/r/52book discussion

Hi all,

In the current absence of set group reads, I thought we could revive this group by talking about / share our reviews of the books we're individually reading at the moment.

I managed to get through 3 this week - here are my thoughts!

Tintin in the New World - Frederic Tuten
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Princess and the Goblin - George MacDonald
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm working on several right now. Should finish the two personal development books this week. And maybe The Godfather if I have a lot of reporting to do at work. :-)

The Godfather (audio book)
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future
The Ruin of Kings

I'm currently reading two books!

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Their Eyes Were Watching God
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Amanda wrote: "I'm currently reading two books!

Their Eyes Were Watching God
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3......"

This one is on my TBR. Are you enjoying it?

I read it a few years back and greatly enjoyed it, Cheri.

Currently reading:

Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's Friday Black

Lucy Ellman's Ducks, Newburyport

About halfway done with 'Salem's Lot, third through Friday Black, and a teeny tiny fraction through Ducks, Newburyport.

I'm currently reading:

Jadoo

The Serpent and the Rainbow

Reckoning

Library holds caught up with me (or rather, I forgot to put my hold on hold) so I either need to get moving on The Serpent and the Rainbow or just put my Kindle in airplane mode till I'm done with it.

Christa wrote: "I'm currently reading:


The Serpent and the Rainbow

"

I didn't realize this was a book. I loved the movie from many years ago. I might have to put this one on my list.

Finished up The Godfather!

Nice, already rocking the new year, Cheri.

Cheri wrote: "
I didn't realize this was a book. I loved the movie from many years ago. I might have to put this one on my list."

Yeah, the movie was a horror-fied fictionalized take on Davis's real-life Haitian adventures. There's some very interesting stuff in there, especially if you have an interest in the culture, but I should warn you that the man is not great at describing his exploits without sometimes coming across as bragging. LOL But I love the fact that Davis was like, "They make zombies? I'm gonna go see what's up with that," and sets out to see if he can figure it out.

My hold for An Absolutely Remarkable Thing at the library came up so listening now.

*and done*

Amanda wrote: "I'm currently reading two books!

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2..."
____________________

This one looks interesting! I'll add it to my ever-growing to-read list.

I'm still plodding though The Call of Cthuhlu and Other Weird Tales, so I've also read a couple of Franco-Belgian comics (bandes dessinées). I'm counting two of those as one book towards my challenge.

Spirou & Fantasio in Moscow

Who Will Stop Cyanide?

I'm currently reading:
The Screwtape Letters
Agent of Change
Everyday Wonders: Stories of God's Providence

I always have trouble focusing on just one book.

I am currently reading King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo. I finished The Awakening earlier this week.

I finished Reckoning last night, and started on Midnight in the Graveyard, a horror anthology.

I'm also still working on the other two I posted last week.

Finished Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion on my commute this morning. Not sure how I feel about it... I think I liked it, but it's not left much of an impression on me.

Not sure what to read next. We have a book club at work that's selected Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to read, but no start date to actually begin.

Ok, recently finished:

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's Friday Black

Mira Jacob's Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

Still reading:

Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot

Lucy Ellman's Ducks, Newburyport

Starting today:

Alex Zamalin's Black Utopia: The History of an Idea from Black Nationalism to Afrofuturism

I'm sure by next week I will have added yet another book into the mix. I can't help it.

Listened to The Call of the Wild yesterday and was surprised by how emotional I got. More than once I choked up. What a great book.

My current read that I posted the other day got intercepted by a library hold coming in, so I'm currently reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.

Working on my first Jane Austin! Pride and Prejudice

Christopher wrote: "Ok, recently finished:

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's Friday Black

Mira Jacob's Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

Still reading:

Stephen King's [book:'Salem's Lot..."

As a lover of both Dracula and Stephen King, 'Salem's Lot is a favorite of mine.

Cheri wrote: "Working on my first Jane Austin! Pride and Prejudice"

Exciting! Austen is one of my go to's for when I want to read a light, happy book.

I just started reading (audiobook) Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. Last year I read Sing, Unburied, Sing and loved it so, so much. I'm excited to go back to her first novel set in Bois Sauvage.

I'm still reading (ebook) Diane Ravitch's The Death and Life of the Great American School System.

And I'm on The Great Hunt (dead tree book) in my reread of The Wheel of Time. This series definitely has it's problems (overly sprawling plot, weird gender essentialism, etc.) but it's my favorite fantasy series despite them.

Halfway through One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and hoping to finish it over the weekend

Christopher wrote: "I read it a few years back and greatly enjoyed it, Cheri.

Currently reading:

Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's Friday Black

Lucy Ellman's [book..."

Christopher wrote: "Ok, recently finished:

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's [book:Friday Black|37570595]

Mira Jacob's Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

Still reading:

Stephen King's [book:'Salem's Lot..."

How was Ducks, Newburyport? I'm not sure whether to reserve it through the library.

Currently reading Infinite Jest but also reading other books as this is a slog so i'm reading it little and often

I just finished The Silent Patient

Emily wrote: "How was Ducks, Newburyport? I'm not sure whether to reserve it through the library."

It is amazing. I am a little more than 100 pages in because it is wall to wall text--pages completely full of words for 1000+ pages. But it is brilliant. It is something that will likely be taught in literature classes in a few years' time. From others who have read more or finished it, they say it only gets better as it goes on. It's like being in the mind of a present day middle-aged Ohioan woman, and it is incredible how Ellman managed to capture so perfectly a thinking mind through her stream of consciousness writing.

Megan wrote: "Halfway through One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and hoping to finish it over the weekend"

Is it as good as they say? I've wanted to read it for years now.

Christopher wrote: Is it as good as they say? I've wanted to read it for years now."

I really enjoyed it. This is definitely the type of book that you can't read until you're ready. I've picked it up three times over the course of ten years and I was finally in a place that let me enjoy the story as you're meant to. It's also a love/hate book, but I think that comes down to the whole "you can't read it if you're not ready" thing.

Something I'll note is that it can be challenging to keep track of where you are in the story due to the gratuitous re-use of family names, but luckily my copy has a diagram of the family tree on one of the pages in the intro.

This is definitely a book that demands digestion. I finished not ten minutes ago and just....wow. The end is just pure, simple, desolate poetry. Truthfully, I feel like I should be heartbroken, but I just can't find the feelings; and I think it's because it was the perfect ending for such a filling novel.

Megan wrote: "This is definitely a book that demands digestion. I finished not ten minutes ago and just....wow. The end is just pure, simple, desolate poetry. Truthfully, I feel like I should be heartbroken, but I just can't find the feelings; and I think it's because it was the perfect ending for such a filling novel."

More than anything else I've heard about it, this just sold it for me. Thanks for sharing! I hope that when I pick it up I will be in the ready phase.

All right. I've finished up a handful of books recently:

'Salem's Lot

Black Utopia: The History of an Idea from Black Nationalism to Afrofuturism

Holy Hannah

The House

Bradley of Him

Imaginary Museums

Silver in the Wood

Latinas and Latinos on TV: Colorblind Comedy in the Post-racial Network Era

And now I am working on:

Ducks, Newburyport (still... haven't touched it in a couple weeks, tbh; need to bring it to work or something; will do soon)

The Haunting of Hill House

No Longer Human

Off to a great start this year. Luckily, many of these have been quick reads, so I can feel like I've read more than I really have. Yay.

I just finished The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, and I’m debating on which book to pick up next. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and The Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb are both possibilities.

I'm currently reading Detective by Arthur Hailey

This week I've finished up Elantris (Brandon Sanderson), and started The City in the Middle of the Night (Charlie Jane Anders) today.

I'm slowing down on Heir to the Empire (Timothy Zahn)--I'm not sure if I'm not crazy about his writing style or if my mental image of the characters and events just isn't meshing well with the movies. We'll see, I guess.

I read almost 0 books from March to May thanks to the pandemic throwing me off, moving across the country, and me working overtime as an essential worker. Things are calming a bit though and I've picked up a few books to read.

I'm currently reading Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

As well as these two together:
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
The Horror At Red Hook by H.P. Lovecraft
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

I am currently reading Ollie's odyssey by Joyce William. I am excited to see what the great adventure Ollie and Billy will face