Also this list is backwards, experiments in imagining otherwise is the last thing I read and in many ways the perfect thing to read going into a new year, although in other ways the new year thing is antithetical to what it’s about
― pilk/pall revolting odors (wins), Saturday, 31 December 2022 19:56 (one year ago) link
lorrie moore - anagramslonnie elder iii - ceremonies in dark old menroth - the human stainjudd apatow - sicker in the headmeghan o'rourke - the invisible kingdommichael eric dyson - jay-z: made in americacalvin trillin - remembering dennyscarlett thomas - 41-lovenoel coward - private livesjoyce carol oates - sexyjoyce carol oates - the (other) youjoyce carol oates - the tattooed girljoyce carol oates - because it is bitter, and because it is my heartdonna tartt - the secret historychris clarey - federer bioadam levin - mount chiporchista khakpour - sickshawn levy - de niro biothe realm of appearances -matthew wong art bookross douhat - the deep placesanne tyler - a slipping down life
― johnny crunch, Saturday, 31 December 2022 22:12 (one year ago) link
C&P from my end of year blog, hope you don't mind.
PG Wodehouse - Heavy Weather (1933) **** (amazing that this and Summer Lightning take place within two weeks, such intricate, flawless plotting)Mark Fisher - Capitalist Realism (2009) **** (still essential, wish he were around to give us an update)David Nobbs - Pratt à Manger (2006) **½ (dregs of the Henry Pratt series, still worth reading)Jonathan Coe - Middle England (2018) *** (diminishing returns in the Rotters Club series, some parts excellent, some parts should have been cut)Mervyn Peake - Titus Groan (1946) ****½ (yes, I should have read this years ago, I know)Eric Hobsbawm - Age of Extremes The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991 (1994) ****Taylor Downing - 1942: Britain at the Brink (2022) ** (just not what I was looking for here)Terry Teachout - Duke (2013) ** (some parts are excellent, unfortunately spoiled by his bizarre insistence on tutting at Ellington for not being a classical composer)PG Wodehouse - Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935) **** (some of the best Blandings stories, Mr Mulliner stories are fine but not up to same standard)Ted Gioia - The History of Jazz, Second Edition (2021) **½ (interesting as an overview of what the consensus (to be challenged) is, devoting more of the book to Winton Marsalis than all non-US Jazz is pretty inexcusable, also he is very sniffy about free jazz and has apparent contempt for hip-hop)Alex Ross - The Rest Is Noise (2007) ***½ (very good overview of 21st century classical music, which I am still not really into after reading)PG Wodehouse - Lord Emsworth and Others (1937) ***½ (some stories are excellent, not enough Blandings for me though)Louis Menand - The Free World (2021) **** (excellent primer on cold war era culture and thought, have just finished this and am letting it sink in)Edward Joffe - Hancock's Last Stand (1998) *½ (on Tony Hancock's last months from someone who was there, would expect any showbiz memoir to be more engaging than this)
― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Saturday, 31 December 2022 22:14 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGZbT2jp97A
― A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 31 December 2022 22:51 (one year ago) link
"Stoked to see Life & Fate on your list" -- your enthusiasm for W&P was also lovely to see, and since L&F is modelled on it..
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 1 January 2023 11:19 (one year ago) link
Fatal Vision - Joe McGinnissThe 1975 Annual World's Best SF - Donald A Wollheim edSlow Horses - Mick HerronSadie When She Died - Ed McBainConsider Phlebas - Iain M BanksA Morbid Taste for Bones - Ellis PetersThe Postman Always Rings Twice - James M CainThe Death of Grass - John ChristopherDeep Water - Patricia HighsmithThe Moving Toyshop - Edmund CrispinDenim and Leather: The Rise and Fall of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal - Michael HandTime Unchained - Ivan Howard edMy Face for the World to See - Alfred HayesAstounding: John Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A Heinlein, L. Ron Hiubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction - Alec Nevala-LeeTrue Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee - Abraham RiesmanThe Player of Games - Iain M BanksThe Dark Hours - Michael ConnellyA New Day Yesterday: UK Progressive Rock & The 1970s - Mike BarnesThe Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag and other stories - Robert A. HeinleinAll of the Marvels - Douglas WolkThe Daughter of Time - Josephine TheyTitus Groan - Mervyn PeakeA Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life - George Saunders et alAll Out War: The Full Story of Brexit - Tim ShipmanMaigret in Court - Georges SimenonSongs of Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe - Thomas LigottiThe Unsettled Dust - Robert AickmanThe Maltese Falcon - Dashiel HammettCop Hater - Ed McBainThe Simulacra - Philip K DickMagpie Murders - Anthony HorowitzThe Old Man and the Sea - Ernest HemingwayThe Poisoned Chocolates Case - Anthony BerkeleyA Very English Scandal - John PrestonLooking Backwards, from the Year 2000 - Mack Reynolds
Only a few 'graphic novels' this year:The Eternals Omnibus - Jack KirbyX-Men: Grand Design Vols 1-3 - Ed PiskorFantastic Four: Grand Design - Tom ScioliEsther's Notebooks: Tales from my ten-year-old Life - Riad SattoufThe Amazing Spider-Man: New Ways to Die - Waid, Slott, Romita Jr et alSaga Vols 1-5 - Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona StaplesThe Suicide Squad: Trial by Fire - John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell et alReckless - Ed Brubaker and Sean PhillipsReckless: A friend of the Devil - Ed Brubaker and Sean PhillipsEssential Fantastic Four Vol 6 - Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, John Buscema, Joe Sinnott et alEssential Fantastic Four Vol 7 - Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Rich Buckler, John Buscema, Joe Sinnott et alEssential Fantastic Four Vol 8 - Roy Thomas, Bill Mantlo, Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler, John Buscema, Joe Sinnott et alAlay-Oop - William Gropper
― Ward Fowler, Sunday, 1 January 2023 11:25 (one year ago) link
Michael HANNJosephine TEY
― Ward Fowler, Sunday, 1 January 2023 11:30 (one year ago) link
Stoked to see Life & Fate on your list
Just purchased this recently. Looking forward to it.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Sunday, 1 January 2023 19:05 (one year ago) link
A star for the ones I really liked
Schwob - Imaginary Lives*Vonnegut - Cat's CradleLaxness - Iceland's Bell*Machado de Assis - Dom Casmurro*Jane Austen - EmmaSebald - AusterlitzSoseki - Kokoro*Lem - The CyberiadVargas Llosa - La Casa Verde*Hardy - Tess of the d'Urbervilles*Kadaré - The Three-Arched BridgeSchwob - Le Livre de MonelleFlaubert - Salammbô*Carrington - The Hearing Trumpet*Robinson - LilaHuysmans - À Rebours*Shakespeare - Macbeth*Carr - A month in the country*Miyazawa - Les Astres JumeauxFaber - Under the SkinWilliams - Butcher's Crossing*Saer - El EntenadoChaze - Black Wings Has My Angel*Lampedusa - The Leopard*Kadaré - The Palace of DreamsKerouac - Big SurKristof - L'analphabèteMann - The Magic Mountain (re-read)
Not counting 3 non-fiction things (Michela Wong, Rebecca Solnit, Lucille Peytavin)
― Nabozo, Sunday, 1 January 2023 19:57 (one year ago) link
Magic Mountain obviously many stars
just finished the Howard Zinn A People's History of The United States so definitely got that counted as 2022. Liminal time etc.Quite enjoyed it and will be looking at what I can get from its bibliography.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 1 January 2023 20:22 (one year ago) link
Harriet the Spy - Louise FitzhughThe Corner That Held Them - Sylvia Townsend WarnerSmall Things Like These - Claire KeeganFoster - Claire KeeganThe Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre DumasWays of Living - Gemma SeltzerElder Race - Adrian TchaikovskyChildren of Time - Adrian TchaikovskyKim Jiyoung Born 1982 - Nam-Joo ChoMona - Pola OloixaracMaigret Travels South - Georges SimenonBiased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do - Eberhardt, Jennifer L.Machine - Elizabeth BearThe Island of Missing Trees - Elif ShafakBy the Sea - Abdulrazak GurnahThe Books of Jacob - Olga TokarczukKokoro - Natsume SōsekiGo, Went, Gone - Jenny ErpenbeckGun, with Occasional Music - Jonathan LethemThe Custom of the Country - Edith WhartonNotes from the Burning Age - Claire NorthBeyond the Hallowed Sky - Ken MacleodThe God of Small Things - Arundhati RoyMrs. Dalloway - Virginia WoolfThe Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity - David Graeber and David WengrowSemiosis - Sue BurkeSongs of a Dead Dreamer - Thomas LigottiBlack Spartacus - Sudhir HazareesinghThe Accidental Tourist - Anne TylerGalaxias - Stephen BaxterMother of Invention - Katrine MarçalRed Shift - Alan GarnerThe Dutch House - Ann PatchettO Caledonia - Elspeth BarkerApril in Spain - John BanvilleThe Anomaly - Hervé Le TellierThe Means of Escape - Penelope FitzgeraldSeeing - Jose SaramagoThe Blazing World - Siri HustvedtSecond Place - Rachel CuskPurgatory Mount - Adam RobertsBurntcoat - Sarah HallBlack Teacher - Beryl GilroyThe Wall - Marlen HaushoferMrs March - Virginia FeitoThe Thing Itself - Adam RobertsAll Souls - Javier MaríasThe Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another - Ainissa RamirezHow Do You Live? - Genzaburo YoshinoHe, She and It - Marge PiercyEversion - Alasdair ReynoldsSea of Tranquility - Emily St John MandelWhat Are You Going Through - Sigrid NunezShards of Earth - Adrian TchaikovskyAssembly - Natasha BrownThe Friend - Sigrid Nunez
In progess:Debt - David Graeber
Did not finish:The Famished Road - Ben Okri
I've only obsessively catalogued my reads since 2008 but adding what I can remember from before then, in october I offically passed the milestone of 1000 books. I plan on doing more re-reading from now on.
― ledge, Monday, 2 January 2023 19:22 (one year ago) link
turns out i've missed a couple. not sure how.
Pandora's JarMother Of Invention
will double check its not just two
― koogs, Monday, 2 January 2023 19:50 (one year ago) link
do wish that Mother of Invention was subtler and less overtly agendaed. might have got the message across better.I meant to read some of the source books from the bibliography to see if they were better argued.
― Stevolende, Monday, 2 January 2023 19:57 (one year ago) link
As usual this year I failed to develop any disciplined reading patterns and spent too much time dissociating on the internet. But I did manage to read:
Osman, The Man Who Died TwiceRiley, Cold WaterFranzen, CrossroadsStafford, Counselling Skills in ActionBaddiel, Jews Don’t CountLe Guin, The Farthest ShorePratchett, Reaper ManSalinger, Franny and ZooeyHiggins, Kennedy for the DefenseMcIntyre, The Entropy EffectRiley, My PhantomsAmis, The Green ManFitzgerald, Men’s of EscapePratchett, Wyrd SistersLe Guin, TehanuBlock, 8 Million Ways To DieAtkinson, Case HistoriesAtkinson, One Good TurnTolkien, Fellowship of yadda yaddaChristie, After the FuneralHarris, A Season in ExileRosen, How to make children laughHammett, The Thin Man (unfinished due to boredom)Rimmer, Like Punk Never HappenedRaskin, The Westing Game
Unsentimental best: My PhantomsSentimental best: TehanuHad a chapter that caused me to cry more than any other book I’ve read: Case Histories
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 3 January 2023 00:31 (one year ago) link
nonfiction:Slavoj Zizek - Living in the End TimesJerome Carcopino - Daily Life in Ancient RomeAnne Hyde - Born of Lakes and Plains: Mixed Descent Peoples and the Making of the American WestTerry Teachout - Pops: A Life of Louis ArmstrongSimon Winder - Germania: In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and Their HistoryJ. Storrs Hall - Where Is My Flying Car?Arthur Schopenhauer - The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims
fiction:Sally Rooney - Beautiful World, Where Are You?Ursula Le Guin - Left Hand of DarknessJames M. Cain - The Postman Always Rings TwiceJames M. Cain - Double IndemnityJoshua Cohen - The NetanyahusKarl Ove Knausgaard - My Struggle: Volume 4Elif Batuman - The IdiotPatrick Modiano - Paris NocturneJohn Darnielle - Universal HarvesterRainer Maria Rilke - The Notebooks of Malte Laurids BriggeJohn Wyndham - The Outward UrgeValeria Luiselli - Lost Children ArchiveLeonardo Sciascia - To Each His OwnErnest Hemingway - A Farewell to ArmsSam Selvon - The Housing LarkPatricia Highsmith - The BlundererMachado de Assis - The Alienist and Other Stories of 19th Century Brazil
poetry:Jimmy Santiago Baca - Martin & Meditations on the South ValleyPhilip Levine - The Simple TruthRobinson Jeffers - TamarDante - Inferno (trans. Robert Pinsky)
― o. nate, Thursday, 5 January 2023 03:51 (one year ago) link
Machado de Assis - The Alienist and Other Stories of 19th Century Brazil
― dow, Thursday, 5 January 2023 04:18 (one year ago) link
I liked it. I would like to read more by him. I added his novel "The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas" to my wish list after finishing this one. The longest story "The Alienist" may have been one of the weaker ones, IMO. Or at least it seems to be the one that feels the most dated. It's a satire of the scientific pretensions of psychiatry in its early days, which from a contemporary perspective seems a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. It was probably more stinging at the time. The other shorter pieces were interesting, well-observed tales of society and psychology with a gentle satirical edge.
― o. nate, Thursday, 5 January 2023 14:26 (one year ago) link
My resolution to not buy any more books lasted about 3 days. Just 'popped into' my local Oxfam book store and left with a bag-full: a couple of Antonia Whites, Antony Sher's Year of the King, Beryl Gilroy's Black Teacher, Marshall Berman's All That's Solid, Rose Macaulay's World is my Wilderness and, uh, the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.
― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, 7 January 2023 17:18 (one year ago) link
Going into Oxfam after new year's is probably the last thing I'd do if I wanted to stop buying books.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 7 January 2023 20:38 (one year ago) link
Resistance is futile.
― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, 7 January 2023 21:05 (one year ago) link
yeah was running through my head to slow down buying books.But somehow wound up making the usual rounds. Did get some interesting stuff though
― Stevolende, Saturday, 7 January 2023 21:13 (one year ago) link
The Humble Bundle deals are death for me.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 7 January 2023 21:14 (one year ago) link
Marshall Berman's All That's Solid
― dow, Sunday, 8 January 2023 00:13 (one year ago) link
I've never read it. Even when I was doing my lit degree I managed to avoid it, somehow. Glad to finally have it.
― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Sunday, 8 January 2023 11:11 (one year ago) link
Amazing book.
― Farewell to Evening in Paradise (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 8 January 2023 16:08 (one year ago) link