2022 ONTD Reading Challenge discussion

Talk about what you read this month! Did you like it?

I decided to use a book that I received off of NetGalley for this challenge, The Malaise. The writing left a bit to be desired, but it had an interesting concept. Some parts of the store were more compelling than others, so at times I was bored, and despite the premise thought the writing was a bit bland. I gave it 3 stars which was generous, it's more like a 2.5.

I read The Knife of Never Letting Go which I ended up enjoying, a lot more than I thought I would. I was thinking that the whole "everyone can read each other's thoughts" thing would be kind of annoying and sometimes it was but I think Ness did a good job of it and it was darker and also more thoughtful than I thought it'd be. The movie's gonna be interesting tho since he's supposed to be like 13 lol, but hey I love Daisy so I'm excited.

Hmm, I don't really like dystopian or (post)apocalyptic books, so I didn't set out to participate this month. However, looking at my books, I have one that ~sorta~ counts - The Gone World. However when it gets to the apocalyptic part, I think everyone is supposed to die, haha. It's time travel, though, so there is a cheat at the end. If it wasn't dystopian/(post)apocalyptic, it felt like it was.

Anyway, let's talk about about our faves in this category. One I read recently that I liked was Scythe. One of my all-time totally oddball faves is Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. Anyone else like Fforde's stuff?

I read The Salt Line, which was super easy to get into and I didn't realise I would enjoy it as much as I did. I wish it had been a tad longer as it kind of ends pretty quickly. I think it could have benefited from being a little more fleshed out in the last quarter of the book. Overall, it was really enjoyable.

I read Brave New World and i really didn't care for it. The concept was interesting but i didn't feel like much happened and i'm not here for books where nothing happens.
I also read Unwind which was pretty good, with a lot happening and one chapter that was just SO unsettling. BUT i dont think i liked it enough to continue on with the series.

Alyssa wrote: "I read Brave New World and i really didn't care for it. The concept was interesting but i didn't feel like much happened and i'm not here for books where nothing happens.
I also read [b..."

Oh man, two of my favorite books in one comment!! Fair criticism about BNW, it was just so different than anything else I'd read when I read it in 10th grade that it made a huge impression on me.

THAT SCENE in Unwind is what hooked me on the series! I was interested enough in the book that I wasn't bored or anything, but I didn't really feel attached to the book until that scene (which I read on my lunch break...gr8 move on my part). I think the rest of the series is definitely worth the read if you change your mind! Lots of interesting things happen to expand on the concepts introduced in the first one :)

Eve wrote: "Alyssa wrote: "I read Brave New World and i really didn't care for it. The concept was interesting but i didn't feel like much happened and i'm not here for books where nothing happens...."

oooh that's good to know about 'Unwind'! and yeah, i read that chapter right before bed - BAD MOVE. i'll keep in mind that the series keeps up. i feel like often with series if i am not really into the first book i quickly lose interest, but if this series stays strong maybe it's worth giving the second book a chance.

I read Severance and I wish I'd read something else, as this is the most boring post-apocalyptic novel I've ever read. It had some good moments but overall I was pretty disappointed.

I had initially planned on reading all of Octavia Butler's Lilith's Brood, but I only got through Dawn because I was mopey all month. I'm shocked this is the first of her works getting adapted to the screen! (view spoiler)[The aliens are like the Beast with a Billion Backs from Futurama, except with zero concept of consent. And it's a pretty clear allegory for slavery, eugenics, and American history, which illustrates how dystopian reality is, much like Parable of the Sower does. I really like how subtly Lilith becomes an unreliable narrator as she's changed, and how I was less sympathetic to the other captives because I had been empathizing with her for so long. There are no good choices! (hide spoiler)]

I read Trail of Lightning, which I started for another theme, but ended up finishing this month and it fit for this theme. I enjoyed it for its world building. (view spoiler)[I wasn't expecting the emotional abuse aspect of the book though. (hide spoiler)]

This was not a smooth month. It took me ages to get started, and then I figured I might as well go for the grand daddy of all dystopias, and picked up 1984.

Then it took me ages to finish it, because I kept bumping into Poe's law regarding Winston's nasty little incel tendencies and Julia ever so proudly being not like the other girls.