I averaged a little more than 2 books per month this year, a pretty good pace for me.
Walter Kempowski - All for NothingCarol Dweck - MindsetThe Iliad - trans. by Robert FaglesMaeve Brennan - The Long-Winded LadyPorochista Khakpour - SickElena Ferrante - My Brilliant FriendLionel Shriver - Big BrotherAldo Schiavone - SpartacusJean Rhys - Voyage in the DarkDorothy Hughes - In a Lonely PlaceJoseph O'Neill - NetherlandJames Salter - All That IsChristopher Bayly and Tim Harper - Forgotten Armies: The Fall of British Asia 1941-1945Jim Holt - Why Does the World ExistJohn Knowles - A Separate PeaceDorothy Macardle - The UnforeseenSvetlana Alexievich - Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of WWIIOrhan Pamuk - SnowSujatha Gidla - Ants Among ElephantsPhilip Roth - Sabbath's TheaterRick Perlstein - NixonlandStefan Zweig - Journey into the Past Nicole Krauss - Forest DarkJonathan Coe - Middle EnglandElisabeth Kubler-Ross - On Death and DyingIris Owens - After ClaudeBarack Obama - Dreams from my Father (assuming I finish it by year-end)
― o. nate, Friday, 27 December 2019 01:48 (four years ago) link
triggercut what was the 1 movie you watched this year
After Hours.
― triggercut, Friday, 27 December 2019 03:39 (four years ago) link
My reading skewed toward shorter books this year, mainly under 300 pages, allowing me to finish a few more than I usually do. I also re-read more books than usual, falling back on the familiar when I felt I needed a reliable companion.
The books I read in 2019 (in the order that I finished them):
The Bar By the Seine, Georges SimenonThe Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard, Arthur Conan DoyleWhy Not Catch-21?, Gary DexterLives of the Saints, translator J.F. Webb (Penguin Classics)The Killer Inside Me, Jim ThompsonThe Mauritius Command, Patrick O'Brien (re-reading)The Face of Battle, John KeeganThe Life of Cromwell, C.V. WedgewoodOffshore, Penelope FitzgeraldThe Order of the Day, Eric VuillardThe Word for World is Forest, Ursula K. Le GuinStalingrad, Antony BeevorMrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth TaylorWashington, D.C. , Gore VidalThe Train, Georges SimenonHomeric Hymns, translator Jules CashfordFuneral Games, Mary Renault (re-reading)Why Buddhism Is True, Robert WrightIn My Own Way, Alan Watts (re-reading)The Friend of Madame Maigret, Georges SimenonThe Finishing School, Muriel SparkBefore the Storm, Rick Perlstein (Goldwater era history)My Friend Maigret, Georges SimenonThe Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin The Day of the Owl, Leonardo Sciascia The Saga of Grettir the Strong, translator Bernard Scudder The Siege of Krishnapur, J. G. FarrellUbik, Phillip K. Dick The Poem of the Cid, translator Rita HamiltonAeneid, Virgil, translator Robert FitzgeraldThe Transposed Heads: A Legend of India, Thomas MannNot To Disturb, Muriel SparkMaigret Has Scruples, Georges Simenon A Basque History of the World, Mark KurlanskyAunts Aren't Gentlemen, P.G. WodehouseThe Garden Party, Katherine Mansfield (short stories)Girl in Landscape, Jonathan Lethem The Mueller Report, Office of the Special CounselThat Awful Mess on the Via Merulana, Carlo Emilio Gadda The Beginning of Spring, Penelope FitzgeraldTo Each His Own, Leonardo SciasciaJane and Penelope, Barbara PymRoderick Hudson, Henry James Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah ArendtTheatatus, Plato (with accompanying critical essay) Swami and Friends, R. K. Narayan Doting, Henry Green100 Poems from the Chinese, Kenneth Rexroth (re-reading)At Freddie's, Penelope FitzgeraldHistory of the First Madison Administration 1809-1813, Henry Adams History of the Second Madison Administration 1813-1817, Henry AdamsJudgment on Deltchev, Eric Ambler The Dog of the South, Charles Portis A Book of Common Prayer, Joan Didion
Some minor reading I particularly enjoyed:
Several essays of Elizabeth HardwickSome of Virgil's Eclogues
Notable Fails / Rejections:
Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken KeseyVertigo, W.G. SebaldThinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel KahnemanDivine Comedy, Dante
― A is for (Aimless), Friday, 27 December 2019 20:42 (four years ago) link
Just started s book on Normality (?). Verhaeghe. Very good. (I’m drunk but it’s still a very good book. )
― nathom, Friday, 27 December 2019 22:57 (four years ago) link
this thread more geared toward a year-end retrospective than the what are you reading right now thread.
― A is for (Aimless), Saturday, 28 December 2019 04:06 (four years ago) link
* = reread. favorites and least favorites scored.
fictionMoriarty - HorowitzThe Long Walk - KingThe Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Turton*Frankenstein - ShelleyFahrenheit 451 - BradburyExhalation - Chiang (2019)Comet in Moominland - JanssonRoseanna - Sjöwall and WahlööThe Cabin at the End of the World - Tremblay (2019)*The Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald
non-fictionCrimes, Trials, Duels, Accidents - Clyde Macdonald, a local authorCosmos: A Personal Voyage - SaganThe Big Picture - FritzQED - Feynman 8/10 (first two lectures/chapters are both 10/10, then the other two aren't as good)Just Mercy - StevensonAstounding - Nevala-Lee 9/10The Death of WCW - Reynolds and AlvarezGroundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals - Kant 2/10Everything You Love Will Burn - TenoldThe Anatomy of Fascism - Paxton 7/10Canada - Mike MyersThe Unwomanly Face of War - AlexievichAlt-America - NeiwertThe Lives of a Cell - Thomas 7/10The Caped Crusade - WeldonDaring Greatly - BrownThe Order of Time - Rovelli 1/10The Order of the Day - Vuillard 7/10Between the World and Me - CoatesThe Youngest Science - ThomasTao Te Ching - Laozi 2/10Zombie Spaceship Wasteland - Oswalt
comics of some length with endingsChiggers - LarsenSabrina - DrnasoAnya's Ghost - BrosgolNimona - StevensonEessex County Trilogy - LemireOn a Sunbeam - WaldenSpinning - Walden 7/10Alone - ChaboutéPantheon - Steele
incomplete but continuingThe Best and the Brightest - Halberstam - half readThe Power Broker - Caro - around 40% readThe Door - Szabo - currently reading
― wasdnuos (abanana), Sunday, 29 December 2019 04:59 (four years ago) link
What I read in 2019, chronologically (48, which I'm happy with)
Benjamin Myers - The Gallows Pole (4/5)Will Storr - Selfie (2/5)RJ Palacio - Wonder (5/5 - 2 stars are from my daughter)Roberto Saviano - Gomorrah (3/5)Jane Gardam - A Long Way from Verona (4/5)Jennifer Clement - Widow Basquiat (4/5)Andrew Hankinson - You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life (You are Raoul Moat) (3/5)Richard Ford - The Lay of the Land (4/5)Bernd Henirich - The Mind of the Raven (3/5)George Orwell - Homage to Catalonia (5/5)Colm Toibin - Homage to Barcelona (4/5)Javier Maria - A Heart So White (5/5)Kurt Vonnegut - Fates Worse Than Death (3/5)Javier Marias - Written Lives (4/5)Michael Wood - Literature and the Taste of Knowledge (4/5)Helen deWitt - Lightning Rods (2/5)Tom Drury - Hunts in Dreams (4/5)Richard Lloyd Parry - Ghosts of the Tsunami (5/5)Jane Gardam - Old Filth (5/5)Bruce Chatwin - Utz (3/5)Claire Dederer - Love and Trouble (4/5)Peter Matthiessen - The Snow Leopard (5/5)John Banville - The Untouchable (2/5)Irvin D Yalom - The Schopenhaeur Cure (3/5)John Dickie - Cosa Nostra (3/5)Marilynne Robinson - Gilead (5/5)John Higgs - Watling Street (2/5)Russell Hoban - Riddley Walker (4/5)Robert Macfarlane - Landmarks (5/5)Richard King - The Lark Ascending (3/5)Robin Ince - I Am A Joke (3/5)Caryl Lewis - Martha, Jack and Shanco (2/5)Keiron Pim - Jumpin' Jack Flash (4/5)Alan Moore - V for Vendetta (4/5)Matt Pinkett - Boys Don't Try (3/5)John Jeremiah Sullivan - Pulphead (4/5)Ali Smith - Autumn (4/5)Lawrence Gowing - Lucian Freud (3/5)Andy Beckett - When The Lights Went Out (4/5)Wallace Shawn - Essays (2/5)Martin Gayford - Man With A Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait with Lucian Freud (5/5)Penelope Fitzgerald - The Blue Flower (3/5)F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby (5/5)Robert Richardson - Emerson: The Mind on Fire (5/5)Darian Leader - The New Black: Mourning, Melancholia and Depression (4/5)
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Sunday, 29 December 2019 17:07 (four years ago) link
for self: Marlon James - Black Leopard, Red Wolf (this year's list is short b/c this thing took me three solid months to plough through)Tana French – Witch ElmAlan Garner – Red ShiftAlan Garner – Owl ServiceHoward Rodman – Great NorthernEsi Edugyan – Washington BlackHaruki Murakami – Killing CommendatoreN.K. Jemisin - The Fifth SeasonN.K. Jemisin - The Obelisk GateN.K. Jemisin - The Stone SkyFrancisco Cantú – The Line Becomes a RiverTed Chiang – Exhalation
for work: Ursula K. Le Guin – The Wizard of EarthseaUrsula K. Le Guin – The Tombs of AtuanAngie Thomas – The Hate U Give Tehlor Kay Mejia – We Set the Dark on Fire Elizabeth Acevado – The Poet XEliabeth Acevado – With the Fire on HighRainbow Rowell / Faith Erin Hicks – PumpkinheadsGeorge Takei - They Called us Enemy Jerry Craft – The New KidGary D. Schmidt – Pay Attention, Carter JonesJarrett J. Krosoczka – Hey, KiddoAngie Thomas – On the Come UpPhilip Pullman – The Secret CommonwealthRachel Hartman – SerafinaRachel Hartman – Shadow ScaleRachel Hartman – Tess of the RoadDylan Meconis – Queen of the SeaPaul Ortiz – An African and Latinx History of the United StatesRoxanne Dunbar–Ortiz – An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United StatesIbram X. Kendi – How to be Anti-Racist Ijeoma Oluo – So You Want to Talk About RaceRobin DiAngelo – White Fragility Reni Eddo-Lodge – Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
also, lots of poetry (mostly Gwendolyn Brooks, ee Cummings)
― rb (soda), Sunday, 29 December 2019 17:47 (four years ago) link
abanana - I would say that both the Sjowall/Wahloo and Jansson series improve as they go on - I don't think I ever actually got through Roseanna but The Laughing Policeman and several others are great.
Roughly chronologically:
Daphne Du Maurier - RebeccaDorothy Hughes - In a Lonely PlaceJohn Darnielle - Master of RealityAndy Miller - Village Green Preservation SocietyJG Ballard - Empire of the SunRivka Galchen - Little LaborsDenis Johnson - Tree of SmokeRichard Stark - ComebackRichard Stark - The MournerW.G. Sebald - The EmigrantsPatrick Modiano - Young OnceAndy Miller - The Year of Reading DangerouslyBarbara Comyns - Who Was Changed and Who Was DeadWilliam Maxwell - So Long, See You TomorrowCarl Wilson - Let's Talk About LovePenelope Fitzgerald - Human VoicesGilbert Adair - The Death of the AuthorJonathan Lethem - The Feral DetectiveSusan Orlean - The Library BookOakley Hall - So Many DoorsGerald Murnane - The Plains (also read some stories in Stream System that were very impressive but there's only so much I can take of his style at once)Willem Frederik Hermans - An Untouched HousePeter Guralnick - Last Train to MemphisPeter Guralnick - Lost HighwaySarah Moss - Ghost WallAndrew Elias Colarusso - The SovereignBruce Chatwin - UtzMuriel Spark - Loitering With IntentGeorge Simenon - Dirty SnowMuriel Spark - Memento MoriEdouard Louis - Who Killed My FatherBarbara Comyns - The Vet's DaughterIsmail Kadare - The Traitor's NicheRobert Stone - Dog SoldiersStevie Smith - Novel on Yellow PaperCosey Fanni Tutti - Art Sex MusicPhilip Pullman - The Book of DustPatrick Dewitt - The Sisters BrothersRobert Walser - Jakob Von GuntenJonathan Lethem - The Ecstasy of Influence (skipped some stuff in this tbh)Jon Ronson - The Psychopath TestKurt Tucholsky - Castle GripsholmJon Ronson - ThemPenelope Fitzgerald - The Beginning of SpringDaniel Pinkwater - Yobgorgle: Mystery Monster of Lake Ontario
May possibly finish All or Nothing by Kempowski before the year ends.
― JoeStork, Sunday, 29 December 2019 20:33 (four years ago) link
Yeah, I didn't like Roseanna, it had a ton of padding. Might try the one you suggest, thanks.
― wasdnuos (abanana), Sunday, 29 December 2019 21:04 (four years ago) link
For the first time in my life I kept a list of what I read this year. The dividing lines are months. I also read “imaginary Letters” by Mary Butts many times over this year but that is another matter. Bacacay by Witold GombrowiczLove by Hanne Ørstavik.Wild Milk by Sabrina Orah MarkDan by Joanna RuoccoNormal People by Sally Rooney Dusty Answer by Rosamund LehmanThe Living Are Few, The Dead Many by Hans Henny JahnnLet's Talk about Love by Carl Wilson —Europe in Sepia by Dubravka UgresicEmigrants by W G Sebald This Wounded Island vol 2: Another England by J W BöhmWhy Art by Eleanor DavisPunishments of Hell by Robert Desnos The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca WestUnder The Net by Iris MurdochTentacle by Rita IndianaWho Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner” by Karina Marçal—The future, un-imagine by Angela Gardner & Caren Florance Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu MiraWe Are Made of Diamond Stuff by Isabel Waidneroverlove by Geraldine SnellOver In and Under by Emma BollandA Voice Through A Cloud by Denton WelchMy Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa MosfeghWho Killed My Father by Édouard LouisRotting Hill by Wyndham Lewis—The Drawer and A Pile of Bricks by David BerridgeSpring by Ali SmithA Close Watch on the Trains by Bohumil HrabalChaos and Night by Henri de MotherlantYonnondio: From The Thirties by Tillie OlsenKitch, a fictional biography of a calypso legend by Anthony Joseph Eileen by Otessa Mosfegh—-Built on Sand by Paul Scraton The Owl Service by Alan Garner Berg by Ann Quin(abandoned Ma’am Darling by Craig Brown) The Mussel Feast by Birgitta Vanderbeke Fräulein Else by Arthur Schnitzler Tell Them Of Battles, Kings and Elephants by Mathias EnardMoonstone - the boy who never was by Sjòn—(Abandoned Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum)All Among The Barley by Melissa HarrisonThe 392 by Ashley Hickson-LovenceThursbitch by Alan Garner—Plastic Emotions by Shiromi PintoUndercliff by Mark BrendMy Name is Aram by William SaroyanTram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila The Cemetery In Barnes by Gabriel Josipovici__Echoes of the City by Lars Saabye ChristensenThe Legend of the Holy Drinker by Joseph RothNot One Day by Anne GarrétaTo Leave With The Reindeer by Olivia RosenthalNatura Morta Josef WinklerAn Amorous Discourse In The Suburbs If Hell by Deborah LevyFires by Marguerite Yourcenar__Architecture of the Off Modern by Svetlana BoymOther Men’s Daughters by Richard SternA Long Way From Verona by Jane GardamAfter The Divorce by Grazia Deledda-Alphabetical Africa by Walter AbishThe Plains by Gerard Murnane On The Edge of Reason by Miroslav Krieža-The Holy Well by Valentin KataevSweetwater by Knut FaldbakkenNight Moves by Jessica HopperGod on the Rocks by Jane GardamAfter the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase-Sam Dunn Is Dead by Bruno CorraThe Skin Chairs by Barbara Comyns The Shooting Gallery by Yūko TsushimaReturn To My Native Land by Aimé Césaire Exposure by Olivia Sudjic
― Tim, Monday, 30 December 2019 13:44 (four years ago) link
Crossed the 30-book threshold for a change this year so don't feel too bad to post here:
Beastie Boys Book – Michael Diamond, Adam HorovitzBillion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World – Tom WrightThe Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump – Corey RobinThe Changeling – Joy WilliamsClothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys – Viv AlbertineMen We Reaped – Jesmyn WardGo Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest – Hanif AbdurraqibThe Sopranos Sessions – Matt Zoller Seitz, Alan SepinwallThe Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles & Their Secret World War – Stephen KinzerAirships – Barry HannahJust Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption – Bryan StevensonOlive Kitteridge – Elizabeth StroutThe Getaway – Jim ThompsonSay Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland – Patrick Radden KeefeRobert Mitchum: “Baby, I Don’t Care” – Lee ServerThe Idiot – Elif BatumanThe Right Stuff – Tom WolfeA Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and The Creation of the Modern Middle East – David FromkinJazz – Toni Morrison The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel SparkChaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties – Tom O’NeillFever Dream – Samantha SchweblinCity of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles – Mike DavisMilkman – Anna BurnsOrange World and Other Stories – Karen RussellNightmare Alley – William Lindsay GreshamActual Air – David BermanThere There – Tommy OrangeCapitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? – Mark FisherIt Came from Memphis – Robert Gordon
― Chris L, Monday, 30 December 2019 13:54 (four years ago) link
Norse Mythology - Neil GaimanArtemis - Andy WeirElysium Fire - Alastair ReynoldsLathe of Heaven - Ursula K Le GuinI Partridge - Alan PartridgeI’m A Joke (And So Are You) - Robin InceAnimal - Sara PascoeEleanor Oliphant - Gail Honeyman*The State Of The Art (1991) - Iain M BanksHe Who Hesitates - Ed McBainMedea (3 versions) - Euripides1860: A Message From The Sea - Charles Dickens et al1865: Doctor Marigold’s Prescriptions - Charles Dickens et al1861: Tom Tiddler’s Ground - Charles Dickens et alCount Of Monte Cristo - DumasThe Tempest - ShakespeareHag-Seed - Margaret AttwoodBush Studies - Barbara BayntonThe Hunt - Stanislav LemThe Ruins Of Earth - Thomas Disch (Editor)Kraken Awakes - John WyndhamCamp Concentration - Thomas DischIronclads - Adrian TchaikovskyA Laodicean: A Story of To-day (1881) - Thomas HardyThe Sisters Brothers - Patrick DeWitt1859: The Haunted House - Charles Dickens et al1862: Somebody’s Luggage - Charles Dickens et al1866: Mugby Junction - Charles Dickens et al1867: No Thoroughfare - Charles Dickens et al1854: Seven Poor Travellers - Charles Dickens et alThe Three-Body Problem - Cixin LiuChildren Of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky*Revelation Space - Alastair ReynoldsThe Power - Naomi AldermanHello World - Hannah FryThe Beginner's Goodbye - Anne TylerAll That Remains - Sue BlackThe Lottery (and others) - Shirley JacksonWidow Basquiat - Jennifer ClementCirce - Madeline MillerYellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman1851: What Christmas Is As We Grow Older - Charles Dickens et al1852: A Round Of Stories By The Christmas Fire - Charles Dickens et al1853: Another Round Of Stories By The Christmas Fire - Charles Dickens et al1855: The Holly-Tree Inn - Charles Dickens et al
45, not including graphic novels. two re-reads.
(the things starting with dates are the christmas editions of household words / all the year round that dickens was editing at the time. the most famous of these being probably Mugby Junction which includes The Signalman)
favourites probably Monte Cristo, Circe, Kraken Awakes.
― koogs, Monday, 30 December 2019 14:21 (four years ago) link
Any book resolutions for 2020? I need to read more in translation; I feel more parochial year by sodding year.
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Monday, 30 December 2019 21:47 (four years ago) link
I need to catch up with several books I started after wanting to read them for years but just wound up in a pile on the floor. Looking at Crime & Punishment in a recent translation I picked up a couple of years ago in particular. Had to pick up a couple of piles when trying to organise my bedroom a few weeks ago.Plus have of course added several more this trip.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 31 December 2019 08:05 (four years ago) link
Any book resolutions for 2020? I need to read more in translation
Great question! I started a separate thread for Book-related New Year Resolutions.
― A is for (Aimless), Tuesday, 31 December 2019 17:37 (four years ago) link
Gary Shteyngart - Lake SuccessMark Sinker & Friends - A Hidden Landscape Once A WeekRachel Kushner - Telex From CubaLynne Tillman - American Genius, A ComedySally Rooney - Conversations With FriendsMarcel Proust - In The Shadow Of Young Girls In FlowerStuart Turton - The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn HardcastleAnthony Marra - The Tsar Of Love And TechnoR.O. Kwon - The IncendiariesAnna Burns - MilkmanJoy Williams - The Quick & The DeadMazin Saleem - The PrickRachel Cusk - OutlineMary Gaitskill - The MareBill Beverley - DodgersDorothea Tanning - ChasmSamuel Selvon - The Lonely LondonersLloyd Bradley - Sounds Like LondonColson Whitehead - The Underground RailroadPeter O'Donnell - Modesty BlaiseElmore Leonard - Bandits
Definitely feels like a quiet/distracted year.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 31 December 2019 17:52 (four years ago) link
didn’t keep track of what i read but the worst thing i read was Sally Rooney
― flopson, Tuesday, 31 December 2019 18:00 (four years ago) link
best thing i read might be Lydia Davis essays one
Before Christmas I had read 49 and a bit books - I'd made a start on Berg by Ann Quin. I took a break for a week or so, when I tried to pick it up again I found myself completely unable to get back into it. Didn't manage to start anything else either :(
Bad Behaviour, Mary GaitskillPriestdaddy, Patricia LockwoodThe Handmaid's Tale, Margaret AtwoodAll among the Barley, Melissa HarrisonThe Golden House, Salman RushdieThe Green Road, Anne EnrightThe Flamethrowers, Rachel KushnerThe Fat Years, Chan KoonchungDavid Copperfield, Charles DickensWhy I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race, Reni Eddo-LodgeThe Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, Phillipa PerryThe Undoing of Arlo Knott, Heather ChildThe Psychology of Time Travel, Kate MascarenhasNatural History, Justina RobsonNew Suns, VariousSong of Solomon, Toni MorrisonSemicolon, Cecilia WatsonDo You Dream of Terra Two?, Temi OhThe Raven Tower, Ann LeckieSarah Canary, Karen Joy FowlerThe Ship who Sang, Anne McCaffreyLincoln in the Bardo, George SaundersThe Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Philip K DickGrass, Sherri S TepperTransit, Rachel CuskI Am, I Am, I Am, Maggie O'FarrellIce, Anna KavanThe Bell Jar, Sylvia PlathThe Undefeated, Una McCormackPachinko, Min Jin LeeThe Japanese Lover, Isabelle AllendeHis Master's Voice, Stanislaw LemConvenience Store Woman, Sayaka MurataMrs Osmond, John BanvilleAccelerando, Charles StrossThe Life to Come, Michelle de KretserDhalgren, Samuel DelanyAt the Existentialist Cafe, Sarah BakewellMammoth book of sf stories by women, variousNormal People, Sally RooneyWays of Seeing, John BergerWoman on the Edge of Time, Marge PiercySlow River, Nicola GriffithPennterra, Judith MoffettLagoon, Nnedi OkoraforThe Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Stuart TurtonGalactic Derelict, Andre NortonHellspark, Janet KaganPinion, Elizabeth Bear
― Paperbag raita (ledge), Tuesday, 31 December 2019 20:08 (four years ago) link
any recommendations out of that lot?
― koogs, Tuesday, 31 December 2019 21:09 (four years ago) link
I read these! I recommend these!
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 31 December 2019 21:19 (four years ago) link
Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister the Serial Kiler Isak Dinesen, Anecdotes of DestinyHan Kang, The VegetarianAndré Gide, Notes on ChopinRichard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in AmericaFord Madox Ford, The Brown OwlAnne Heller, Hannah Arendt: A Life in Dark TimesJoe Hill, The CapeJoe Hill, The Cape 1969Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in WonderlandStephen King, Everything's EventualMarek Hłasko, Killing the 2nd DogSiri Hustvedt, Memories of the FutureStephen King, Song of SusannahStephen King, The Dark TowerStephen King, The Wind Through The KeyholeStephen King, Insomnia Stephen King, Hearts in AtlantisJoanna Walsh, break.upDaisy Johnson, FenDaisy Johnson, Everything UnderOwen Hatherley, The Ministry of NostalgiaAmparo Dávila, The HouseguestMark Twain, The Adventures of Tom SawyerMark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnMark Twain, Tom Sawyer AbroadMark Twain, Tom Sawyer, DetectiveRobert Coover, Huck Out WestCarlo Collodi, PinocchioThomas Mann, Death in VeniceRobert Coover, Pinocchio in VeniceNathalie Saurraute, TropismsPatrick DeWitt, The Sisters BrothersMike Davis, City of QuartzReni Eddo-Lodge, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About RaceShirley Jackson, The LotteryNaoyuki Ii, The Shadow of a Blue CatDon Winslow, The ForceSarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist CafeAndrea Lawlor, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal GirlStefan Zweig, Impatience of the HeartElmore Leonard, Unknown Man #89José Rodrigues Miguéis, Happy EasterMuriel Spark, The Abbess of CreweMarguerite Duras, The LoverJohn le Carré, Call for the DeadJohn le Carré, A Murder of QualityJohn le Carré, The Spy Who Came in from the ColdStephen King, The InstituteStanislav Lem, SolarisAnne Carson, If not, winter: Fragments of SapphoElizabeth Bishop, The Complete Poems 1927-1979Amelia Gentleman, The Windrush BetrayalStephen King, Danse MacabreAli Smith, How to be BothHitomi Kanehara, Snakes and EarringsKurt Vonnegut, Suckers PortfolioAnia Ahlborn, SeedJohn Waters, Make TroubleLeonard Michaels, The Men's ClubIan Penman, It Gets Me Home, This Curving TrackShirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the CastleStephen King, On WritingItalo Calvino, The Path to the Spiders' Nestsmy brother-in-law's unpublished fantasy novel
had out of the library for three months without reading a single pageRobert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy
had out of the library but couldn't read cause it kept crashing the appOlga Tolkarczuk, Flights
― Baby yoda laid an egg (wins), Tuesday, 31 December 2019 21:35 (four years ago) link
Lockwood, Atwood, Harrison, Koonchung, Dickens, Cusk, Plath, Lem, Berger, Piercy. If you're minded to try the Koonchung, its real value is as a primer on recent Chinese politics and history, the SF wrapping is pretty thin.
― Paperbag raita (ledge), Tuesday, 31 December 2019 21:50 (four years ago) link
Also, SF-wise, Grass, Penterra, and Lagoon were all fine with minor reservations.
― Paperbag raita (ledge), Tuesday, 31 December 2019 22:15 (four years ago) link
Duffy, Eamon - The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English VillageWoolf, Virginia - A Room of One's OwnWrightson, Keith - Ralph Tailor's Summer: A Scrivener, His City and the PlagueWilson, N.G. - From Byzantium to Italy: Greek Studies in the Italian RenaissanceFrom Byzantium to Italy: Greek Studies in the Italian RenaissanceGinzburg, Carlo - The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century MillerBataille, Georges - Erotism: Death and SensualityEisenstein, Elizabeth L. - The Printing Press as an Agent of ChangeBaxandall, Michael - Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial StyleLowry, Martin - The World of Aldus Manutius: Business and Scholarship in Renaissance VeniceGreenblatt, Stephen - Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to ShakespeareCastiglione, Baldassare - The Book of the CourtierPanofsky, Erwin - Renaissance and Renascences in Western ArtBurckhardt, Jacob - The Civilization of the Renaissance in ItalyWhite, Gilbert - The Natural History of SelborneO'Brien, Flann - At Swim-Two-BirdsThomas, Keith - Man and the Natural World: Changing Attitudes in England 1500-1800Man and the Natural World: Changing Attitudes in England 1500-1800Graves, Robert - The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic MythFlaubert, Gustave - Sentimental EducationCairns, David - Berlioz, Vol. 2: Servitude and Greatness, 1832-1869Berlioz, Vol. 2: Servitude and Greatness, 1832-1869Lin Yutang - Famous Chinese Short StoriesGreene, Brian - The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate TheorySmollett, Tobias - The Expedition of Humphry ClinkerThe Expedition of Humphry ClinkerSmollett, TobiasEpictetus - Discourses and Selected WritingsMontaigne: EssaysWilliams, Raymond - Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and SocietyColonna, Francesco - Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a DreamThe Complete Poems of Emily DickinsonRackham, Oliver - Trees & Woodland in the British Landscape: The Complete History of Britain's Trees, Woods & HedgerowsThe Penguin Book of English VerseKeegan, Paul - The Penguin Book of English VerseCohen, Richard - Chasing the Sun: The Epic Story of the Star That Gives Us LifeTheories of Race and Racism: A ReaderKnights, L.C. - Drama And Society In The Age Of JonsonHulse, Michael - The New PoetryMarlowe, Christopher - The Complete PlaysJonso, Ben - Five PlaysClucas, Stephen - Laus Platonici Philosophi: Marsilio Ficino and His InfluenceThe Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht DürerThe Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht DürerWolf, Norbert - Albrecht DurerProcacci, Giuliano - History of the Italian PeopleGreene, Thomas M. - Light in Troy: Imitation and Discovery in Renaissance PoetryPetrarch: The Canzoniere, or Rerum Vulgarium FragmentaPetrarch: The Canzoniere, or Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta (Mark Musa trans)Pettegree, Andrew - The Book in the RenaissanceChartier, Roger - The Order of Books: Readers, Authors, and Libraries in Europe Between the 14th and 18th CenturiesFriedrichs, Christopher R. - The Early Modern City, 1450-1750Newman, Karen - Cultural Capitals: Early Modern London and ParisBossy, John - Christianity in the West, 1400-1700Rabelais, François - Gargantua and Pantagruel, MA Screech transThe Portable Renaissance ReaderBakhtin, Mikhail - Rabelais and His WorldFeminism and Renaissance StudiesHutson, Lorna - Feminism and Renaissance StudiesLautréamont, Comte de - Maldoror and PoemsWinder, Robert - Bloody ForeignersWelch. Evelyn – Shopping in the RenaissanceLevin, Harry – The Myth of the Golden Age in the Renaissance
― glumdalclitch, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 01:11 (four years ago) link
Richardson, Brian - Printing, Writers and Readers in Renaissance ItalyRublack, Ulinka - Reformation Europe
that'll do, pig
― glumdalclitch, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 01:14 (four years ago) link
fuck my editing skills are for shite
― glumdalclitch, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 01:15 (four years ago) link
Had a baby, got ill, and read zilch this year. Couldn't even manage to finish a Christie at Christmas. Good year tho
― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 02:03 (four years ago) link
Can add 1/2 of Defying Gravity the Jordan Story and 3/4 of 5 Years Ahead of My Time since New Year has happened and I haven't finished them.I think about 1/4 of Finton O'toole's book on Brexit too.Probably need to add actually finishing books to reading resolutions if I didn’t already.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 07:32 (four years ago) link
Lol every year I forget something itt - I finished Bodies of Summer by Martín Felipe Castagnet just the other day and still managed to omit itMy resolution is to read more - I started strong in 2019 but the year quickly went to shit and I was too busy and/or exhausted and/or drink to read much for a few months there - and to read longer books. Was given cancer ward for Xmas so will start there.
― Baby yoda laid an egg (wins), Wednesday, 1 January 2020 11:36 (four years ago) link
lol i started reading cancer ward a couple of years back and spent half the time thinking "what's this whiny goon actually making such a fuss about?"
then i got distracted by some nonsense i guess and misplaced it
― mark s, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 12:19 (four years ago) link
All my time outside work until July was used almost entirely for catching up on sleep, and I forgot to start recording what I read until March, but here is my small list:
Pride and Prejudice - Jane AustenBrideshead Revisited - Evelyn WaughThe Restraint of Beasts - Magnus MillsThe List - Moira DuffThe Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar WildeThe Hearing Trumpet - Leonora CarringtonSeeing Red - Lina Meruane Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? - Mindy KalingHow to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics - Michael PollanThe Governesses - Anne SerreYour Duck is My Duck - Deborah EisenbergThe Red Parts - Maggie NelsonSecond Thoughts - Wilfred BionVile Bodies - Evelyn WaughCrimson - Niviaq KorneliussenThe Maintenance of Headway - Magnus MillsSupper Club - Lara WilliamsJimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid On Earth - Chris WareSleepless Nights - Elizabeth HardwickWhipping Girl - Julia SeranoDay in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr SolzhenitsynConversations with Friends - Sally Rooney
― tangenttangent, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 15:20 (four years ago) link
Carrington, Maggie Nelson and Waugh leading the way out of that lot as favourites.
― tangenttangent, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 15:22 (four years ago) link
I didn't finish very much. Hoping next year will be more conducive to reading.
Alexandre Dumas – The Count of Monte-Cristo IIMarcel Proust – Sodom and GomorrhaFyodor Dostoevsky – The Karamazov BrothersJ. D. Salinger – The Catcher in the RyeJ. D. Salinger – Franny and ZooeyP. G. Wodehouse – Very Good, JeevesHenry James – Washington SquareRichard Adams – Watership DownJ. R. R. Tolkien – The Lord of the RingsMarcel Proust – The PrisonerFyodor Dostoyevsky – DemonsGermaine Bree – Marcel Proust and Deliverance From TimeAlfred Lansing – EnduranceLarry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove
― jmm, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 15:30 (four years ago) link
here you go. i'm reading more these days.
O'BRIEN at swim-two-birds [b]9.5 [so many glorious set-pieces but the bit where he goes for a bathroom break my god]WILLIAMS stoner 7.5 [things that are boring but good amirite]SPARK the prime of miss jean brodie 9 [she's a vicious one ffs, and all without hardly raising a finger]GARNER the owl service 8 [the OG ancient-forces YA sensation]BOLTON low country: brexit on the essex coast [was enjoying this but have left unfinished so no score assigned]STANTON you're a bad man, mr gum 7.5 [kids' books are good books too!]CARRINGTON the hearing trumpet 9.5 [seriously, you write ONE GODDAMN NOVEL and it's this good, what the hell leonora, you lived to like 94 and wrote one novel and it was this good, the cauldron scene fucking hell, also why hasn't this been made into a film yet, maybe the reprint will bring that about]BOLANO 'the part about the critics' from 2666 [i give it 8 and promise to read 1 part a year henceforth]MILLS the maintenance of headway 8.5 [BUS TIMETABLES THE NOVEL, the guy has the best punchlines in the business]MILLS a cruel bird came to the nest and looked in 9.5 [might be his masterpiece, alongside restraint of beasts - a perfectly-imagined little comic realm with nothing extraneous and the most satisfyingly perplexing resolution]SPARK four short stories compilation 7 [she's awesome innit, need to read more SPARK]GUARESCHI don camillo's dilemma 8 [just the loveliest depictions of rural italian (dis)harmony; the devout traditionalists and godless commies as symbiotic frenemies; look it's hardly reinventing the wheel and at times a trifle retrograde but it's always wryly optimistic and i like that] HARRISON all among the barley 9 [something from the contemporary bestseller shelves that, far from making me cringe at the superficial writing style, draws me in, weaves a gloriously stilted evocation of the lies that bind this country, and pulls the rug completely at the end - truly at the anti-pastoral vanguard of the pastoral explosion. only gets 9[/b] because i think she can do something even more ambitious]COOPER the marbled swarm 8.5 [while gay s&m murder is the meat-stripped skeleton of this video nasty, there's something magical going on between the lines. not so much an unreliable narrator as one who's desperately trying to tell us what his truth really is, beyond all the transgression and the gore]JACOB a late lark singing 9 [more of this below]DARLING/BANERJEE weird maths 7 [a fine attempt to explain complex mathematics to laypeople and i love the tutor-with-student authorship, but a couple of things: it isn't for laypeople (i was able to understand most but certainly not all of it) and there's obviously more to say about all of its topics. a nice gateway]ROBINSON housekeeping [in progress; no score assigned. v good so far though - really picks up after the first couple of chapters once the main dynamic is established, although the preamble serves a clear purpose]
despite the three 9.5s bringing that sweet timeless surreal brilliance, gonna award book of the year to NAOMI JACOB, whose A LATE LARK SINGING is the sort of wondrous discovery you can only make at a railway station's pick'n'mix bookshelf (see also: the SPARK compilation and the COOPER). JACOB was a born in yorkshire in 1884, grew up under victorian cultural duress, lived as a relatively open lesbian and wrote 70 books, of which this is a late work. it is little-known, but it does a few things i don't think i've seen before; it's in the lineage of dickens insofar as it's a morality tale about the hardships of a young victorian woman with a cruel husband and what appears to be a gallant wealthy admirer, but published in 1952 by someone who knew the dialect and culture intimately. it's able therefore to be quite daring, occasionally horrifying and brutally confrontational in its depiction of poverty & cruelty and its undisguised embrace of socialism & social justice. plus it's excellently-written, consistently exciting, and builds to an almighty moral quandary that threatens to devastate its protagonist right up until she is saved from having to make a decision by an unfortunate final-chapter cop-out that prevents me from assigning a yet higher score. and there's a (male) character who's obviously (but completely unspokenly) gay, which is nice & not really something many victorians not named oscar were keen to allude to. obviously utterly out of print but she is definitely the kind of semi-forgotten author i'd recommend hunting for
― imago, Wednesday, 1 January 2020 16:08 (four years ago) link
Bruno Schulz - The Street of CrocodilesH. M. Hoover - Another Heaven, Another EarthLeigh Brackett - Sea-Kings of MarsLeigh Brackett - Queen of the Martian CatacombsDoris Piserchia - EarthchildDoris Piserchia - SpacelingDoris Piserchia - Earth in TwilightDoris Piserchia - DoomtimeDoris Piserchia - I, ZombieDoris Piserchia - Blood CountyWilliam Sleator - House of StairsWilliam Sleator - SingularityBarry Hughart - Bridge of BirdsBen Myers - The Gallows PoleDaisy Ashford - The Young VisitersAlan Dean Foster - MidworldAlan Dean Foster - Nor Crystal TearsCarsten Jensen - We, The DrownedBarbara Newhall Follett - The House Without WindowsRobert Seethaler - A Whole LifeHorace Kephart - Our Southern Highlanders
― nothing in the dialog (unregistered), Saturday, 4 January 2020 03:48 (four years ago) link
Joshi, John Dickson Carr: A Critical StudyKnight, SlimerLaing, The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck Le Fanu, In a Glass DarklyMcDowell, BlackwaterMcDowell, The AmuletAccelerando, Charles StrossMammoth book of sf stories by women, variousSlow River, Nicola GriffithGalactic Derelict, Andre NortonHellspark, Janet KaganPinion, Elizabeth BearLeigh Brackett - Sea-Kings of MarsLeigh Brackett - Queen of the Martian CatacombsDoris Piserchia - EarthchildDoris Piserchia - SpacelingDoris Piserchia - Earth in TwilightDoris Piserchia - DoomtimeDoris Piserchia - I, ZombieDoris Piserchia - Blood CountyBarry Hughart - Bridge of BirdsAlan Dean Foster - Midworld
Opinions? I want to read some of these someday.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 4 January 2020 15:45 (four years ago) link
Joshi, John Dickson Carr: A Critical Study -- worth reading if you are already a fan of Carr, but I'd recommend Greene's biography more highly
Knight, Slimer -- fun trashy paperback-original horror, historically interesting for its introduction of genetic engineering tropes that have since been endlessly recycled; a novelized screenplay
Laing, The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck -- 1930s pulp horror written in Golden Age mystery style; it has a few unusually gruesome elements, but I didn't find it memorable
Le Fanu, In a Glass Darkly -- an untouchable classic; Le Fanu is well-known but imo underrated; at his best, more frightening than M.R. James, and a far more innovative influence on subsequent horror
McDowell, Blackwater -- an essential six-book horror soap opera, refreshing as Southern Gothic that never fakes the Southern details; extra points for powerful feminist/queer vibes; a few terrifying scenes, but overall more weird than scary
McDowell, The Amulet -- ultra-black horror comedy that's mainly a succession of imaginative kills; good stuff, but if you want to read one volume of McDowell, a better choice is The Elementals, which is more frightening and closer to Blackwater in its queer/matriarchal themes
― Brad C., Saturday, 4 January 2020 16:29 (four years ago) link
I was curious about the Carr study because Joshi can make baffling statements sometimes.
Gideon Wyck used to have a higher reputation but several recent readers have been disappointed, so I'm lowering its priority.
I love Le Fanu, he seems less formulaic and a better prose artist than James, but some say he has a higher percentage of dull stories. I'll see someday.
I wanted to start with McDowell's Elementals but somebody was championing Blackwater above all else recently.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 4 January 2020 17:00 (four years ago) link
Muriel Spark - The Driver's SeatMuriel Spark - The Prime of Miss Jean BrodieMuriel Spark - The Girls of Slender MeansAlbert Camus - L'ÉtrangerCharlotte Bronté - Jane EyreAnita Brookner - Hotel du LacDan Hancox - Inner City Pressure: The Story of Grime
My favourites were Jane Eyre and The Girls of Slender Means.
― Graham Kendrick Lamar (cajunsunday), Saturday, 4 January 2020 17:11 (four years ago) link
Tao Te Ching - Laozi 2/10
I love this rating.
― jmm, Saturday, 4 January 2020 17:13 (four years ago) link
my goodreads review was "i don't get it."
― wasdnuos (abanana), Sunday, 5 January 2020 15:45 (four years ago) link
reminded taht I read the Jorma Kaukonen memoir Been So Long which I think must have been last year.Would like to read similar from the other members, think I've read at least one of Grace's already.
Augusto Boal Theatre of the Oppressed too.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 5 January 2020 18:14 (four years ago) link
Enormously late but:The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea - Yuki Mishima Ulrich Haarburste's Novel of Roy Orbison Wrapped in Clingfilm - Ulrich HaarbursteOranges Are Not The Only Fruit - Jeanette WintersonMurmur - Will Eaves The Spy and the Traior - Ben MacIntyre White Jazz - James EllroyThe Little Disturbances of Man - Grace PaleyCromwell - CV WedgwoodThe Night Manager - John le CarréThe Bachelors - Muirel SparkMouthful of Birds - Samanta SchweblinThe Thirty Years War - CV WedgwoodAnd the Wind Sees All - Gudmundur Andri ThorssonI Think Therefore I Play - Andrea PirloMaybe This Time - Alois HotschingThe Tunnel - Ernesto SabatoChess - Stefan ZweigThe Continental Op - Dashiell HammettSPQR - Mary BeardReservoir 13 - Jon McGregorThe Line Becomes a River - Francisco Cantu
― calumerio, Tuesday, 25 February 2020 17:13 (four years ago) link