Lea’s Comments (group member since Jan 04, 2017)

Lea’s comments from the 2022 ONTD Reading Challenge group.

Wendy wrote: "See, I read the title as "Classics are Back" and had The Great Gatsby in my TBR pile, so I started reading it for this month.

Then I read the post and realized that I'm completely off. So that is ..."

that's the spirit! lmao

Alyssa wrote: "wow so many great options!

Also, i see this may be the last year of the ONTD reading challenge. i just want to say that i really appreciate you putting these challenges together, they have been e..."

Thank you so much Alyssa. This really means a lot to me. <3

I've been meaning to read Small Island for ever, so that feels like a good pick! There's an episode of the BBC World Book Club about it

Hey guys, just to let everyone know, I already submitted the August/Egypt post so just waiting for a mod to approve it. ONTD has been a by wonky for posting for the past few days (everyone is getting an error message when submitting posts) but I think it goes through anyway. If it doesn't, I'll try again tomorrow (I saved the draft!)

Dainey wrote: "I just spent almost half an hour going through all those lists, only to find my library has none of those books as ebooks. disappointed-but-not-surprised.gif

The good news is that [book:Shahnameh:..."

you can take this opportunity to request any titles you want to read to your library! they won't get it in time for the challenge, but future readers might benefit!

@Alyssa, Persepolis counts and @Marvie Together Tea also counts!

Hey everyone, just a heads up, the Iran post should be coming tomorrow or the day after at the latest. I'm not sure if I'll have time to do the historical bits because I have a shitload of academic projects to finish and time has been really short. But I'll do my best.

Sireesha wrote: "I couldn't finish The Glorious Heresies. Will try another author and also just continue with Tana French."

The Glorious Heresies got such rave reviews when it came out, but I also tried to read it and couldn't finish it. That's why I didn't include it in the post

Cecil wrote: "Ended up finally getting through both Bodies of Summer and Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was.

The former was a complete racist, sexist, transphobic,..."

did you read the Ursula Le Guin translation or another?

The post is coming this Sunday!

RIN. ☾ wrote: "I completely forgot I'd already picked out The Mercies for this month even though I only decided that about a week ago lol oops."

Sorry, RIN, the author is British.

Hey guys, sorry, I had a really busy day and didn't manage to finish the post today. I'll do it tomorrow.

Thank you for opening the topic, Rach! The ONTD post will be up tomorrow, everyone!

Aesha wrote: "This challenge is really that! How can the Chicago Public Library mot have ebook versions of any of these available? Annoying. I’d like to read Hopscotch, if I can find it, because it sounds fascin..."

I checked for you and they really don't have translated ebooks of Borges or Cortázar (crazy). But they do have Samanta Schweblin's ebooks in English. And Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez, although there's a waitlist for it.

https://chipublib.overdrive.com/

Sawakapo wrote: "MILFORDACADEMY (and team) - I just want to say it here (because that I'm a lurker on ONTD and don't have an account) thank you so much for all the effort you put into the reading challenge posts. I..."

Sawakapo, that is so kind of you!! It really means a lot to me to know that the care I put into the posts is appreciated. Thank you! <3

Hello, everyone! The post will be up tomorrow :)

Wendy wrote: "I read The Interpreter by Suki Kim, which was set in the US but spoke of a Korean immigrant who works as an interpreter. She also embarked on a quest to solve her parents' murders on the side, base..."

I've read her North Korea book a while ago and it was really great, I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in that country, she had a totally unique vantage point. Haven't read her fiction yet but it's on my list!

Hello everyone, just here to say that Spotify has the full audiobooks of The Hole and City of Ash and Red by Hye-young Pyun and The Mermaid from Jeju by Sumi Hahn.

If you have Spotify premium you can listen to them with no extra charge.

Did you get the physical graphic novel, Jamie? I wanted to read this and thought about getting the e-book, but I don't know how it would be reading it on an ipad.

I read The Vegetarian for this month. I had been wanting to read it for the longest time but I thought it was going to be really highbrow and difficult to understand. So I was surprised to find that it wasn't the case. I thought it was easy to follow - what makes it a challenging read is the disturbing content, but I was so involved in the story and outraged at the events that I couldn't put it down. Read it in two days. It is so rich with subtext, it's amazing how a short book like that can pack so much meaning.

Would I recommend it? Yes. I think it's a really good book. But readers should be aware of the disturbing content, I don't think it's a book that "everyone should read" (no book is, in my opinion). If you can't handle reading about sexual violence, domestic violence, abuse, animal harm, eating disorders, mental illness, then it's probably best not to pick it up. However, I would like to point out that none of the disturbing content felt like it was protrayed gratuitously, for the shock value, or as some kind of "porn".

I read it in English (Deborah Smith's translation) and I wanted to reread it in Portuguese. There is a really faithful Portuguese translation with lots of notes that I think would be interesting to compare, but it's been sold out for ages. There is a new translation in bookstores which is nowhere near as good (a man did it and sanitized the book).

Undine wrote: "So I was hoping to find a fluffy romance novel in translation because that's all I've been able to read this year, but that was a bust. And then I thought I'd read The Hole, but my library only has..."

Undine, you can try Shine by Jessica Jung (former member of Girls Generation). It's YA romance/coming of age I believe.

Out of the ONTD list, probably the lighter ones are Birth of Korean Cool, Love for Imperfect Things and Almond (the summary sounds dark but I hear it's a positive book, and it's YA).