I think I’m done.
In order of completion. Rereads = *
Ursula K. Le Guin - TehanuRichard Stark - The Handle*Richard Stark - The Damsel*P. G. Wodehouse - The Code of the Woosters*Gene Wolfe - The Urth of the New SunDonald E. Westlake - Help I Am Being Held PrisonerStephen R. Donaldson - The Wounded LandRobin Hobb - Assassin’s ApprenticeUrsula K. Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness Djuna Barnes - NightwoodUrsula K. Le Guin - The DispossessedRobin Hobb - Royal AssassinAnne McCaffrey - DragonflightMargaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - Dragons of Autumn Twilight*Peter S. Beagle - The Last UnicornMargaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - Dragons of Winter Night*Stephen R. Donaldson - The One TreeWalter M. Miller, Jr. - A Canticle for LeibowitzMarcel Proust - Un amour de Swann/Noms de pays : le nom*Germaine Brée (tr. C. J. Richards, A. D. Truitt) - Marcel Proust and Deliverance from Time*William C. Carter - Marcel Proust: A LifeRobin Hobb - Assassin's QuestStephen R. Donaldson - White Gold WielderPatricia A. McKillip - The Riddle-Master of HedRoger Zelazny - Nine Princes in AmberPatricia A. McKillip - Heir of Sea and FirePatricia A. McKillip - Harpist in the WindRoger Zelazny - The Guns of AvalonJohn le Carré - Tinker Tailor Soldier SpyRobert Jordan - The Eye of the World*Samuel Beckett - ProustRoger Shattuck - Proust’s Way: A Field Guide to In Search of Lost TimeJoseph Czapski - Proust contre la déchéanceHenry James - The Wings of the DoveStendhal (tr. R. Gard) - The Red and the BlackRobert Jordan - The Great Hunt*Roger Zelazny - Sign of the UnicornRoger Zelazny - The Hand of OberonFyodor Dostoyevsky (tr. D. Magarshack) - The IdiotJunichirō Tanizaki (tr. E. G. Seidensticker) - The Makioka SistersRobert E. Howard - Conan the Barbarian: Complete CollectionRichard Stark - The Black Ice Score*Robert Jordan - Conan the InvincibleLord Dunsany - The King of Elfland’s DaughterMarcel Proust - À l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs*Clive James - Gates of Lilac: A Verse Commentary on ProustRobert Jordan - The Dragon RebornRoger Zelazny - The Courts of ChaosLouise Fitzhugh - Harriet the SpyGene Wolfe - Nightside the Long SunGene Wolfe - Lake of the Long SunDorothy L. Sayers - Whose Body?Dorothy L. Sayers - Clouds of WitnessMarcel Proust - Le Côté de Guermantes I*Louise Fitzhugh - The Long SecretRobert Jordan - The Shadow Rising
Also parts of:Christopher Clark - The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914*Miguel Tamen - What Art Is Like, In Constant Reference to the Alice Books*Malcolm Bowie - Proust Among the Stars*Richard Moran - The Philosophical Imagination
Comics:Junji Ito - Fragments of Horror, Venus in the Blind SpotPierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières - Valérian et Laureline, l’intégrale, vol. 4-6François Boucq and Alejandro Jodorowsky - Face de Lune, vol. 1-2Christophe Arleston and Adrien Floch - Les Naufragés d’Ythaq, premier voyagePhilippe Ogaki - Terra Prime, vol. 1-4Ryoichi Ikegami - Yuko: Extraits de littérature japonaiseEnki Bilal - Bug, vol. 1-2Frank Miller - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
― jmm, Thursday, 30 December 2021 14:34 (two years ago) link
Charles Dickens - Our Mutual FriendP.G. Wodehouse - Right Ho, JeevesFranz Kafka - The MetamorphosisFyodor Dostoyevsky - Crime & PunishmentMuriel Spark - A Far Cry From KensingtonJohn Darnielle - Master of Reality*Charles Dickens - Bleak HouseLeo Tolstoy - Anna KareninaHilary Mantel - Wolf HallHilary Mantel - Bring Up The BodiesCharles Dickens - A Tale of Two CitiesPhilip Roth - American PastoralIan MacDonald - Revolution in the HeadW.G. Sebald - AusterlitzElena Ferrante - My Brilliant Friend
*reread
― ceci n'est pas une messi (cajunsunday), Thursday, 30 December 2021 17:39 (two years ago) link
Marcel Proust - Un amour de Swann/Noms de pays : le nom*
These are the second halves of the first two volumes, correct? I can understand Swann in Love but how did the other one happen?
― adam t. (abanana), Thursday, 30 December 2021 18:02 (two years ago) link
Those are the last two sections of the first volume. The last section of the second volume is "Noms de pays : le pays," where the title is supposed to indicate that the narrator has gone from dreaming about certain place-names (like Balbec) to seeing the place itself. I started the first volume in 2020, so I didn't want to list it as a whole.
― jmm, Thursday, 30 December 2021 18:28 (two years ago) link
Ah. Got it.
― adam t. (abanana), Thursday, 30 December 2021 19:37 (two years ago) link
Charlotte Perkins Gilman - With Her in OurlandRaymond Chandler - Big Sleep,The ✌China Miéville - OctoberCharlotte Perkins Gilman - HerlandDavid Eagleman - Sum: Forty tales from the afterlivesMary Wollstonecraft Shelley - Frankenstein ✌Tessa Norton - Excavate!: The Wonderful and Frightening World of The FallAlexander Solzhenitsyn - Cancer WardStephen King,Richard Chizmar - Gwendy's Button Box: (The Button Box Series) ✌K. Ferrari - Like Flies from AfarRaymond Queneau - The Sunday of LifeAlan Connor - Two Girls One On Each KneeAnnie Ernaux - The YearsRichard Stark - The Jugger (Parker, #6)G.K. Chesterton - The Man Who Was ThursdayGiovanni Boccaccio,Wayne A Rebhorn - The DecameronXiaolu Guo - A Lover's DiscourseChristina Sweeney-Baird - The End of MenLiza Cody - BUCKET NUTAmos Tutuola - My Life in the Bush of GhostsThomas Bernhard - Victor Halfwit: A Winter's TalePatricia Lockwood - No One Is Talking About ThisWilliam H. Gass - The William H. Gass Reader 🐌Satoshi Kon - Satoshi Kon's: OpusSara Gran - Come CloserH G Wells - The Invisible ManJean Cocteau - Opium: The Diary of His CureThe Penguin Charles AddamsPaul Tremblay - The Little Sleep: A NovelMark Steven - Splatter CapitalRichard Stark - The Mourner (Parker, #4)Robert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories ✌William Melvin Kelley - A Different DrummerBell Hooks - All About LoveGiulia Enders - Gut: the inside story of our body's most under-rated organAlberto Manguel - Black Water: The Flamingo Anthology Of Fantastic LiteratureStephen King,Peter Straub - Black House ✌Richard Bachman,Stephen King - The Long Walk ✌David Bushman - Conversations With Mark FrostCharlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow WallpaperNelson Algren's book of lonesome monsters ✌Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber ✌Michelle McNamara - I'll Be Gone in the DarkRichard Chizmar - Gwendy's Magic FeatherRichard Stark - The Score (Parker, #5)Brigid Brophy - FleshFranz Kafka - The TrialNaomi Klein - This Changes EverythingEimear McBride - MouthpiecesJohn Bew - Citizen Clem: A Biography of AttleeH. G. Wells - The Island of Dr. MoreauP.G. Wodehouse - Thank You, JeevesRichard Stark - The Outfit (Parker, #3)Mike Ashley - Queens of the Abyss: Lost Stories from the Women of the WeirdMax Porter - The Death of Francis BaconRichard Stark - The Man With The Getaway Face (Parker, #2)Walter Abish - Alphabetical AfricaStephen King - Rage ✌Stephen King - LaterDaisy Butcher - Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical GothicRudolph Wurlitzer - Slow FadeMike Davis - The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu 🐔Cormac McCarthy - No Country For Old MenEimear McBride - Strange HotelIan Burrows - Shakespeare for Snowflakes: On Slapstick and SympathyAlexandra Kollontai - A Great Love Mike Davis - The Monster Enters 🐔Erasmus - The Praise of FollyOlivia Laing - Funny Weather: Art in an EmergencyPaul Tremblay - A Head Full of GhostsRichard Thompson - Beeswing: Fairport, Folk Rock and Finding My Voice, 1967 - 75H G Wells - The War of the WorldsWystan Hugh Auden - A Certain WorldCullen Bunn - The Empty ManJames Herbert - The FogElizabeth Hardwick - Sleepless nightsMuriel Spark - The TakeoverSophie Mackintosh - Blue TicketKathe Koja - The CipherStephen King - Billy SummersH. G. Wells - The Time MachineMargaret Atwood - The Handmaid's TaleSilvia Moreno-Garcia - Mexican GothicStephen King - Roadwork ✌Amos Tutuola - The Palm Wine DrinkardBram Stoker - Dracula ✌Flann O'Brien - The Third Policeman ✌
This is not the order I read these, the free book shelf app I use jumbles them up when you export to csv - still better than being on goodreads imo.
✌ denotes reread🐔 I got the 2020 mike davis book after reading the monster at the door, not realising it is actually just an edited down reprint of the latter with a new chapter on covid, so this is really one book🐌 I think I started reading the gass reader in the summer & only finished it this week. Arguably a reread as I'd read pretty much all of it before in other books
definitely some cheats here, picture books & things of that nature. once again the worst things I read by a long chalk were those stephen king gwendy books and I will read the new one too when it comes out. I think the only things I didn't finish were drawn & qusrtered by em cioran (put it down & never went back to it) and red shift by alan garner (somehow lost my copy)
― Nerd Ragequit (wins), Friday, 31 December 2021 12:49 (two years ago) link
Tesla - Margaret Cheney* Exhalation - Ted ChiangTo The Lighthouse - Virginia WoolfWar of the Maps - Paul J McAuleyThe Space Between Worlds - Micaiah JohnsonThe Secret City - Carol EmshwillerThe Travelling Grave and Other Stories - L.P. Hartley* The Age of Innocence - Edith WhartonHyperion - Dan Simmons* The Return of the Soldier - Rebecca WestLittle Eyes - Samanta SchweblinNo-one Is Talking about This - Patricia LockwoodThe Lying Life of Adults - Elena FerranteThe Hour of the Star - Clarice LispectorKindred - Octavia ButlerMansfield Park - Jane AustenAcadie - Dave Hutchinson* What Maisie Knew - Henry JamesTerritory of Light - Yuko TsushimaThe Dud Avocado - Elaine DundyA Favourite of the Gods - Sybille Bedford* The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne FrankBroken Stars - VariousRemnant Population - Elizabeth MoonKlara and the Sun - Kazuo IshiguroQuiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking - Susan CainDept. of Speculation - Jenny OffillFlannery O'Connor - A Good Man is Hard to Find* Alice Munro - Open Secrets* The Idea of the Brain: The Past and Future of Neuroscience - Matthew CobbNophek Gloss - Essa HansenNorthanger Abbey - Jane AustenThe Necromancer, or The Tale of the Black Forest - Karl Friedrich KahlertThe Telling - Ursula Le GuinThe Coming Insurrection - The Invisible CommitteeThe Old Drift - Namwali SerpellThe Fourth Island - Sarah TolmieBreasts and Eggs - Mieko KawakamiProvenance - Ann LeckieThe Underground Railroad - Colson WhiteheadOffshore - Penelope FitzgeraldOroonoko - Aphra BennThe Dead Mountaineer's Inn - Boris and Arkady StrugatskyHow Should a Person Be? - Sheila HetiAltai - Wu MingOtter Country - Miriam DarlingtonThe Quantum Thief - Hannu RajaniemiHappiness - Aminatta FornaThe Good Soldier - Ford Madox Form* Circe - Madeline MillerOne of Them - Musa OkwongaA Coin in Nine Hands - Marguerite Yourcenar* The Gospel According to Jesus Christ - Jose SaramagoTea from an Empty Cup - Pat CadiganBrightness Falls from the Air - James Tiptree Jr.Invisible Man - Ralph EllisonPandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths - Natalie HaynesThe Gate to Women's Country - Sherri S TepperThe Sorrows of Young Werther - GoetheSummerwater - Sarah MossA Door Into Ocean - Joan SlonczewskiLight - M John HarrisonThe King at the Edge of the World - Arthur PhillipsThe Shadow Constant - AJ Scudiere* Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men - Caroline Criado PérezProject Hail Mary - Andy Weir* Ducks, Newburyport - Lucy Ellmann (started this two years ago then inexplicably abandoned it halfway through)Far from the Light of Heaven - Tade ThomsonThe Silence of the Girls - Pat BarkerDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson* The Blue Flower - Penelope FitzgeraldA Month in the Country - J.L. CarrA Strange and Brilliant Light - Eli LeeThe Country Life - Rachel CuskWomen's Weird: Strange Stories by Women, 1890-1940 - VariousThe Mill on the Floss - George EliotBlindness - Jose SaramagoThe Employees - Olga RavnGhost Wall - Sarah MossThe Incal - Moebius/Jodorowsky
No rereads, favourites asterisked. Five or so shared with caek iirc. Might slow down and do some re-reading next year.
― two sleeps till brooklyn (ledge), Friday, 31 December 2021 21:20 (two years ago) link
In reverse chronological order:
I Alone Can Fix It: Donald Trump's Disastrous Final Year, by Carol Leonnig and Phillip RuckerJudge Anderson: Year One, by Alec WorleySodom and Gomorrah, by Marcel ProustDeacon King Kong, by James McBrideLeviathan Wakes, by James S.A. CoreyArchitects of Memory, by Karen OsborneA Long Petal of the Sea, by Isabel AllendeRage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger, by Soraya ChemalySnake Agent, by Liz WilliamsThe Windup Girl, by Paolo BacigalupiKlara and the Sun, by Kazuo IshiguroThe City We Became, by N.K. JemisinMusic for Torching, by A.M. HomesL.A. Noire, by Megan Abbott (ed.)The Vanishing Half, by Brit BennettInterference, by Brad ParksOld Rendering Plant, by Wolfgang HilbigBlacktop Wasteland, by S.A. CosbyBlackthorn Winter, by Liz WilliamsThe Guermantes Way, by Marcel ProustThe Vanished Birds, by Simon JimenezWoman in the Water, by Katerina DiamondComet Weather, by Liz WilliamsRoadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
― jimbeaux, Friday, 31 December 2021 21:28 (two years ago) link
It's the 31st so I guess I'll go ahead and post my list. I'm still reading "Fog" but I've included it.
nonfiction:J.R. Pierce - Symbols, Signals and NoiseRobert Christgau - Going to the CityGeoff Dyer - But BeautifulEd Ward - History of Rock and Roll Vol 1: 1920-1963Patrick Leigh Fermor - A Time of GiftsBenjamin Labatut - When We Cease To Understand the WorldSujeet Indap and Max Frumes - The Caesar's Palace Coup
fiction:Pascal Garnier - The A26, How's the Pain, Panda Theory **Henri Bosco - MalicroixP.G. Wodehouse - The Code of the WoostersF. Scott Fitzgerald - The Early Short Stories (Dover Thrift) **Graham Greene - Brighton RockPatricia Highsmith - Strangers on a Train, The Price of Salt **Jim Thompson - The Killer Inside MeSaul Bellow - Herzog *Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse *Natalia Ginzberg - Family and Borghesia **Shirley Jackson - The Haunting of Hill HouseKazuo Ishiguro - Remains of the DayRumaan Alam - Leave the World BehindPaul Beatty - The SelloutNicholson Baker - The AnthologistJean Stafford - The Mountain LionSusan Taubes - Divorcing **Helen Dewitt - Some TrickSigrid Nunez - The FriendMiguel de Unamuno - Fog poetry:Michael Robbins - WalkmanJuvenal - Satires (tr. by Rolfe Humphries) **
key:* - rereads** - favorites
― o. nate, Friday, 31 December 2021 22:33 (two years ago) link
Happy new year all. My list:
Adjua Gargi Nzinga Greaves, Of Forests and of Farms: on Faculty & Failure †Afrizal Marna, Document Shredding Museum (tran. Daniel Owen)Akilah Oliver, the she said dialogues: flesh memoryAlan Davies, Odes & FragmentsAlfred Starr Hamilton, A Dark Dreambox of Another Kind *Andy Martrich, Agri-tech R&D Heroics †Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, The Mushroom at the End of the WorldAnnabel Lee, Minnesota Drift †Barbara Guest, Quill, Solitary, 'Apparition'Benjamin Roylance, The Chymical Wedding of Benjamin RoylanceBlanca Varela, Rough Song (trans. Carlos Lara)Brett Price, Ordinary Dissonance ^Broc Rossell, AlamedaBruce Andrews, Getting Ready to Have Been FrightenedBruce Andrews, Tizzy BoostCamille Roy, Honey MineCarlos Lara, Subconscious ColossusCarlos Lara, The Green RecordChelsea Hogue, Ethel †Chris Sylvester, BOOK ABT FANTASY *Christa Wolf, No Place on EarthChrista Wolf, The Quest for Christa T.Clark Coolidge, Solution PassageClint Burnham, White LieCody-Rose Clevidence, Listen, My Friend...D.S. Marriott, Hoodoo VoodooDaniel Davidson and Tom Mandel, Absence SensoriumDaniel Davidson, Culture *Daniel Owen, Ceilngak-CelingukDaniel Owen, Points of Amperture †Danielle Collobert, It Then (trans. Norma Cole)Danielle Collobert, Murder (trans. Nathanael)Dennis Cooper, I WishedDennis Cooper, The Sluts *Diarmuid Hester, Wrong: A Critical Biography of Dennis CooperDodie Bellamy, Bee ReavedDriss Chraibi, The Simple PastDuncan MacNaughton, A Passage of Saint DevilEd Steck and Adam Marnie, The Rose Elizabeth Fodaski, fracasErick Saenz, Lucid TraversalFlora Yin-Wong, LiturgyGabriel Kruis, Acid VirgaGabrielle Daniels, Something Else AgainGail Scott, The ObituaryGeorge Albon, Brief Capital of DisturbancesGeorge Albon, Momentary SongsGeorge Eliot, Silas Marner *Gerald Burns, Shorter PoemsGilda Musa, Total Memory (trans. Nicole Trigg) †Gillian Rose, Love's WorkHolly Melgard, Divisions of LaborHugh Tribbey, EF ZeroIan Dreiblatt, Forget TheeJ. Gordon Faylor, Phone & PencilJ.H. Prynne, Aquatic Hocquets †J.H. Prynne, Athwart Apron Snaps †J.H. Prynne, Duets Infer Duty †J.H. Prynne, Efflux Reference †J.H. Prynne, Enchanter's Nightshade †J.H. Prynne, Her Air Fallen †J.H. Prynne, Kernels in Vernal Silence †J.H. Prynne, Memory Working: Impromptus I-X †J.H. Prynne, Memory Working: Impromptus XI-XVII †J.H. Prynne, None Yet More Willing Told †J.H. Prynne, Of Better Scrap J.H. Prynne, Otherhood Imminent Profusion †J.H. Prynne, Parkland †J.H. Prynne, Passing Grass Parnassus †J.H. Prynne, See By So †J.H. Prynne, Squeezed White Noise J.H. Prynne, The Fever's End †J.H. Prynne, Torrid Auspicious Quartz †Jack Spicer, 15 False Propositions Against God †*Jack Spicer, After Lorca *Jackie Ess, DarrylJackie Wang, The Sunflower Cast a Spell to Save Us from the VoidJacqueline Waters, CommodoreJamie Townsend, Sex MachinesJason Morris, Low Life †Jean Day, Late HumanJean Day, Linear C †Jeff Van der Meer, AcceptanceJennifer Soong, Contempt †Jennifer Soong, When I Ask My Friend †Jeremy Hoevenaar, Cold Mountain Mirror Displacement †Jeremy Hoevenaar, Insolvency, Insolvency! †JL Carr, A Month in the CountryJoan Brossa, El Saltamarti (The Tumbler) (trans. Cameron Griffiths)Joel Steven Kuszai, AccidencyJoey Yearous-Algozin, A Feeling Called HeavenJohn Paetsch, CtasyJohn Rufo, Unowned Pleasures †John Wieners, Behind the State Capitol or Cincinnati Pike *Josef Kaplan, LoserJoseph Mosconi, Occupational Elegies †Julia Drescher, Disarticulationkari edwards, having been blue for charityKenneth Irby, Antiphonal and Fall to Fall †Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, SIRKevin Davies, FPOKimberly Alidio, :once teeth bones coral:Kimberly Alidio, Why Letter EllipsisKyle Schlesinger (ed.), A Poetics of the PressLara Durback, Rust Moves †Laura Elrick, What This BreathingLeslie Scalapino, Objects in the Terrifying Tense/Longing from Taking PlaceLewis Freedman, Am Perhaps Yet †Liz Waldner, A Point is That Which Has No PartLiz Waldner, Dark Would (the missing person)Liz Waldner, Etym(bi)ologyLonely Christopher, Double RainbowLyn Hejinian & Leslie Scalapino, HearingLyn Hejinian, The Book of a Thousand EyesLyn Hejinian, from WALL (A Hundred Posters) †Lynn Xu, Tournesol †M. Elizabeth Scott, Blue Dahlia & 12 Other Poems †Mark Francis Johnson, Poor FridgeMark Francis Johnson, Treatise on LuckMatthew Hodges & Zan de Parry, Austerity BrunchMaurice Blanchot, Death Sentence *Michael Gottlieb, The River RoadMichael Klausman, Aeolian Darts †N.H. Pritchard, The Matrix: Poems 1960-1970Nicole Raziya Fong, 7 Series, Iterated by Colour †Noah Ross, TypesNorma Cole & Marina Adams, ActualitiesNorma Cole, Fate NewsOki Sogumi, Their Gravity †Omar Berrada, Clonal Hum †Phil Demise, What I Don't Know for Sure †Philip Whalen, Self-Portrait from Another Direction †Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary WomanRabih Alameddine, KOOLAIDSRenée Green, Camino Rd.Rick Bass, WinterRindon Johnson, The Law of Large NumbersRob Halpern, Fertility †Rod Roland, No Right Words †Rosie Stockton, Permanent VoltaRuth Gilmore Wilson, The Golden GulagRyan Fitzpatrick, Fake MathS*an D. Henry-Smith, Wild PeachSaidiya Hartman, Wayward Lives, Beautiful ExperimentsSara Larsen, Starved Crew †Sesshu Foster & Arturo Romo, ELADATLStephen Rodefer, Four More Lectures †Stephen Rodefer, Mon CanardSteven Zultanski, ReliefSunday Fall, Subway PoemsSunday Fall, Fever †Tan Lin, Heath Course Pak Taylor Brady, In the RedTed Dodson, An OrangeThomas Meyer, The Umbrella of AesculapiusUlf Stolterfoht, Nine Drugs †Violet Spurlock, Unalloyed Bliss †Zan de Parry, Achievements of the Unlocked †
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:28 (two years ago) link
key: *= re-read†= chapbook
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:29 (two years ago) link
Already finishe danothe rcouple of books, or did i say that and starteda few more.HIt town yesterday and picked up a few more interlibrary loansnotably Anita Loos Gentlemwen Prefer blondes/ Buit marry Brunettesreally hoping to read a load of her. I think i just missed something in a charity shop cos I didn't fully know the name.& her introduction to this reads really well so I think I will be looking for her much later memoirs
Nell Irvin painterThe History of teh White PeopleWho I need to consciously take on board is a black female writer called Nell not a white patriarchal guy called Neil but maybe that's the state of my head last night and i will be more aware of. So far been reading about Greek takes on the Scythians
There ain't No Black IN the Union Jack Paul gilroy
― Stevolende, Saturday, 1 January 2022 15:57 (two years ago) link
Light Years - James SalterAs I Lay Dying - William FaulknerUpgrade Soul - Ezra Claytan DanielsCider with Rosie - Laurie LeeThe Black Spider - Jeremias GotthelfLake Success - Gary ShteyngartEurope in Winter - Dave HutchinsonThe Stories of Breece D'J Pancake - Breece D'J PancakeWinter Mythologies and Abbots - Pierre MichonInvisible Man - Ralph EllisonAll Among The Barley - Melissa HarrisonThe Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon - David GrannThe Flower Beneath the Foot: Being a Record of the Early Life of St. Laura de Nazianzi - Ronald FirbankInto Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster - Jon Krakauer*The Ballad of Peckham Rye - Muriel SparkGroupie - Jenny FabianPietr the Latvian (Maigret #1) - Georges SimenonClose to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration - David WojnarowiczThe Post-Office Girl - Stefan ZweigThe Professor's House - Willa Cather7 Gothic Tales - Isak DinesenThe Story of a New Name (The Neapolitan Novels #2) - Elena FerranteEeeee Eee Eeee - Tao LinGhachar Ghochar - Vivek ShanbhagBring Up the Bodies - Hilary MantelMood Indigo - Boris VianThe Unseen - Roy JacobsenBlack Swan Green - David MitchellThe Hypocrisy of Disco - Clane HaywardLow Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York - Luc SanteGreat Granny Webster - Caroline BlackwoodChronicles: Volume One - Bob DylanI Capture the Castle - Dodie SmithThe Invention of Morel - Adolfo Bioy CasaresAmong the Thugs - Bill BufordThe Towers of Trebizond - Rose MacaulayThe Night of Wenceslas - Lionel DavidsonTrue Blue: The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny - Daniel TopolskiRegeneration - Pat BarkerThe Assistant - Robert WalserBe Not Content: A Subterranean Journal - William J. CraddockThe Driver's Seat - Muriel SparkPnin - Vladimir NabokovEnter Naomi: SST, L.A. and All That... - Joe CarducciThe Hearing Trumpet - Leonora CarringtonThe Street - Mordecai RichlerThe Doorman - Reinaldo ArenasTake a Girl Like You - Kingsley AmisMadness Has a Moment and Then Vanishes Before Returning Again - Benjamin DeVosPeanuts Dell Archive - Charles M. SchulzWhat Hetty Did - J.L. CarrPost Office - Charles BukowskiBruno, Chief of Police (Bruno, Chief of Police, #1) - Martin WalkerWind, Sand and Stars (Harbrace Modern Classics 18) - Antoine de Saint-ExupéryClemmie - John D. MacDonaldAlone in Berlin - Hans FalladaYellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures - Yvan AlagbéJoy Division's Unknown Pleasures (33 1/3 Book 9) - Chris OttThe Overstory - Richard PowersKing, Queen, Knave - Vladimir NabokovThe Atrocity Exhibition - J.G. BallardThe Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle, #4) - Ursula K. Le GuinJust Kids - Patti SmithA Chelsea Concerto - Frances FaviellJacket Weather - Mike DeCapiteJernigan - David Gates*Living - Henry GreenLolita - Vladimir NabokovLike Punk Never Happened: Culture Club and the New Pop - Dave RimmerSexing the Cherry - Jeanette WintersonWest Coast Blues - Jacques Tardi and Jean-Patrick ManchetteThe Mad and the Bad - Jean-Patrick ManchettePeter and the Wolves - Adele BerteiLe Grand Meaulnes - Alain-FournierDancer From The Dance - Andrew Holleran*By Night in Chile - Roberto BolañoHeads and Straights: The Circle Line - Lucy WadhamClandestine In Chile: The Adventures Of Miguel Littin - Asa ZatzThe Road into the Open - Arthur SchnitzlerEngland, Their England - A.G. Macdonell
Good, pandemic-assisted year. Try to have at least one "monument" (last year: Gravity's Rainbow) but didn't happen this year. Currently: Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain and Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
― bulb after bulb, Saturday, 1 January 2022 19:17 (two years ago) link
After not reading much at all in 2020, I made up for it a bit in 2021 with a lot of escapism
Finished:
Natalie Zina Walschots - HenchErin Hunter - Warriors: Fire and IceJenny Odell - How to Do NothingGabor Mate - ScatteredErin Hunter - Warriors: Forest of SecretsErin Hunter - Warriors: Rising StormTiffany Pitts - ParallaxMartha Wells - All Systems RedMartha Wells - Artificial ConditionMartha Wells - Rogue ProtocolMartha Wells - Exit StrategyMartha Wells - Network EffectViolet McNeal - Four White Horses and a Brass BandPhilip Pullman - The Secret CommonwealthMichaelangelo Matos - Can't Slow DownJonathan Meiburg - A Most Remarkable CreatureNancy Mace - The 36-hour DayRose Szabo - What Big TeethOliver James - Contented DementiaDavid Hill - The VaporsKevin Wilson - The Family FangMartha Wells - Fugitive TelemetryElissa Altman - MotherlandRussell Barkley - When an Adult You Love Has ADHDAnita Robertson - ADHD & UsConnie Willis - Take a Look At the Five and TenJohn Steinbeck - Cannery Row*John Steinbeck - Sweet Thursday*Jen Gunter - The Menopause ManifestoHaven Kimmel - She Got Up Off the CouchEdward Hallowell - Driven to DistractionArielle Schwartz - A Practical Guide to Complex PTSDKC Davis - How to Keep House While DrowningRussell Barkley - Taking Charge of Adult ADHDHaven Kimmel - The Used WorldNaomi Kritzer - Catfishing on CatNetNaomi Kritzer - Chaos on CatNetAmanda Montell - WordslutK.J. Parker - Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled CityFrancine Shapiro - Getting Past Your PastAdam Chandler - Drive-Thru DreamsMelissa Orlov - The ADHD Effect on MarriageSteven Petrow - Stupid Things I Won't Do When I Get OldGrady Hendrix - The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying VampiresRachel Miller - The Art of Showing UpGrady Hendrix - My Best Friend's ExorcismJackson Galaxy - Total Cat MojoHarriet Lerner - Why Won't You ApologizeShankar Vedantam - The Hidden BrainNaomi Kritzer - Little Free LibraryGrady Hendrix - The Final Girl Support GroupCarmen Maria Machado - In the Dream HouseJackson Galaxy - Cat DaddyNick Harkaway - The Gone-Away WorldAmaryllis Fox - Life UndercoverGrady Hendrix - HorrorstorAmanda Montell - CultishJimmy Carter - The Virtues of AgingLaura Parnell - Tapping InMary Roach - FuzzGrady Hendrix - Paperbacks from HellDeborah Copaken - LadypartsStephen Porges - The Pocket Guide to Polyvagal TheoryCalvin Kasulke - Several People Are TypingK Eason - How Rory Thorne Destroyed the MultiverseCrystal Fleming - How to Be Less Stupid about RaceGrady Hendrix - We Sold Our SoulsNedra Tawwab - Set Boundaries, Find PeaceAlan Floyd - Vagus Nerve and Polyvagal TheoryCandace Gorham - On Death, Dying, and DisbeliefCatherynne Valente - Comfort Me with ApplesRichard Powers - The OverstoryTove Jansson - The True DeceiverJ B MacKinnon - The Day the World Stops ShoppingLouise Fitzhugh - Harriet the Spy
Stalled:
Gary Taubes - The Case for KetoAlison Weir - Mistress of the MonarchyKevin Roose - FutureproofBecky Chambers - The Long Way to a Small, Angry PlanetChina Mieville - Three Moments of ExplosionNaomi Kritzer - Cat Pictures Please and other storiesTara Branch - Radical CompassionFaith Harper - Unfuck Your BrainKen Wilbur - The Spectrum of Consciousness
Bailed:
Linda Abbit - The Conscious CaregiverArielle Schwartz - The Post-Traumatic Growth GuidebookClayton Christensen - How Will You Measure Your LifeRuss Harris - The Confidence Gap
― Jaq, Saturday, 1 January 2022 19:20 (two years ago) link
"The Road into the Open - Arthur Schnitzler"
Didn't know this was a novel - how was it?
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 1 January 2022 21:20 (two years ago) link
I thought it was a great read, capturing Viennese twilight culture, antisemitism and debates within the Jewish community with nuance. Really effective at creating a tone for the period. The dilettante aristocrat composer protagonist is unsympathetic, but well drawn.
― bulb after bulb, Saturday, 1 January 2022 22:52 (two years ago) link
Thanks.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 1 January 2022 23:01 (two years ago) link
JANUARY
Ali Smith – WinterRobert V. Remini – Andrew Jackson and the Course of American FreedomGraham Greene – The ComediansSylvia Plath – The Bell JarJohn Le Carré – A Legacy of SpiesShakespeare – CymbelineGarth Greenwell – CleannessColin Tóibin – All a Novelist NeedsDavid S. Reynolds – Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His TimesNatalia Ginzburg – Happiness, As SuchNatalia Ginzburg – Valentine and SagittariusDaniel Mendelsohn – An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic
FEBRUARY
Muriel Spark – The BachelorsHilary Holladay – The Power of Adrienne Rich: A BiographyAli Smith – SpringWallace Shawn – The Designated MournerKarl Ove Knausgaard – My Struggle: Book FourLewis L. Gould – The First Modern Clash over Federal Power: Wilson versus Hughes in the Presidential Election of 1916Naguib Mahfouz – The Thief and the DogsScott Eyman – Cary Grant: A Brilliant DisguiseMelissa Maerz – Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater’s Dazed and ConfusedElizabeth Bowen – Friends and RelationsCraig Fehrman – Author in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote
MARCH
Walter Kempowski – Marrow and BoneJean Stafford – The Collected Stories of Jean StaffordVirginia Woolf – The Voyage OutUrsula K. Le Guin – The Lathe of HeavenCurzio Malaparte – The SkinTom Paulin – MinotaurDavid Michaelis – EleanorWilliam Gass – On Being Blue: A Philosophical InquiryBeverly Cleary – Dear Mr. Henshaw…* Jean Stafford – The Mountain Lion
APRIL
Robert Elder – John Calhoun* Percy Bysshe Shelley – The CenciJohn Banville – SnowOctavia Butler – KindredGrahame Greene – The Ministry of FearMark Harris – Mike Nichols: A LifeMichel Foucault – The Uses of PleasureDamon Galgut – Arctic SummerRoberto Bolaño – Distant Star
MAY
Edward White – The Twelve Lives of Alfred HitchcockAnthony Trollope – The WardenLiva Baker – The Justice from Beacon Hill: The Life and Times of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Susan Howe – My Emily Dickinson* E.M. Forster – MauriceThomas Bernhardt – The LoserAnnie Zaleski – Rio* F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great GatsbyOctavia Butler – FledglingGraham Greene – The Honorary Consul* Shakespeare – MacbethNatalia Ginzberg – The Heat of the CityJoel Silbey – Party over Section: The Rough and Ready Presidential Election of 1848Thomas Mann – Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man
JUNE
Teju Cole – Open CityElizabeth Taylor – A Wreath of RosesJohn Le Carré – A Most Wanted ManEdith Wharton – The TouchstoneMichael Holt – By One Vote: The Disputed Presidential Election of 1876Richard Greene – The Unquiet Englishman: A Life of Graham GreenVladimir Nabokov – The Real Life of Sebastian KnightJames Lacey – The Washington War: FDR’s Inner Circle and the Politics of Power That Won World War IIShakespeare – Henry IV, Part TwoRalph Ellison – JuneteenthIris Murdoch – The Black PrinceCharles Mann – 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
JULY
Bill Goldstein – The World Broke in TwoDamon Galgut – The PromiseLauren Berlant – Cruel Optimism* Edith Wharton – The Custom of the CountryJane Bowles – Two Serious LadiesSue Roe – The Private Lives of the ImpressionistsNeil McCormick (editor) – U2 by U2Paul Bowles – The Spider’s HouseSerhii Plokhy – Nuclear Folly: A New History of the Cuban Missile CrisisJeremy D. Popkin – A New World Begins: The History of the French RevolutionKarin Roffman – The Songs We Know Best: John Ashbery’s Early LifeRonald Firbank – ValmouthJ.C. Ackerley – We Think the World of You
AUGUST
Ruth Harris – Dreyfus: Politics, Emotion, and the Scandal of the CenturyÉmile Zola – Thérèse RaquinJonathan M. Metzl – Death by Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America’s HeartlandLeonard Gardner – Fat CityColm Tóibín – The Heather BlazingV.S. Pritchett – The Gentle Barbarian: The Life and Work of TurgenevElena Ferrante – The Lost DaughterDonald A. Richie – Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932Stephen Kinzer – Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime ChangeSally Keane – Good BehaviourJon Savage – Teenage
SEPTEMBER
William Faulkner – Go Down, Moses (1942)Elizabeth Taylor – Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (1971)A.J. Baime – The Accidental President (2008)Paul Mariani – The Broken Tower: The Life of Hart Crane (1999)Yuko Mishima – Confessions of a Mask (1949)Diane Middlebrook – Her Husband: Hughes and Plath – A Marriage (2004)Gail Crowther: Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz: The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath & Anne Sexton (2021)* Saul Bellow – Herzog (1964)Dorothy B. Hughes – In a Lonely Place (1947)Charles Portis – True Grit (1971)William di Canzio – Alec (2021)Robert S. Levine – The Failed Promise: Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass, and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (2021)
OCTOBER
Gordon Merrick – One for the GodsJay Wright – The Presentable Act of Reading AbsenceJoy Williams – The Quick and the DeadJoy Williams – EscapesColm Tóibín – The MagicianJanet Malcolm – Forty-one False Starts: Essays on Artists and WritersIngeborg Bachmann – MalinaClinton Heylin – Despite the System: Orson Welles Versus the Hollywood StudiosJefferson Cowie – Stayin’ Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working ClassRobert Walser – The TannersAdam Winkler – We the Corporations
NOVEMBER
Jefferson Cowie – The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American PoliticsRachel Kushner – The Strange Case of Rachel KRachel Kushner – The FlamethrowersJohn Hollander – Reflections on Espionage* Toni Morrison – BelovedElena Ferrante – The Lying Lives of AdultsChristina Stead – Miss Herbert (The Suburban Wife)Allen C. Guelzo – Robert E. Lee: A LifeRebecca West – Henry JamesGeoffrey O’Brien – Sonata for JukeboxDwight MacDonald – Against the American GrainJ.D. Salinger – Franny and ZooeyRobert H. Jackson – That Man: An Insider’s Portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt
DECEMBER
Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Clandestine in ChileShirley Hazzard – The Evening of the HolidayTony Judt – Ill Fares the LandShirley Hazzard – The Transit of VenusSusan Butler – Roosevelt and Stalin: Portrait of a PartnershipAnna Kavan – IceRebecca West – Black Lamb and Grey FalconAda Ferrer – Cuba: An American StoryAdolfo Bioy Casares – The Invention of Morelbell hooks – Here We StandEve Babitz – Slow Days, Fast Company* Ernest Hemingway – The Garden of EdenMarc Morris – The Anglo-Saxons
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 2 January 2022 14:32 (two years ago) link
What did you think of Franny and Zooey, Alfred?
― dow, Sunday, 2 January 2022 23:07 (two years ago) link
Me:
Mort Piranesi Sometimes therapy is AwkwardBee questThe Year of Reading Dangerously Me - Elton John Big SkyWhy Therapy WorksTranscriptionMiss Pym Disposes (gave up)Ascension - Oliver HarrisHow to change everything - Naomi KleinA Wizard of Earthsea Life the universe and everythingThe Pigeon TunnelTombs of AtuanFirst love - Riley Harriet the SspyThursday Night murder clubThe shadow of the torturerBeautiful world where are youThe Long SecretWeirdstone of BrisingamenThe High WindowThe Man Who Died Twice
Read less this year because of being a stay-at-home dad with a toddler, migraines, and doing the 2nd year of an MSc (the essays, the essays)
Highlights:- Probably the Elton John biog and the Harriet the Spy books- Being impressed by Kate Atkinson and Gwendolyn Riley and excited to read more of their work - I wasn't expecting much from either- Finally reading and loving Le Guin- Regretting to inform you that Richard Osman's books are quite entertaining
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 3 January 2022 17:30 (two years ago) link
― dow, Sunday, January 2, 2022 6:07 PM
A genuine surprise.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 January 2022 20:25 (two years ago) link
these 100+ lists are both impressive and scary.
― adam t. (abanana), Monday, 3 January 2022 21:23 (two years ago) link
Ah! How so? (C'mon, spill.)
― dow, Tuesday, 4 January 2022 01:16 (two years ago) link
I've often seen Alfred's impressive cranium on WDYLL threads, so his lengthy list merely serves as an unnecessary confirmation of the self-evident. I shudder to think what breathtaking marvels would be revealed if James Morrison were to post to WDYLL!
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 4 January 2022 01:22 (two years ago) link
I also have a pretty large head, fwiw.
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Tuesday, 4 January 2022 13:28 (two years ago) link
Jorgenrique Adoum - Prepoems in PostSpanishRabih Alameddine - KoolaidsSinan Antoon - The Baghdad EucharistAmiri Baraka - The System of Dante's HellDodie Bellamy - Bee ReavedHassan Blasim - The Corpse ExhibitionAnne Boyer - My Common HeartMolly Brodak - Bandit: A Daughter's MemoirJulie Carr - 100 Notes on ViolenceSelected Poems and Prose of Paul CelanMary Crow - BordersPeter Culley - The Age of Briggs & StrattonPeter Culley - HammertownKevin Davies - The Golden Age of ParaphernaliaSamuel Delany - Dhalgren (reread)Jim Dicksinson - I'm Just Dead, I'm Not GoneGe Fei - The Invisibility CloakSesshu Foster - City of the Future (reread)Sesshu Foster - Atomik AztexFederico Garcia Lorca - Selected Poems Andre Gide - Urien's VoyageJohannes Göransson - Poetry Against AllJudy Grahn - love belongs to those who do the feelingLinda Gregg - The Sacraments of DesireDorothea Grossman - Museum of RainPeter Handke - Three by HandkeJim Harrison - Song of UnreasonJim Harrison - The Essential PoemsFanny Howe - The QuietistFanny Howe - Radical Love: 5 NovelsThe Selected Poetry of Vicente HuidobroZora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching GodKazuo Ishiguro - Klara and the SunDenis Johnson - The Name of the WorldDenis Johnson - Train DreamsRonald Johnson - The Book of the Green ManHettie Jones - DriveJohn Keene - AnnotationsWilliam Kennedy - IronweedJohn Koethe - rotc killsEugene Lim - Search HistoryEugene Lim - Dear CyborgsKelly Link - Get in Trouble: StoriesBernadette Mayer - SonnetsJoyelle McSweeney - FletSemezdin Mehmedinovic - My HeartDunya Mikhail - The War Works HardSayaka Murata - EarthlingsEileen Myles - Not MeAlice Notley - Negativity's KissMichael Ondaatje - The Collected Works of Billy the KidCelia Paul - Self PortraitMarge Piercy - Woman on the Edge of TimeSam Riviere - Safe ModeCamille Roy - Honey MineFrederick Seidel - Going FastDanzy Senna - Where Did You Sleep Last Night?Choi Seungja - Phone Bells Keep Ringing for MeGary Snyder - Earth House HoldMagda Szabo - The DoorJean Valentine - Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003Ocean Vuong - On Earth We're Briefly GorgeousNikki Wallschlaeger - WaterbabyNikki Wallschlaeger - Pizza and WarfareSimone White - Dear Angel of DeathJohn Edgar Wideman - The Homewood Trilogy
(inclusion not necessarily an endorsement, of course)
― zak m, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 03:11 (two years ago) link
Have already finished 3 or 4 books since teh start of teh year and started 4 or 5.Will see if that goes anywhere.But some great stuff anyway, more bell hooks, Anita Loos who I hadn't read before and think I missed a book by recently which now grates, George Schuyler who is amazingly against the tide and stuff.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 09:09 (two years ago) link
No One Is Talking About This, Patricia LockwoodWar, So Much War, Merce RodoredaTrue Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, Abraham RiesmanHow Much of Thee Hills Is Gold, C. Pam ZhangThe Seven Veils of Seth, Ibrahim al-KoniConversations in Sicily, Elio VittoriniFever Dream, Samantha SchweblinEleven Sooty Dreams, Manuela DraegerCompass, Mathias ÉnardA House and Its Head, Ivy Compton-BurnettThe Invisibility Cloak, Ge FeiKin, Miljenko JergovicIn Memory of Memory, Maria StepanovaGold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, Slobodan NovakA Girl's Story, Annie ErnauxA Castle in Romagna, Igor StiksGötz and Meyer, David AlbahariHammers on Bone, Cassandra KhawA Private Venus, Giorgio ScerbanancoThe Cyclist Conspiracy, Svetislav BasaraCroatian War Nocturnal, Spomenka StimekWhere There's Love, There's Hate, Adolfo Bioy Casares & Silvina OcampoEEG, Dasa DrndicVoices in the Evening, Natalila GinsburgL'Amante Anglaise, Marguerite DurasNothing But Blackened Teeth, Cassandra KhawBetween Life and Death, Yoram KaniukThe Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuinI Belong to Vienna, Anna GoldenbergA Woman's Story, Annie ErnauxFires on the Plain, Shohei OokaNazi Literature in the Americas, Roberto Bolaño My Heart, Semezdin MehmedinovicPhone Bells Keep Ringing for Me, Choi SeungaA Heritage and Its History, Ivy Compton-BurnettVanish in an Instant, Margaret Millar
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 13:43 (two years ago) link
Don't know most of those authors, but!---Ivy Compton-Burnett (twice), Adolfo Bioy Casares & Silvina Ocampo, Ursula K. LeGuin (and one of her stone cold classics at that), Roberto Bolaño, and Margaret Millar to boot (even Patricia Lockwood, whom I don't think I've ever read, but whose name somehow attached itself to a startling woman of authoritah in a recent dream)---that's my kind of list already---better check the other items on it---
― dow, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 15:35 (two years ago) link
I need to read more Duras too.
― dow, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 17:44 (two years ago) link
I almost bought the Ocampo last week! NYRB rock.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 5 January 2022 17:49 (two years ago) link
dow, I strongly recommend Annie Ernaux. She's a memoirist. I avoid memoirs! But she is genuinely special -- there is something unrelenting in her self-examination. And addictive. I expect to read a bunch more of hers.
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Thursday, 6 January 2022 00:43 (two years ago) link
Intriguing---will def. check her out, thanks.
― dow, Thursday, 6 January 2022 01:51 (two years ago) link
The Jakarta Method - Vincent BevinsThe Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes Nimona - Noelle Stevenson 1974 - David Peace The Pear Field - Nana Ekvtimishvili No One Is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood Lying For Money - Dan Davies Nordic Fauna - Andrea Lundgren Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stewart Summer Lightning - PG Wodehouse The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter Age of Anger - Pankaj Mishra Yesterday - Juan Emar Sea of Ink - Richard Weihe Love's Work - Gillian RoseDarryl - Jackie EssThe Hothouse by the East River - Muriel SparkTyll - Daniel KehlmannNovels in Three Lines - Félix Fénéon
Of this the best were No One Is Talking About This, Darryl and the Jakarta Method. The worst by some distance was Shuggie Bain, a however many hundred page book about a boy who loves his mammy where we learn nothing about the boy other than that he loves his mammy.
― calumerio, Thursday, 6 January 2022 21:42 (two years ago) link
I don’t know how I manage to do this every year but I was weighing out some brewer’s yeast & suddenly remembered that last year I read & forgot to log:Merlin Sheldrake - Entangled Life& my brain would not let me let this go uncorrected
― Nerd Ragequit (wins), Thursday, 6 January 2022 23:11 (two years ago) link
A week into 22 and I have not read a page so far, hopefully I get some sweet covid isolation time at some point
― Nerd Ragequit (wins), Thursday, 6 January 2022 23:13 (two years ago) link
i didn't think shuggie bain was *that* bad but it wasn't great
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Thursday, 6 January 2022 23:17 (two years ago) link
I love both Marguerite Duras and Paul Celan! Joan Crawford Loves Chachi that's an impressive list with many writers I've been meaning to read, especially In Memory of Memory, Maria Stepanova.
― JacobSanders, Thursday, 6 January 2022 23:57 (two years ago) link
calumerio, nice to see someone else read Rose. Glad you liked Jackie's book and the Jakarta Method, too.
― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Friday, 7 January 2022 15:32 (two years ago) link
The Mabinogion (tr. Sioned Davies)Arthur Machen - The Great God PanClark Ashton Smith - ZothiqueClark Ashton Smith - PoseidonisArkady and Boris Strugatsky - Roadside PicnicKir Bulychev - Alice: The Girl From EarthKir Bulychev - Half a Life and Other StoriesKir Bulychev - Gusliar WondersYevgeny Zamyatin - WeGeorge Orwell - Nineteen Eighty-FourAldous Huxley - Brave New WorldKobo Abe - Inter Ice Age 4Kate Wilhelm - Where Late the Sweet Birds SangRuth Park - Playing Beatie BowRuth Park - The Harp in the SouthRuth Park - Poor Man's OrangeBertrand Russell - What I BelieveBertrand Russell - Why I Am Not a ChristianJoe Hill & Gabriel Rodríguez - Locke & Key: Keys to the KingdomJoe Hill & Gabriel Rodríguez - Locke & Key: ClockworksJoe Hill & Gabriel Rodríguez - Locke & Key: Alpha & OmegaBenjamin Myers - Under the Rock (put down halfway through, will finish at some point)
― in walked airbud (unregistered), Saturday, 8 January 2022 00:56 (two years ago) link
I remember L&J being really solid and wishing there were more good, long, discrete contained stories like that (ignoring the rubbish spin offs)
― Chuck_Tatum, Saturday, 8 January 2022 11:39 (two years ago) link
Locke and key I mean.
― Chuck_Tatum, Saturday, 8 January 2022 11:40 (two years ago) link
I watched teh tv series last month, has been a while since I ead the comics which I enjoyed at teh time and was one reason I watched teh tv show. Think I continued cos I started. Don't think I enjoyed as much as the comic anyway. Might give tehm another look if I can find the fiels sinced i read it on cbr.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 8 January 2022 11:54 (two years ago) link
Love's Work was good, but demanded more of me than I was able to give, intellectually and emotionally. I will go back to it.
Shuggie Bain was super bad, a relentless honking airhorn of "we were poor... but dammit we were unhappy too", in sore need of two more drafts and an editor. I did do an actual lol at a very minor character being called "Kier Weir", though, a welcome absurdity.
I don't think I have ever actually *liked* a protagonist in a book as much as I liked Darryl.
Anyway, I will continue lurking here, pinching ideas from youse all, though this year's resolution is read the books that I bought in 2021, rather than buy any new ones.
― calumerio, Saturday, 8 January 2022 13:57 (two years ago) link
this year's resolution is read the books that I bought in 2021, rather than buy any new ones.
I tried that a couple of years ago and, of course, failed. It was helpful, though. It did encourage me to cut back on purchases and clear some of the backlog of unread books, so on the whole I'm glad I made the resolution and consider it a success.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Saturday, 8 January 2022 17:01 (two years ago) link
unregistered- how are the Kir Bulychev books?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 8 January 2022 18:50 (two years ago) link
great! I'm not too well-versed in Soviet SFF, but I'd recommend all three of those Bulychev collections. the biggest highlight for me was the title story of Half a Life. at heart it's a narrative of a woman's acts of self-sacrifice as she comes to empathize with the weird sentient beings who are imprisoned with her on an alien research vessel. a little mawkish, maybe, but there's a compelling interplay between the sentimental and the cynical as a group of emotionally stunted astronauts struggle to make sense of the woman's story and the now abandoned vessel
I also really like the cycle of short stories that makes up the second half of Gusliar Wonders, in which a Russian village becomes an unlikely point of first contact with various aliens and wizards and time travelers. it's similar in premise to Simak's Way Station, only funnier and with less faith in human nature. overall Bulychev seems fixated on the way unimaginative egotists react when confronted with the alien or the supernatural, and he has an acute ear for irony
Alice's Travels (the first novel in that Alice collection) is a fun children's interplanetary mystery, concluding with a slightly hokey, Scooby Doo-ish confrontation with space pirates. the cartoon adaptation is apparently regarded as a classic, and Bulychev is best known in Russia for his Alice books/films. afaik few of his other works have been translated into English aside from the post-apocalyptic novel Those Who Survive and the novella "Another's Memory" (collected in Earth and Elsewhere. Half a Life and Gusliar Wonders are both available at the Open Library
― in walked airbud (unregistered), Saturday, 8 January 2022 23:23 (two years ago) link
I'm kinda tempted to start working my way through the non-Strugatsky entries in Ted Sturgeon's Best of Soviet Science Fiction series:
https://i.imgur.com/O5HLz7d.jpg
(full list here)
― in walked airbud (unregistered), Saturday, 8 January 2022 23:28 (two years ago) link