in the lit thread once upon a time and was tempted to read it for that challenge just on the title alone. it probably was me. some of the parts of the book are very real to me and would fit really well in the heirachy of needs
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2018 19:09
|
|
|
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. Babylons 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
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2018 21:39
|
|
|
April was hell, I only had time to finish two books, though I'm partway through a couple of others. 17 - John Dies at the End - David Wong. A reread, because I'm trying to figure out why I liked this book so much. 18 - The Last Kingdom - Bernard Cornwell. Despite being rather into historical fiction, I've never read any Cornwell before and this was a blast. Miles better than the TV adaptation. Felt like it didn't pull any punches, didn't try to soften things for a modern reader.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2018 21:56
|
|
|
My April was beyond busy, I'm kind of surprised how much I got through. I suppose it helps that some of them were pretty quick reads. 26. Embassytown - China Mieville: Wow, what a fantastic book. Probably my second favorite sci-fi novel I've read in the last couple of years. It avoids my pet peeve with sci-fi novels, which is when aliens turn out to be just funny looking humans who don't speak English or can fly but are otherwise pretty normal or whatever. It touches on some interesting discussions about language and consciousness too. Great book all around. 27. The Fifth Season - NK Jemisin: And on the back of Embassytown, I read probably my favorite fantasy novel in recent memory! I'm way late to the party on this one, but Fifth Season is great. Loved it. I started it a couple times back when it came out and never got very far, I wish I'd given it more of a chance then. I don't even want to say that much about it because I went in blind and a lot of what I loved was the sense of discovery I got as I read it. 28. Pet Sematary - Stephen King: I'm a King apologist, so I tend to be pretty generous when talking about his books, but I wasn't a huge fan of this one. Part of it was I knew the "twist" long before reading it, partially I just didn't find the story or characters that compelling. I'm glad I read it, and it's better than a lot of the horror I read, but just barely. 29. Mort - Terry Pratchett: I've been reading the Discworld novels in publication order, and they've been a lot of fun, but I think this is the first book where I started to get real inklings of what makes people love the series so much. Mort was a fun character, and it was a really enjoyable take on Death as a character too. 30. Twenty Days of Turin - Giorgio De Maria: Holy poo poo what an eerie book. I really enjoyed this one, it had some interesting allegory expressed in an unsettling way. One section still kind of gives me chills to think about. I kinda felt like the ending was a let-down, but it still felt very in keeping with the rest of the book. 31. All Systems Red - Martha Wells: Fun, quick, engaging read. It's just great popcorn sci-fi, told briskly and well. I'm looking forward to more. 32. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen: This is my first brush with Austen, and I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. Her style, setting, and characters do very little for me, but it was still an enjoyable read. The BotM thread from years ago when this was covered was also a lot of help in parsing out the multiple layers of dialogue and I think I appreciated the book a lot more for having that. (So thanks Hieronymous Alloy!) 33. Obelisk Gate - NK Jemisin: Can you tell I really liked Fifth Season? This one wasn't as strong as the first book, but it did what the middle book of a fantasy trilogy kinda should: answer enough questions to satisfy your curiosity, and ask enough more to pull you into the third book. Thankfully, the third book is sitting on my Kindle, waiting to be read, so I won't have to be in suspense for long! Challenges in progress: 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge: 33/70 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women.7/14 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you 6/7 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 6/14 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you 4/7 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 0/7 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) Universal Harvester bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in 12. Read a poetry collection. bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets 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 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
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2018 22:33
|
|
|
24. Borne by Jeff VanderMeer 25. Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco 26. What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah 27. The Best American Short Stories 2017 28. The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist 29. The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded: Poems by Molly McCully Brown 30. Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes 31. Aniara: An Epic Science Fiction Poem by Harry Martinson 32. Delicious Foods by James Hannaham 33. The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance by Laurie Garrett Pretty solid month especially once I finished up Focault's Pendulum. Heavier non-fic with Half Has Never Been Told and Coming Plague, both of which were really informative and had a good deal of depth. I always enjoy the Best American series as well and I highlight a few authors to check out later. Also reminder for anyone still following along with the bi-weekly challenges, next week will be biography.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2018 22:34
|
|
|
Guy A. Person posted:24. Borne by Jeff VanderMeer I'm curious as to how you liked What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky I've totally read a biography. Review to come with a writeup tomorrow and probably to be reposted next week as well.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2018 22:36
|
|
|
Guy A. Person posted:24. Borne by Jeff VanderMeer I absolutely love Foucault's Pendulum. I read it when I was 15 or 16 when I was a little obsessed with the occult and secret societies, and it was an eye-opening book in the way it treated those sorts of things in a simultaneously po-faced and wry way. What did you think of Borne and Broken Monsters? I got maybe twenty pages into the former and never really got grabbed by it so I didn't finish it, but I'd still like to go back to it. The latter intrigues me because I love horror and Zoo City, it seems like Beukes could write a pretty excellent horror novel.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2018 22:50
|
|
|
Three books. Not much. Work was hell, then my dad got sick passed away, so Ive been dealing with that and traveling across the world for the past week. Anyway. 13. Beloved - Toni Morrison. Great book. Brutal. 14. The Twenty Days of Turin - Giorgio De Maria. Second BoTM of the year. Very eerie. Short as well. 15. The White Book - Han Kang. Interesting and pretty, but also sad. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge. 15/40, 37.5% 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 6/15, 40% bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you. 4/6, 66% 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 5/15, 33% bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you 4/5, 100% 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. 0 bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 0/15, 0% bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it.The Marquise of O- and Other Stories by Heinrich von Kleist bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language bonus: Read something political from/about a country you aren't from and don't currently live in 12. Read a poetry collection. bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets 13. Read a collection of short stories. bonus: Read short stories by at least 10 different authors 14. Read a play. bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years 15. Read something involving history. bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. 16. Read something biographical. bonus: Read something biographical about someone you've met/seen in person 17. Read something about religion. bonus: Read a major religious text bonus: Read something narrated in the 2nd person 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. bonus: Read something about hunger 22. Read something about the future. bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2018 23:17
|
|
|
Ben Nevis posted:I'm curious as to how you liked What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky WiMWaMFftS was great, the title story in particular was super inventive and well done, and none of the magic realism ever gets in the way of telling good human stories. I was dividing it between the Best American Short Stories and another one I really liked was one in which a mother is constantly running insurance scams, which I forgot was in this collection instead of the other until I looked it up. MockingQuantum posted:I absolutely love Foucault's Pendulum. I read it when I was 15 or 16 when I was a little obsessed with the occult and secret societies, and it was an eye-opening book in the way it treated those sorts of things in a simultaneously po-faced and wry way. It's crazy to me how old FP is because I feel like I've read several worse takes on the same type of story, but it is also satirizing that kind of story as well (the books I'm thinking of are of course the lovely Dan Brown ones but also Crash Gordon and the Mysteries of Kingsburg and also more recently Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store). Borne was good for what it was, I picked it up after watching Annihilation which was extremely my poo poo. It did feel a little long and at times redundant, but it had more surreal post apocalyptic imagery that I usually see which was a nice change of pace. The antagonist being a massive genetically engineered bear that I guess used to be a person was uhhh interesting to say the least Broken Monsters wasn't as good as Beukes other magical crime thriller The Shining Girls, but I did very much enjoy the whole art angle of it.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2018 02:11
|
|
|
April! 21. The Walking Dead Vol. 1. Robert Kirkman. A quite interesting story, I didn't have any precedent for this, but some of the characters have potential. I'm not sure if I'll continue with the other media, but at least, this was ok. 22. Singularity Sky. Charles Stross. It almost lost me with the bland characters and stereotypical bad guys, but the twists in the story got me good. A pretty fun book. 23. A Wrinkle in Time. Madeleine L'Engle. The book started pretty good and then got bad quite suddenly. The themes were not subtle at all and it was really forceful even with the explanations. The characters were weak and the story simple, which is not a bad thing usually, but not in this case. 24. Vagabond Vol. 1. Takehiko Inoue. A brutal and very well drawn adaptation of the history of Miyamoto Musashi. The violence is visceral and the story is mostly told in images, which gives it a peculiar character. 25. Shogun. James Clavell. Probably a lot of non-historical facts in this books, still it was quite fun and intriguing. The characters were very complex and the story had a nice pacing even if the book was really long. 26. Off Season. Jack Ketchum. A very entertaining story with a lot of cinematic "scenes". The throw-away characters and villains without purpose or self-preservation are the weak points of the book. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge: (26/60) 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. (6/12) bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. (8/12) bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors (4/6) 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 9. Read a book published in 2018 (or if you're eager to start early, the latter half of 2017). bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) bonus: Read something 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 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 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
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2018 03:30
|
|
|
quote:
I read nine books in March and April. I'm doing my best to get back into the book-a-week rhythm that'll help me reach my goal. 5 - The Queue, by Basma Abdel Aziz. Gripping dystopian novel by an Egyptian activist and journalist. Lots of reviews have described it as Orwellian and/or Kafkaesque, with characters crushed under the weight of totalitarianism and bureaucracy. But it's more than that - Aziz is able to depict the daily lives of people forming their own communities in the titular Queue, and characters who initially appear one-dimensional become fleshed out and challenged over the course of the story. While the book is far from cheerful, there is a sense of vitality and hope under the surface. I'm glad I read this, and I'll definitely explore more of her work in future. 6 - Battle Angel Alita:The Complete Collection by Yukito Kishiro. All nine volumes of the manga series, comprising around 2,000 pages. A classic of Japanese cyberpunk SF, with countless fans and a litany of works it influenced. The story follows the exploits of a cyborg girl with incredible talent for combat in a grim far-future undercity called the Scrapyard. Her adventures see her taking on various roles: vigilante, sports star, freedom fighter, assassin, mercenary - and each of the nine volumes and eight story arcs is filled with memorable supporting characters. The artwork starts impressive and only improves, with Kishiro able to capture both sweeping vistas and complex, minute details (though the T&A quotient rises also). While a lot of the stories focus on ideas of humanity, or lack thereof, the most interesting lens I found to read it through was a political one. The world of Alita is a grotesquely unequal one, but within that clear haves-versus-have-nots dynamic, Kishiro paints an awful lot of nuance with different characters' perspectives, aspirations and ideologies. Also recurring are questions of who is allowed - and able - to weild both destructive and creative power. On top of all of that, of course, is an enormous amount of action. Martial arts with cyborg combatants features a staggering amount of detailed and grisly violence and gore, and even minor conflicts can get obscenely graphic. Combined with the exaggerated, cartoonish ugliness of so many of the supporting cast, Kishiro is able to really bring out feelings of revulsion. My praise isn't unreserved, though. While the action and fight scenes are visually impressive, the pacing can drag, and the viscera can get stale when Alita's opponent has been reduced to putty but keep on fighting through some trick or other. There is also, for a lot of the series, a fixation on women and girls who are "damaged" in some way: serious physical and psychological trauma are common throughout the cast, but only with the female characters is this trauma something that can be supported through paternal or romantic love. It's not until Alita's operator Lou in the last third of the series that we get a woman other than the main character who has much self-determination. All that said, it's a hell of a read, even with its length (and this is just the first THIRD of the Alita story!!). I can see why it was such a big hit, and so influential. Maybe someday I'll pick up part two. 7 - Attack of the Flickering Skeletons: More Terrible Old Games Youve Probably Never Heard Of, by Stuart Ashen. A joyous and snarky followup to the original TOGYPNHO, the sofa man from YouTube dredges up another collection of bizarre and dreadful home computer games from the past. Growing up my favourite part of getting gaming magazines was reading the negative reviews, as that was where the writers were able to pack the best jokes to appeal to my young brain, and I have a real pang of nostalgia for those reviews when reading through these collections. There are a few entries to mix up the formula, from guest submissions to a genuinely fascinating breakdown of "Hareraiser", but this is more of a book to dip into now and then. Rather than, as I did, read it through in a couple of sittings. Still, really fun, and a good spotlight shone on forgotten failures of the past, which is totally my jam. 8 - Ana Voog - Dreaming On Stage: 10 years From a 24/7 Art/Life Webcam, by Ana Voog (edited by J.D. Casten). A collection of artwork and journals from Ana Voog, who lived online through webcam and chat programs for over ten years, starting in 1997. One of the first people to willingly surrender so much of her privacy to the online panopticon, Voog's journals and art offer time capsules of the effects of media saturation, online celebrity and living digitally. Voog's audience grows and shrinks and her posts become more elaborate, both introspective and outspoken about US and Internet culture. There's an air of "outsider art" about her project and her other artistic endeavours, and her journals are about as unfiltered and raw as she intended her webcam project to be: a naked portrayal of herself and her life for the world. The "Unlimited Edition" I read mostly consisted of Voog's visual art, which features recurring themes of blurred identity, painted and manipulated bodies. Altogether, an interesting and empathetic collection from a unique artistic voice, and part of digital history. 9 - Lincoln In The Bardo, by George Saunders. Read for the BOTM thread, very late in the month. This was a fascinating and surprisingly gripping book, told in a strange but accessible way. The cosmology Saunders builds is rife with emotion, and allows him to explore intimate and frightening parts of the human experience, before and after apparent death. Centring his story around Lincoln, practically a mythological figure at this point, means that every passage feels like a historical account - there are whole chapters which consist of assorted eyewitness testimonies and historians' analyses of Lincoln, his family, his home, his decision-making. The main characters are warm and interesting, with their foibles and anxieties well fleshed-out over the course of their ordeal - each gets a satisfying send-off, too. I'm sure there are more interesting and scholarly things that could be said about this book, but I don't quite feel qualified to do so. 10 - The Slow Regard Of Silent Things, by Patrick Rothfuss. A short and egregiously whimsical novella about a subterranean urchin girl preparing to welcome someone important. The prose is, by Rothfuss's own admittance, incredibly twee and flowery, and this is more of a long vignette than a story. It is surprisingly involving, though: Auri's world is described evocatively enough that it allows the reader to put together vivid mental pictures. The focus of much of the book is Auri's routines, fixations, superstitions, and a constant obsession with things being done "properly" or "politely". In the absence of any other living characters, inanimate objects are imbued with personality and charisma, to surprisingly strong effect. As an experiment for the author, it works well, and was a refreshing exploration of worldbuilding from below. 11 - SuperMutant Magic Academy, by Jillian Tamaki. Print collection of Tamaki's webcomic of the same name, following a handful of highschoolers, some with various magical powers. It's full of little vignettes that slowly build up and flesh out the characters, with genuinely good comedy interspersed with more poignant moments. Things come together into a clearer narrative in the last third, and I was left feeling touched by the humanity of her characters. There were more than a few moments that I'll be remembering for a long time. 12 - Love Is Power Or Something Like That, by A. Igoni Barrett. A short story collection by a Nigerian author - I picked this up due to a Goodreads algorithm recommendation. It's interesting and often entertaining, with evocative descriptions and a good sense of pacing. Some of the stories are very good, though a couple are really unpleasant - I'm not sure if that was the author's intent or not. A running theme in these stories seems to be male violence, male incompetence, animalistic masculinity - from small children to grown men, there are very few characters that are not their own worst enemy. The sexuality on display is sometimes genuinely upsetting, with a few pubescent and even pre-pubescent girls given a certain amount of sexual maturity and agency in ways that I found very uncomfortable. This is not to say that there weren't good parts of these stories, of course, but some aspects were hard to stomach. The characters and day-in-the-life situations offer glimpses of people and societies that I have no lived experience of, and the pidgin dialogue helped immerse me in the lives of Igoni Barrett's characters. I think I'd like to read more of his work. 13 - The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Visions Of A Wildly Better Future, edited by Alexandra Brodsky and Rachel Kauder Halebuff. A collection of short speculative fiction stories, essays, interviews, poetry and visual art projects around the multifaceted theme of "What would your utopia look like?", this was a fascinating and suprisingly inspirational book. The featured "visions" range from the mundane and forthright (workplace protections and sensible footwear) to the seemingly frivolous, but actually really interesting and important (respecting and embracing the linguistic importance of teenage girls' vocal quirks). There are moments of humour, moments of raw anger, and a range of diverse and even contradictory ideals at play. Listing my favourites would take too long, but I'm glad for even the few instalments that I disageed with. Overall this was a wonderful and resonant book that showcased a whole range of positive, hopeful and urgent desires for the future. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge - 52 - 4 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 1/3 of them are written by women. - 5 - 4, 5, 8, 11, 13 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you - 5 - 4, 5, 8, 11, 13 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 1/3 of them are written by someone non-white. - 4 - 5, 6, 11, 12 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you - 4 - 5, 6, 11, 12 bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). bonus: Participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it. bonus: Similarly, get a wildcard from another thread in this forum 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. bonus: Read literally the first in-person book recommendation you get in 2018 (solicited or not) - 'Redshirts' (suggested by flatmate). 8. Read something written before you were born. bonus: Read a book written/published the exact year you were born bonus: Read something that wins an award in 2018, but only after it is announced (i.e. don't apply retroactively) bonus: Read something that isn't in your primary language 12. Read a poetry collection. bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets 14. Read a play. bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years bonus: Read something about a (nonfictional) war that didn't involve the U.S. 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 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. bonus: Read something currently banned, censored, or challenged in its country of origin 20. Read something about music. bonus: Read something about a genre of music you're explicitly not a fan of 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. bonus: Read something about hunger 22. Read something about the future. bonus: Read something about a future that takes place before the current year
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2018 03:42
|
|
|
Ben Nevis posted:1. Djinn City by Saad Hossein A pretty good month for reading. I read 10 books, but there was a play and a couple of short ones there midmonth that really pumped up my count. I managed a play, something biographical, and something published in my birth year, though that was entirely accidental. I'd intended the something biographical to be political, but it didn't quite hit that mark like I'd hoped. I'm in the midst of a big book about a foreign war, so I'll have that one sewn up by June. I feel like I've knocked a lot of the real easy stuff off the list and it's time to start strategizing for some of the remainder. 22. In Vino Duplicitas, The Rise and Fall of a Wine Forger Extraordinaire by Peter Wellman - Turns out that in the lead up to the financial crisis of 2008 a shady fellow was conning all these millionaires with fake wine. Massive sales of rare and in many cases nonexistent vintages were made. This wasn't as interesting as I was hoping, and most of the interest was in things I don't think Wellman intended. The massive expenditures of the Wall Street dbags leading up to the crash, the the crazy otherworldly lifestyle of the less evil Koch brother, the ignorance of oenophiles, the fact that a man with no visible means of support or income got a multimillion dollar loan because he drank wine with a banker, and the clear complicity of the major auction house associated with a lot of this are all fascinating byblows in what is sort of an otherwise dull story. Wellman clearly wants to protect his wine buddy friends so this remains a bit sterile and drab. 23. White Butterfly by Walter Mosley - Easy Rawlins mystery #3. Mosley has a way about him that reminds me of Chandler without trying to ape Chandler, which is about the highest praise I'd offer on this style of mystery. 24. The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor - Binti #3. Like the previous ones, this is a good read. I'm worried about the series because these are now getting a little predictable. Or if not quite predictable, a bit samey. Threat -> Binti is Amazing -> Binti levels up. The interactions of race, culture, and gender as well as Okorafor's style keep these from being boring, I'm just not at all sure how they continue without some innovation. 25. Agents of Dreamland by Caitlin R Kiernan - A shady government agency investigates a Lovecraftian threat. This was a nice little read for someone who wants modern Lovecraft type things. 26. On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers - Pirates and magic in the Caribbean. Voodoo, the Fountain of Youth, cursed chickens. This book really has it all. It was adapted into a rather unfortunate Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The source material is better. This is my second Powers book and I feel these are generally paced more deliberately than I'd prefer. They'd benefit from being a little more driven. Still, if you like pirate fiction (or fantasy) this is a good read. 27. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang - The play I read, chosen not entirely at random from a list of "Best Plays Since the Turn of the Century." I wanted something humorous, and this play certainly delivered. Vanya, Sonia, and Masha are siblings (Sonia adopted) who had a pair of Chekhov loving parents. Masha is an aging but successful movie star whereas Vanya and Sonia stayed behind to take care of the ailing (now deceased) parents in the family farmhouse, which may or may not have a cherry orchard. Masha returns home with her boy toy Spike to attend a posh costume ball and announces she's selling the house. Resentments bubble over as the siblings try to come to terms with themselves and their lives. This had some laugh out loud moments as well as some genuine feeling. I wish I could have seen the original production with David Hyde Pierce as Vanya and Sigourney Weaver as Masha. They've have killed it. As it is, I'd love to see this performed and intend to keep an eye for a local production. 28. Space Opera by Catherynne M Valente - In space, whenever the existing hegemony comes across a new dominant species, questions quickly arise as to whether they can be exploited. Obviously, it'd be inhumane, er, unkind to exploit a sentient species. With the staggering diversity of life, the only reasonable way to do that is with a singing competition. Does the species have the emotional depth and ability to communicate that through the universal medium of music? All humans have to do to escape destruction is not come in last. I feel like you'll know whether this is for you with the simple description of "Douglas Adams does Eurovision" and a look at the foiled cover with a ringed disco ball. If that juxtaposed with the usual genre definition of Space Opera doesn't give you at least a twinge of amusement you ought to move on. Cat Valente does her best Douglas Adams and just nails it. This sticks out as the most fun book I've read this year. 29. Eat the Apple: A Memoir by Matt Young- Young writes a memoir of his time in the Marine Corps and his 3 tours in Iraq. It's not necessarily new ground. If you saw Jarhead, some of this will be familiar territory. What really makes this stand out is Young's look at an institution that take struggling teens and produces broken men. What also makes it stand out is the wide variety of styles. Chapters switch from traditional third party and first party narratives to screenplays to sketches, to packing lists, to how to instructions and back. It feels, at times, that Young really wanted to get stuff down but he needed some distance or some gallows humor to cope with what he'd done and seen. While some thought it distanced themselves from Young, it felt to me like it provided insight into the how difficult some of this was for him. I thought this was really interesting and good. 30. Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien - I was on a war book kick, so decided to pick up this book and it turns out it was published the year I was born. Set in Vietnam, Cacciato deserts with the stated intention of travelling to Paris. His squad has no choice but to follow through Mandalay, India, Iran, Turkey, Greece, and so on. Interspersed with their adventures through Eurasia, our narrator flashes back to the war taking us through each squad member who has died so far and how they did. This was a very good book about obligation and fear. It also sticks out for O'Brien's prose. He has a straightforward style that really provides for the immediacy and it's a particularly effective in setting the horror of the war sections off against the almost magical realism of the road to Paris. 31. The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley - A PI from Montana gets roped into family drama as he tries to track down a writer on a bender and a girl who is a decade missing. Sort of a western noir, in a way. Set in the 70s but the open landscapes and empty miles between Montana, Colorado and California are a real part of the feel of it all. This isn't bad, but it felt a bit like a remixed Big Sleep. It's not exactly, but there are a lot of similar moving parts. After the clean prose of O'Brien, Crumley's meandering sentences really stuck out. Often they felt like they were trying for philosophical or hard and ironic and just kinda came off as wandering. When they hit, it was good, but there were more misses. It wasn't bad, but I preferred Mosley. 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge - 31/80 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 11 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you: 8 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 6 bonus: Of these make sure half are by authors new to you: 4 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. bonus: Make sure 10% of the books you read this year are by LGBT authors 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 (thread stickied each month at the top of the forum). - 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) 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 12. Read a poetry collection. bonus: Read poems by at least 10 different poets 13. Read a collection of short stories. - Dreams of Falling and Flying bonus: Read short stories by at least 10 different authors - 2 14. Read a play. bonus: Read a play first published in the last 10 years - 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. 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
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2018 18:46
|
|
|
I slumped really, really hard in April but seem to have gotten back on board. I DNF'd two things (Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell on audio and The Lost Plot, the fourth book in the Invisible Library series, in print) and only finished three books. Not going to bother with the usual formatting this month since I read so little. I'm looking forward to the big stack of graphic novels and comic trades I have next to my bed for this month, as well as working through the pile of library books I appear to have accumulated. That said, the three books I finished this month were all really good. Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente was super fun and funny; it wasn't as amazing as it could have been, but I really enjoyed it. Time Was by Ian McDonald was a quiet and understated novella that was poignant and heartbreaking. Passing Strange by Ellen Klages was a really excellent queer fantasy novella set in 1940s San Francisco. I'd love to read more works like this (or in this world/with these characters). I've also realized that I haven't asked for a wildcard yet, so wildcard me! I read English and German, extra points if it's something queer. Ben Nevis, if you want to read another book about sketchy wine, check out The Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2018 17:15
|
|
|
nerdpony posted:Ben Nevis, if you want to read another book about sketchy wine, check out The Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace. They touched on this one briefly, as the Koch brother had some of the Jefferson wine as well, which motivated his crusade to track down Kurniawan. This is such a potentially interesting area that I'll likely pick this one up as well.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2018 18:49
|
|
|
April trip report! Another 4 books added to the pile. 15. Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Decent read. I wonder if I would have liked it more if it hadn't been hyped up to me in the SF/F thread. The bits on spider planet were great; the bits on the ark ship were less good. Then they had to collide for the big finale, which underwhelmed me. Quality of premise and imaginative spider planet stuff carried most of the weight. 16. Things That Make White People Uncomfortable, by Michael Bennett. I was going to see this beautiful man talk about this book, but his talk was cancelled after Bennett was arrested on trumped up charges! Though the book was cool, a lot of the things Bennett discusses are fairly well known to me by now. I'm glad this book is out there, because if there's a chance some people out there want to know more about the ideologies behind Bennett's politics that's a good thing. The sections discussing the NFL and NCAA were of particular interest to me because I didn't know much about how those respective sports leagues treat their athletes. That stuff is pretty hosed up. 17. The Red Threads of Fortune, by JY Yang. Though narrower in focus than Black Tides, Red Threads gets in a lot of good characterization for Mokoya, sister to the protagonist of Black Tides. It tells a fairly straightforward story of hunting a dragon type thing. Big cool action stuff in Yang's terrific setting counterbalanced by chilling depictions of PTSD. Again, I wish these novellas were part of a larger work that could really stretch itself out. The setting is great so I'm eagerly anticipating the next novella. 18. The Romulan Way, by Diane Duane. Well I'm back on my Star Trek bullshit. This book set out to do something a little different: explore the backgrounds of notable Star Trek baddies the Romulans. The book goes a long way to rationalizing the Romulans' behavior and largely succeeds. Half of the book is a kind of Romulan history text, the other half is a boring story with Leonard McCoy aka Doctor Bones. Bones somehow gets roped up into trying to exfiltrate a Starfleet spy posing as a Romulan. He's sent in with the fear that the agent has "gone native." This side of the book spins its wheels a lot and didn't do a good job of making me care about the spy, Arrhae. The climax of the book is McCoy filibustering a Romulan court by talking about how to make chili, mint juleps, everything else. The history (though declared noncanon) was worth the price of admission. Goals 1. 18/50 Books Read. 2. %Women Authors: 44.4% 3. %Authors of Color: 33.3% 4. LGBTQIA+ Author: Yes: The Black Tides of Heaven, by JY Yang. 5. TBB BotM Participation: Yes: The Sign of Four, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 6. Wildcard: Yes: A Question of Power, by Bessie Head.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2018 00:14
|
|
|
2018 Reading Challenge Theme Week #6 - Challenge no. 16: Read something biographical This one is pretty straightforward, read a biography or autobiography. This loosely coincides with National Biographers day which is next Wednesday, May 16 so feel free to read it on that day as well. I don't have a ton of recs myself, although someone linked this resource at one point which is a blog of a guy posting what he thinks are the best (American) presidential biographies: https://bestpresidentialbios.com/ I personally am going to spend this week reading Hunger by Roxane Gay (which unfortunately takes it out of the running for bonus challenge #21) and that Notorious R.B.G. book which I decided on when cruising the book store the other day. --- In other news, The PEN/Faulkner award for fiction was announced over the weekend, and it's Improvement by Joan Silber: http://www.penfaulkner.org/award-for-fiction/ Also, news came along that there won't be a Nobel prize in Lit this year, but we still have the National Book Award and Booker prizes to look forward to later in the fall. Happy challenged reading!
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2018 23:35
|
|
|
Corrode posted:Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain by Barney Norris. Just finished this the other day and it was great. Particularly liked how the author was able to convey his characters insecurities particularly Sam and Alison, who both love someone and are afraid that this person doesn't really love them back -- even tho it is obvious to the reader that the girl is into Sam and that Alison's son is pretty desperate to impress her by acting grown up. The payoffs were a little on the nose with each situation being directly and openly resolved, but because the characters were so well realized it worked because this is what you were hoping for the whole time. Also really loved how these two characters' stories in particular intersected toward the end. So anyway, thanks for the rec!
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2018 23:44
|
|
|
This year I grabbed Eat the Apple by Matt Young. It's a memoir of his basic training and 3 tours in Iraq. Rather than being a more traditional narrative, it changes POV, at times being in first, second and third person, and even branches into other formats. A brief screenplay, a how to guide, packing checklists, and cartoons are a few of the methods used to get across points. In some interviews I've read, Young credits this to "flash nonfiction" which creates short vignettes and may be experimental. Young's focus isn't always directly on what he did or experienced, but as using those experiences to look at how those systems can take troubled teens and spit out broken men. Those diversions and changes provide some necessary distance as Young looks back over what were obviously traumatizing times for him, and it also allows some humor to run through what otherwise could be a very grim read. In that sense it's a more "literary" memoir, in that it's heavily stylized and in some regards experimental. It's also a good, compelling read, even if it is a bit of a hard one at times.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2018 16:47
|
|
|
Ben Nevis posted:This year I grabbed Eat the Apple by Matt Young. It's a memoir of his basic training and 3 tours in Iraq. Rather than being a more traditional narrative, it changes POV, at times being in first, second and third person, and even branches into other formats. A brief screenplay, a how to guide, packing checklists, and cartoons are a few of the methods used to get across points. In some interviews I've read, Young credits this to "flash nonfiction" which creates short vignettes and may be experimental. Young's focus isn't always directly on what he did or experienced, but as using those experiences to look at how those systems can take troubled teens and spit out broken men. Those diversions and changes provide some necessary distance as Young looks back over what were obviously traumatizing times for him, and it also allows some humor to run through what otherwise could be a very grim read. In that sense it's a more "literary" memoir, in that it's heavily stylized and in some regards experimental. It's also a good, compelling read, even if it is a bit of a hard one at times. This sounds incredibly cool, I am going to add it to my list. Finished Hunger by Roxane Gay last night. It was a tough read, she gets really intimate about her abuse and how it echoed through her life and has lead to her issue with eating, as well as a super honest take of being fat in America in the 20th century. Highly recommended but also brace yourself. Just started the Notorious R.B.G. today and it is cool, much lighter obviously, they use a lot of graphical asides and stuff which makes it fun but they still hit some of the heavier parts of her life and struggles being one of the handful of women lawyers when she was first practicing.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2018 23:59
|
|
|
Milt Thompson posted:26 Books as a minimum, under 20% rereads (currently 12 books with 1 reread) Sadly only finished the two last month, but I've nearly finished White Is For Witching. The Line Of Beauty was excellent. If you were interested in the life of the British elites in the early 1980s, and in the first days of AIDS crisis in Britain, this would definitely be for you. It follows self-confessed aesthete Nick Guest as he makes his way through post-university life. I appreciated the window it gave me into the gay scene in 1980s London, and the parts which referred to the politics of 80s Britain had the ring of authenticity. I'm going to compare it to On Beauty, which I felt was beautifully written, if a little hollow. The Line Of Beauty is beautifully written too, but I enjoyed it a lot more, as I felt it had real substance to it. On Beauty sometimes seemed to hold its own characters in disdain, but The Line Of Beauty did not. Even when the characters were flawed - which was often - they still felt fully rounded and not caricatured. Suffice to say I'll be reading more by Hollingshurst later this year. The Disaster Artist is something I'd recommend to anyone interested in film-making and especially The Room. Although it makes clear how insane the production of The Room was, it goes to great lengths to humanise Tommy Wiseau, which it was under no pressure to do. Things will speed up soon. Once it gets into June, my workload as am ESL teacher changes considerably and I'll have much more time to read in the summer. I'm planning to pick up a biography, too, probably that of legendary football manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2018 17:21
|
|
|
Milt Thompson posted:Sadly only finished the two last month, but I've nearly finished White Is For Witching. Hey, I'm just about to start White is for Witching! We'll have to compare notes afterwards.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2018 18:41
|
|
|
MockingQuantum posted:Hey, I'm just about to start White is for Witching! We'll have to compare notes afterwards. I read this a couple years ago. I really like how creepy Oyeyemi can get. A couple scenes from that book have stuck with me.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2018 18:51
|
|
|
March & April & some of May The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (1995) It's better than most YA fiction. I can't fault the story or the writing. I wish I could feel as excited for this as I did when I was a pre-teen reading Harry Potter for the first time, but I'm just too old and jaded for fantastical adventures with talking soul animals. Recommended for people that like that kinda poo poo. Hunger by Roxane Gay (2017) A memoir about obesity and eating disorders and dealing with trauma (rape). It's not setting out to prove a point or to provide answers, but to elaborate on what it's like existing as an obese person and the complicated issues that come with it in a culture obsessed with body shaming and gender expectations. Not as exciting as that sounds! This falls into that weird in-between area of books that I appreciate more than enjoy. It's thoughts on empathy and enlightenment on aspects of obesity that go without discussion and the explorations of trauma are heartbreaking and sometimes incredibly hard to read, but they get lost in many mundane sections told in a detached narrative voice. Soft recommendation. Zen and the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity by Ray Bradbury (1987) Essays on writing and the creative process. Are there any unique insights? No! All of the information here is the same as any other decent book on writing and creativity. (Write every day. Read every day. Read a variety of things, but most importantly read poetry. Take care of yourself. Etc.) Bradbury delivers his rote advice with an excitement for the power of fiction and creativity. Each essay is brimming with infectious energy for good fiction and literature. I'm surprised that Sci-Fi/Fantasy fans don't quote this book more in defending genre fiction, as there are whole essays with Bradbury laughing with glee while heralding sci-fi's popularity. Recommended. I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid (2016) A slightly disorienting paranoid horror/thriller about a woman pondering the future of her relationship to her new-ish boyfriend while on a car ride to meet his family. I've seen this book compared to Gillian Flynn thrillers or some poo poo, which is a disservice. There are more similarities to Shirley Jackson's stories or David Lynch's Lost Highway, where reality bends and twists, where thoughts are more dangerous than a killer stalking in a hallway, where paranoia and fear of the unknown are the driving forces. Just as your mind jumps around while stuck in a car on a trip, so does the story move through memories (or are they dreams?) and philosophical tangeants and stories-within-stories. It hit all the right notes for me, and at around 200 pages, was a fast read. Highly recommended (though some people will inevitably be dismayed by some of the more polarizing aspects of the story) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985) Read for the SHAMEFUL thread, baby. Review spoiler: Meh. The 2018 Booklord Challenge 1. Set a goal for number of books or another personal challenge 10/24 2. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by women. 3/5 Pride & Prejudice Hunger The Handmaid's Tale 3. Of the books you read this year, make sure at least 20% of them are written by someone non-white. 4/5 Aunt Julia & the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra Hunger by Roxane Gay 4. Read at least one book by an LGBT author. Hunger by Roxane Gay reviews her relationships with women and men 5. Participate in the TBB BotM thread at least once in 2018 & participate in the SHAMEFUL The Greatest Books You've Never Read thread 6 times BOTM: coming soon Shameful: 3/6 Aunt Julia & the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood 6. Ask another poster to issue you a wildcard, then read it.  I need a new wildcard, the one chosen for me is out of print and too expensive. Something preferably under 500 pages. 7. Get a recommendation from a friend or loved one. The Golden Compass - they thought I would like that it's a YA fiction book for atheists. 8. Read something written before you were born. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (published in 1989) 9. Read a book published in 2018. 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. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whistthe Facts of Daily Life in 19th-Century England by Daniel Pool 16. Read something biographical. 17. Read something about religion. 18. Read something from a non-traditional perspective. Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra 19. Read something that has been banned, censored, or challenged. 20. Read something about music. 21. Read something that involves Maslow's hierarchy of needs. 22. Read something about the future. The Handmaid's Tale - dystopian fiction TOTAL CHALLENGE GOALS COMPLETED 5/22 Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 18:01 on May 14, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 14, 2018 17:56
|
|
|
Not sure if I'm too late for biography week but I'm about 100 pages into Trevor Noah's Born a Crime and am enjoying it a lot. I'd heard good things about it forever and finally found a cheap used copy. It's very conversational and funny, despite the heavy topics of racism and oppression. Would definitely recommend.
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2018 18:39
|
|
|
apophenium posted:Not sure if I'm too late for biography week but I'm about 100 pages into Trevor Noah's Born a Crime and am enjoying it a lot. I'd heard good things about it forever and finally found a cheap used copy. It's very conversational and funny, despite the heavy topics of racism and oppression. Would definitely recommend. Excellent! The weeks are mostly to get people talking/sharing/recommending for each challenge outside of just reading people's lists, so you're definitely not too late. Plus National Biographer's Day is Wednesday anyway, so it all works out.
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2018 19:14
|
|
|
Can I request a new wildcard? I know the whole point of a wildcard is you don't get to choose it, but somebody gave me Portrait of a Lady by Henry James and I just do not really care much for James, and so far reading this book makes me think that opinion will not change. I really have zero interest in finishing it. Also if my wildcard could be something not written by a dead white european/american guy from 100+ years ago that would be awesome, I already have too many dead white guys on my reading list.
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2018 01:39
|
|
|
Looks like I'm probably not going to make my goal this year since I've had much less time for reading than expected, but here's what I've read so far:
Reviews on Goodreads. MockingQuantum posted:Can I request a new wildcard?
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2018 04:08
|
|
|
Yea it sounds like you at least tried and again, I have no real power here, so feel free to take a mulligan on that wild card. I was trying to think of some clever twist to add in but I got distracted.
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2018 05:53
|
|
|
Is it too late to get in on this? I'd love to join. If I may, then I'd like to challenge myself to 30 books & 10,000 pages (so that I don't just read a bunch of short books). Negative on the BookLord Challenge. Thanks either way!
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2018 01:53
|
|
|
Sorry cut off was yesterday  (just kidding, you're added, good luck!)
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2018 02:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 18:52 |
|
|
Guy A. Person posted:Sorry cut off was yesterday Oh, man. I totally believed you for a second, haha. Thank you!
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2018 02:42
|
|