Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
2020 Plans
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entropia's "Shave Down That TBR" 2020 plan
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LOL, about stuffing Polish authors down our throats. Please feel free to stuff away. If they are translated to English I would love to hear about them. There are just way too many American stories in the world. Reading other view points is always refreshing.
Reading in order... but having lots of choices for each prompt, worked really well for me, and I really enjoyed most of them.I bet this will work well for you as well.
Entropia wrote: "Since achieving world dominance turned out to be not as fun as I expected, I decided to change things a bit for this year. Last year I had planned list with just one book for each prompt (I still c..."Oh man, I feel this! I'm definitely going for a goal of "better books;" one thing I am hoping to do is incorporate all the books I've already liked enough to buy (and then not read).
Which type of nonfiction books do you enjoy most?
Sounds like a plan! Have you read anything by Polish author Mariusz Sxczygiel? I read a translation of Gottland: Mostly True Stories from Half of Czechoslovakia and really enjoyed it! It doesn’t look like any of his other books are translated into English yet, unfortunately for me.
Anastasia wrote: "LOL, about stuffing Polish authors down our throats. Please feel free to stuff away. If they are translated to English I would love to hear about them."Them not being translated is the biggest problem, from all the Polish books I read this year that impressed me, I think only one was translated to English - Nest of Worlds (it's not perfect, but it had a lot of interesting concepts in it). Among my Polish five star reads only aphorisms book (Unkempt Thoughts) and musings of cardiologist that touch on subjects of philosophy, mythology, theology, physics, music and medicine (Catharsis: On the Art of Medicine and even better Kore: On Sickness, the Sick, and the Search for the Soul of Medicine).
Sylvia wrote: Which type of nonfiction books do you enjoy most?
Hard question, I like science-related books, but it's often difficult to find balance that is right for me in them. I used to study biomedical engineering, so I'm not fully "lay-man" reader despite not having anything to do with the field after graduation, which makes it hard to find books that have right amount of details and yet don't read like textbooks.
I very much enjoy history books, especially if they contain "facepalm" component ;)
Other than that I just pick up anything that might intrigue, e.g. last year one of my favs was book about architecture that tries to answer the question "Why does Poland look so ugly?".
Pam wrote: Have you read anything by Polish author Mariusz Szczygiel?
I've read 20 lat nowej Polski w reportażach według Mariusza Szczygła (he was the editor and one of many authors). It is anthology of 26 stories by various Polish journalists/nonfiction writers, I wish it was translated to English (even though it's bit uneven).
I've heard a lot of good things about Gottland, but I think I will start reading his solo work with Niedziela, która zdarzyła się w środę (Sunday that happened on Wednesday).
WEEK 1 PREPARATIONA book with a title that doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y
My options:
The only book I didn't find proper sample of is Po piśmie, so I'm excluding it from my considerations for now. I read a chapter (or subchapter if the chapter was way longer than in case of other books) of each book listed. None of them was so bad that I would remove it from my tbr. Below I will list my opinion of each of them.
1. W ciemność
I should hate this book. It's set in a Czech post-communist small-town, whose citizens' main attraction is gossiping. It's narrated by main character, who is an unlikable nature loving crazy-herb-lady. Yet reading the first chapter left me intrigued and fascinated. Language of the book is very simple, efficient, but at the same time there is a lot of to be read in between lines. I don't know how it will hold up further on, but there seems to be a lot of potential in this tale about obsession and alienation.
Other prompts it might fit: A book with a neurodiverse character; A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win
2. Kindred
It has a very good starting hook, but I think I will leave this one for later.
Other prompts it might fit: Published in a prime number year; A Book by an Author on the Abe List of 100 Essential Female Writers; Silhouette on Cover; A book related to time; A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win
3. Król Bólu
Collection of short stories by a guy who wrote my favorite 2019 reads, but oddly enough the short passage I read didn't resonate with me at all. I expected it to be the one I will choose, but there seem to be better options in this batch.
Other prompts it might fit: A fantasy book; A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win; A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads in 2019 or 2018
4. 1Q84
I really like the main character so far (ok, one of the two main characters). From all books I tried for this prompt, this one sticked with me the most, but:
1) I have somewhat lukewarm feelings about Murakami, I've read his Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and liked it, but I wasn't overly impressed. His short story collection "Elephant Vanishes" was very meh, couple had interesting gimmicks, but overall it wasn't memorable.
2) I'm not fan of love-stories, and from what I gathered it will be big part of story later on
3) It's almost 1000 pages long chonk and I'm bit anxious to invest so much time in it due to points 1) and 2)
Other prompts it might fit: A book set in global city; A book from the New York Times' 100 notable books list of any year; A book related to 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan; A book from genre that starts with letter in your name; A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win
5. Szkice piórkiem; English: Wartime Notebooks: France, 1940-1944
A journal of young (then ;)) Polish emigrant economist riding on bicycle through France under occupation. First notes are quite short, so I read couple of them instead of just one. The writing style is quite witty and easy to digest.
Other prompts it might fit: A history or historical fiction; A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win
6. Borne
Didn't read much of this one, but it was the least accessible out of this batch of books, I will give it the benefit of doubt, because I loved Annihilation.
Other prompts it might fit: The first book in a series you have not started; A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads in 2019 or 2018; Prime number
7. Nie zdążę
I'm bit puzzled by the fact that a book about crisis of public transport in Poland starts with General Motors shenanigans in America. It feels quite dry and I think I won't get this one unless it's on a deep sale.
Other prompts it might fit: A book you added to TBR on a whim
Final Thoughts:
In the end it's still quite difficult to decide which book I want to pursue for this prompt. I will mull it over during this week, but so far I'm torn between 1Q84 and W ciemność. If they both turn out to be "meh", my to-try-next list follows this order: Kindred, Szkice Piórkiem, Król Bólu, Nie zdążę, Borne.
Autumn wrote: "I filled my challenge up with as many tbr books as I could possibly squeeze lol. Last year was rough... I hated most of my books."For me it wasn't as dramatic, but still I feel like I wasted a lot of time on books I didn't enjoy.
WEEK 1 SUMMARYA book with a title that doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y
I managed to finish 1Q84 today. I liked it, but there was way too much sex for me and it had pregnancy in it (well, that's what you get for not researching well enough books beforehand). I ended up listening to audiobook to speed reading up, but sometimes I had to come back and reread couple of paragraphs, when I spaced out. Despite that I had a lot of fun, because the performances of Aomame and Ushikawa were really enjoyable (I especially liked how Allison Hiroto was performing parts of NHK fee collector).
I was really conflicted how to rate the book. In the end I gave it 3 stars, but it was somewhere in between 3 and 4 for me.
Other than that I decided to attempt (bit modified) ATY challenge for my other hobby, video games. And because I haven't had much time due to reading chonky 1Q84, I played short game this week called Morphopolis, while listening to 1Q84. It wasn't anything special, just simple point&click, where you play as bug. I hate bugs, so I think I got it because of art style. >shrugs<
I like the idea of shaving down your TBR list. I tried. I ended up adding books to meet the prompt criteria. I did try hard to make some of my TBR fit.
Valerie wrote: "I like the idea of shaving down your TBR list. I tried. I ended up adding books to meet the prompt criteria. I did try hard to make some of my TBR fit."I inflated my TBR a lot when I was researching some prompts (like "a book from New York Times 100 Notable Books list"), but I will try hard to resist adding more books ;)
WEEK 2 PREPARATIONA book by an author whose last name is one syllable
Full list of options:
I ended up shortlisting it to 8 titles:
I made it mirror last week's proportions in term of nonfiction/fiction ration and female to male authors ratio.
1. How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveller
Seems cool so far, but I'm still bit reserved since I don't like humorous books. I only picked this one up because I've recently played To Be or Not To Be by the same author.
Other prompts it might fit A book that is between 400-600 pages, A book related to time, A prompt from previous ATY challenge
2.The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays
I'm kinda conflicted about this one so far, the topic seems very interesting, but well, I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows when astrology was brought up in first essay.
Other prompts it might fit A book with neurodiverse character, A book from 2019 Goodreads awards
3. The Nonlinear Universe: Chaos, Emergence, Life
I almost forgot I included this one in the shortlist and had to quickly read up a bit, but I kinda knew what to expect, because I already read one book of Alwyn Scott before. It's another book on the list with interesting topic and it started quite solidly.
Other prompts it might fitA prompt from previous ATY challenge, A book by an author you've only read once before
4. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
So far I'm really liking it (well, what's not to like? Romans are nuts), but writing feels bit too, hmmm, popsciency to me and I feel there are too many unnecessary digressions.
Other prompts it might fit A history, New York Times 100 Notable books, A book with place in the title, A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019, A book set in a place or time you would not want to live
5. The Myth of the Rational Market: Wall Street's Impossible Quest for Predictable Markets
This is very interesting, but I think I should brush up some economy terms first to fully enjoy it.
Other prompts it might fit New York Times 100 Notable books,
6. Psy ras drobnych
Story starts with main character being taken to psychiatric hospital and from what I gathered the rest of the books is series of notes from her staying there. The language is very simple, but effective, and it happens in city where I used to live.
Other prompts it might fit A book with neurodiverse character, A book that can be read in one day
7. Atlas Shrugged
Oh dear, this didn't click with me at all and I really wanted to read it. :( I guess I will remove it from my TBR for the time being.
8. Ambiguity Machines and Other Stories
Short story collection. First story wasn't good enough to make me want to read the rest instantly, but wasn't bad enough of an experience to remove it from my TBR.
Other prompts it might fit A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce, A fantasy
Final verdict:
I decided to continue with SPQR as I feel like reading something light/easy to read. If somehow I will get fed up with it, next-to-try-order would be like this: The Myth of Rational Markets -> The Nonlinear Universe -> Collected Schizophrenias ->How To Invent Everything -> Psy ras drobnych -> Ambiguity Machines and other stories.
WEEK 2 SUMMARYA book by an author whose last name is one syllable
I finished SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, I found out a lot of interesting things, but I felt at times that it was bit too jumbled - it's conversational style of writing, even though easy to read, made it sometimes paradoxically hard to follow. I rated it at 3 stars.
From games, I finished Beyond: Two Souls (writer/producer/director has last name Cage). At times it was pretty good, at times it was pretty bad, but overall I had a lot of fun and I played it co-op with my husband who was acting as main character's sidekick ghost. My favorite things to do in that game was shrugging when asked a question and pushing away all the possible in-game romantic interests.
I finished checking out options for the next week, and I'm in quite a pickle with way too many interesting books. I will mull it over and post the list tomorrow.
WEEK 3 PREPARATIONFull list of options:
Shortlist:
I don't feel like writing my impressions of each of them, I ended up choosing Pamiętajcie, że byłem przeciw. Reportaże sądowe. Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction came close second. Next in line would be The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales, Bez ograniczeń. Jak rządzi nami mózg, The Butlerian Jihad, Prawiek i inne czasy and Julian. I was quite disappointed with Pet and ended up removing it from my tbr, then again maybe I could have seen that coming, as I don't like YA.
Uf, of course my plan to make posts in my thread regularly failed. So from now on I will be posting lazier updates. Since the last post I read: Pamiętajcie, że byłem przeciw. Reportaże sądowe 4 stars
Skrzydła 3 stars
Opowieści z meekhańskiego pogranicza. Północ - Południe 3 stars
Songs of a Dead Dreamer 4 stars
Dzisiaj narysujemy śmierć 5 stars
Another small update from me: The Martian - 3 stars
Die Physiker - 3 stars
Czarne oceany - 4 stars
Borne - 4 stars
Update:The Butlerian Jihad - 2 stars, but I'm thinking of adding 1 more, because I had fun for like 70 percent of the book and then it became a drag.
Listen - 2 stars, not as good as the first part.
Frankenstein -2 stars, but it's another one where I'm on the fence between 2 and 3.
Edit: I ended up increasing ratings ;)
Update: The Emissary - 4 stars
Prawiek i inne czasy - 4 stars (though, it's more like 3.75)
The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays - 3 stars
The Gene: An Intimate History - 2 stars, I really liked The Emperor of all Maladies, but The Gene felt very boring to me in comparison... Maybe it's because I was listening to it as audiobook
Król Bólu - 3 stars
Update: Bez ograniczeń. Jak rządzi nami mózg - 3 stars, I already knew a lot from their previous books and it was a bit sexist at times.
Anathem -2 stars, ugh, I really wanted to like it, but it basically flew over my head (though it's probably because I was listening to it as audiobook)
Station Eleven - 4 stars, if not for derpy set-up and some parts of worldbuilding, I would have loved it
Transcendent: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction - 3 stars, most of the stories were around 3 stars for me, it was surprisingly even quality-wise, there was only one story I really disliked.
Uff, I haven't been updating thread forever, so I will just list all the books I read for the challenge: 1. A book with a title that doesn't contain the letters A, T or Y 1Q84
2. A book by an author whose last name is one syllable SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
3. A book that you are prompted to read because of something you read in 2019 Pamiętajcie, że byłem przeciw. Reportaże sądowe
4. A book set in a place or time that you wouldn't want to live Skrzydła
5. The first book in a series that you have not started Opowieści z meekhańskiego pogranicza. Północ - Południe
6. A book with a mode of transportation on the cover Songs of a Dead Dreamer
7. A book set in the southern hemisphere Dzisiaj narysujemy śmierć
8. A book with a two-word title where the first word is "The" The Martian
9. A book that can be read in a day Die Physiker
10. A book that is between 400-600 pages Czarne oceany
11. A book originally published in a year that is a prime number Borne
12. A book that is a collaboration between 2 or more people The Butlerian Jihad
13. A prompt from a previous Around the Year in 52 Books challenge Listen
14. A book by an author on the Abe List of 100 Essential Female Writers Frankenstein: The 1818 Text
15. A book set in a global city The Emissary
16. A book set in a rural or sparsely populated area Prawiek i inne czasy
17. A book with a neurodiverse character The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays
18. A book by an author you've only read once before The Gene: An Intimate History
19. A fantasy book Król Bólu
20. The 20th book [on your TBR, in a series, by an author, on a list, etc.] Bez ograniczeń. Jak rządzi nami mózg
21. A book related to Maximilian Hell, the noted astronomer and Jesuit Priest who was born in 1720 Anathem
22. A book with the major theme of survival Station Eleven
23. A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ character or by an LGBTQIA+ author Transcendent: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction
24. A book with an emotion in the title Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain
25. A book related to the arts The King in Yellow
26. A book from the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards Song for the Unraveling of the World
27. A history or historical fiction Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the War for Crown and Empire
28. A book by an Australian, Canadian or New Zealand author The Animator's Survival Kit
29. An underrated book, a hidden gem or a lesser known book The Watcher
30. A book from the New York Times '100 Notable Books' list for any year Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero
31. A book inspired by a leading news story Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic
32. A book related to the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Japan Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse
33. A book about a non-traditional family The Archive of Alternate Endings
34. A book from a genre or sub genre that starts with a letter in your name Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
35. A book with a geometric pattern or element on the cover Good Reasons for Bad Feelings: Insights from the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry
36. A book from your TBR/wishlist that you don't recognize, recall putting there, or put there on a whim The Other Side of the Mountain
37. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites: Book #1 Uprawa roślin południowych metodą Miczurina
38. Two books that are related to each other as a pair of binary opposites: Book #2 Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
39. A book by an author whose real name(s) you're not quite sure how to pronounce Scale-Bright
40. A book with a place name in the title Embassytown
41. A mystery A Memory Called Empire
42. A book that was nominated for one of the ‘10 Most Coveted Literary Prizes in the World’ The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World—And Us
43. A book related to one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures
44. A book related to witches Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768
45. A book by the same author who wrote one of your best reads in 2019 or 2018 Samobójstwo Europy
46. A book about an event or era in history taken from the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire" Why Does E=mc2?
47. A classic book you've always meant to read Записки сумасшедшего
48. A book published in 2020 Black Sun
49. A book that fits a prompt from the list of suggestions that didn't win Szok wolności
50. A book with a silhouette on the cover Hammers on Bone
51. A book with an "-ing" word in the title Not So Different: Finding Human Nature in Animals
52. A book related to time Your Brain Is a Time Machine: The Neuroscience and Physics of Time
Overall, I had more fun this year with my reading than the last one and I managed to read two books in languages other than English and Polish. Shaving down tbr didn't work out though, because I added a lot books to it (I think I might have even more books than I used to have at the beginning of the year).
Love the title Why E=mc2.... I may have to read that for the “You read What?” prompt this year.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Pamiętajcie, że byłem przeciw. Reportaże sądowe (other topics)Your Brain Is a Time Machine: The Neuroscience and Physics of Time (other topics)
1Q84 (other topics)
Opowieści z meekhańskiego pogranicza. Północ - Południe (other topics)
Skrzydła (other topics)
More...
In 2020 I don't want to focus so much on completing challenge, I'd rather read less, but better/more enjoyable books. Other than I plan to continue reading Polish literature - growing up I was only reading books that were required in school (and even that I stopped doing at some point) and this year I read a lot of books that really impressed me (sadly, most of them are not translated to English, so I can't stuff them down everyone's throat). I wish to read more non-fiction, as this genre turned out to be this year's unexpected hit for me (though not many ended up on my ATY list). I'd like to "fix" my male/female authors ratio, but since I want to read only things I fully enjoy, I have no real control over that.
Maybe I will be posting small impressions of the books I try out as I go, but I'm not sure if anyone would be interested in that.