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Paul Emily
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Jan 02, 2015 10:30AM
My plan is to read 90 books this year, which I'm pretty confident I can actually do considering last year I ende up reading about something like 130-140 books without even trying? Maybe even more? I don't know, my brain's a little fuzzy on that point. In any case, I'll probably be considering a fair few other challenges during the year, but I'm still a bit reluctant on that point because I'm afraid I won't be able to commit and having to find and read random books might just make me nervous. We'll see how it goes. :)
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Going in for the A-Z Challenge, angling for all 26 but will be happy with 20.Last edited: 13/5/15 (26/26)
A: The Weakness by K.A. Applegate
B: Dracula by Bram Stoker
C: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
D: Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane
E: Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon
F: The Free by Willy Vlautin
G: The Moomins and the Great Flood by Tove Jansson
H: Bad Pharma. How medicine in broken, and how we can fix it by Ben Goldacre
I: Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
J: The Ring of Solomon: A Bartimaeus Novel by Jonathan Stroud
K: Graceling by Kristin Cashore
L: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
M: Mr. Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham
N: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
O: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
P: Magic Steps by Tamora Pierce
Q: Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb
R: The Clockwise Man by Justin Richards
S: Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson
T: Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
U: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
V: The Accidental Apprentice by Vikas Swarup
W: Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones
X: The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices by Xinran
Y: The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Z: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
Also throwing my hat in for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.Last edited: 23/6/15 (24/24)
1. A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25
2. A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65
3. A collection of short stories (either by one person or an anthology by many people)
4. A book published by an indie press
5. A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ
6. A book by a person whose gender is different from your own
7. A book that takes place in Asia
8. A book by an author from Africa
9. A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture (Native Americans, Aboriginals, etc.)
10. A microhistory
11. A YA novel
12. A sci-fi novel
13. A romance novel
14. A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade
15. A book that is a retelling of a classic story (fairytale, Shakespearian play, classic novel, etc.)
16. An audiobook
17. A collection of poetry
18. A book that someone else has recommended to you
19. A book that was originally published in another language
20. A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind (Hi, have you met Panels?)
21. A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure (Read, and then realize that good entertainment is nothing to feel guilty over)
22. A book published before 1850
23. A book published this year
24. A self-improvement book (can be traditionally or non-traditionally considered “self-improvement”)
Jennifer wrote: "What is a microhistory?"I'm just going by what Book Riot have said in the link provided in the original challenge thread, but apparently "it's an intensive investigation of small units, usually of individuals, objects or processes". So I'm not sure, but I'd say this could describe anything from Unbroken, Seabiscuit, and The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, to Fermat's Lost Theorem and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Not sure if historical fiction would count though.
Paul wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "What is a microhistory?"I'm just going by what Book Riot have said in the link provided in the original challenge thread, but apparently "it's an intensive investigation of small..."
Thanks! And good luck with your reading challenge!
OK, now I'm going to think about the A-Z Challenge again!x:
z:
y:
q:
k: Graceling by Kristin Cashore
j: The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud
v: The Accidental Apprentice by Vikas Swarup
u: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
w: Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones
o: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
l: Let the Great World Spin
e: Bleeding Edge
n: Code Name Verity
i: Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
h: Bad Pharma: How Medicine is Broken, and How We Can Fix It
d: Deep Wizardry
g: The Moomins and the Great Flood
f: The Free
b: Dracula by Bram Stoker
t: Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
r: The Clockwise Man by Justin Richards
p:
m: Mr. Kiss and Tell
c: The Luminaties by Eleanor Catton
a: The Weakness by K.A. Applegate
s: Slaves of the Mastery
21? Hmmm...
Pondering the mystery of what will make up the rest of the challenge (mostly going by what I can either buy on the Kindle store or loan from the library):P - Magic Steps should do it
Q - I should really get back to reading the rest of the Farseer Trilogy
X - Either The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices or Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. Both?
Y - Not sure, maybe read Life of Pi again?
Z - Read White Teeth/On Beauty again? I own NW, sure, but I'm in no particular hurry to read it again. This would be the perfect opportunity to finally read World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War though, and it's in my local library right now
EDIT: Then again I'd prefer to read as much new-to-me books as possible, so that would tilt the board towards World War Z, and also mean that the only question left to answer is what book to read with a Y in there?
... WHOA WHOA WHOA WHEN YOU REACH ME IS IN THE LIBRARY SYSTEM HERE?! *breathes* I might go for that one all right :D
Paul wrote: "Also throwing my hat in for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.EDIT: Just thinking it out right now (24th January), nothing definite yet (and yes, I'm aware that I can't use the same book for mo..."
A book written by someone when they were under 25...maybe The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers or Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
For a book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ, what about Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides or pretty much anything by Sarah Waters?
And for a book by an author from Africa, what about Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. ***Or this would work for a book about an indigeneous culture
Alta wrote: "Paul wrote: "Also throwing my hat in for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.EDIT: Just thinking it out right now (24th January), nothing definite yet (and yes, I'm aware that I can't use the sam..."
Oooh, thank you! I actually have Frankenstein on my Kindle, but I didn't know until that Shelley published it when she was twenty, so that's definitely in there. Tipping the Velvet appears to be in my local library, and I'm happy to give that a go as well, and Things Fall Apart I've been vaguely wanting to read again for a fair long while but it's never been in my local library. I can easily request that though.
And that you've mentioned the indigenous culture book I'm wondering now what I should do for that. I reckon I can either use Things Fall Apart for that and read Purple Hibiscus again, or read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian again and use that as my indigenous culture book. I mean technically it'd be better if I do both, but I want to reread Purple Hibiscus more than I do Part-Time because I only read the latter last year. Actually now I think about it this would be the perfect opportunity to read The Thing Around Your Neck as I haven't read it yet. You've given me a lot to go on Alta, and that's no word of a lie. Thanks again!
I've decided to count the smaller Doctor Who books I've been reading, plus to split The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1 up into The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes, The Sandman, Vol. 2: The Doll's House and The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country. As a result and to compensate, I'm moving my goal up to 120. I'm fairly sure I'll still be able to manage it though. :P
I've decided to throw around the towel and split the 3-in-1 Fullmetal Alchemist volumes into 3, so to compensate I'm shifting my goal up 5 to 125.
I deleted most of my comments here because I decided I wanted to redo my groups of 10. So they'll be going up again over the next few weeks or thereabouts.EDIT: Oh, and I might talk about them a bit, but don't expect much, and I'm not entirely sure if you should expect anything at all. Hopefully though. :)
1-10:1. The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud (2/1/15)
Why I read it: I'd reread the first three Bartimaeus books last year, so this reread was just a way of rounding the journey out really.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Not quite as good as the first three, and not quite as good as I'd though it was the first time I read it, but still great. It's really interesting to see Bartimaeus as he was before Ptolemy smoothed out his rough edges, and Asmira's story is pretty solid as well.
2. Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones (2/1/15)
Why I read it: My book club covered it some time back
Rating: ***
What I thought: I don't know? Certain elements of it were very good, definitely, but at the same time it got kinda tedious pretty often, and I'm struggling to even remember much about it. I'm planning on coming back to it someday though.
3. Graceling by Kristin Cashore (5/1/15)
Why I read it: My book club is planning on covering the series someday
Rating: ***
What I thought: Perfectly solid fare with plenty of good characters and ideas, but brought down by occasional poor pacing, perfunctoryish worldbuilding, and a sense in hindsight that something was just lacking. I plan on coming back to this book someday though.
4. The Weakness by Katherine Applegate (5/1/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series
Rating: ***
What I thought: Not sure why I gave this one a 3 because I feel a lot better about it now, but I'll leave it as it is. In any case, I really liked that this book sorta injected one of the human elements back into the series, which was sorely needed honestly. Rachel-led Animorphs smashing everything was awesome even when it was disturbing.
5. The Accidental Apprentice by Vikas Swarup (6/1/15)
Why I read it: It was in a Kindle sale, and I liked Q&A.
Rating: **
What I thought: Eventually marked down from 3, though I might be being a bit harsh in this. It had a fair few interesting things to say, and maybe I should have broken up its sections while reading them, but the ending is terrible, one of the characters isn't very good at being consistent, and I just don't think highly of it in hindsight.
6. The Moomins and the Great Flood by Tove Jansson (6/1/15)
Why I read it: It was in a Kindle sale, and it sounded familiar.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Very solid, somewhat offbeat children's fare. I probably would've enjoyed it even more if I'd read it when I was younger, but I still had a good time.
7. Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon (9/1/15)
Why I read it: I'd read some TP before, and it was in the library.
Rating: ****
What I thought: An odd book, but one I possibly like too much, even if I could barely figure out who people were or what was going on half the time. It's very Pynchonian, true, but that's nowhere near being a bad thing for me.
8. Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre (10/1/15)
Why I read it: I'd heard of Goldacre before, and seeing as it was in a Kindle sale, I figured this was a good place to start.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Sometimes got tedious due to my insistence of reading the sections straight through, and had the effect of making me distrust far too much, but Goldacre sure as heck not only knows his stuff, but knows how to get it across.
9. Pyramids by Terry Pratchett (11/1/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading Discworld right now.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Not the best, but still quite good, even if it does drag in the middle. I would've liked it more if I hadn't misinterpreted the general theme of the book, but I definitely enjoyed my experience with Teppic and co. quite a bit. Would probably reward reappraisal in the future, enough to push it up to a 4.
10. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (13/1/15)
Why I read it: I really liked Wolf Hall, I guess.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Thomas Cromwell is an unnerving man when he's in a vengeful mood. Other than that, I'm not sure. I definitely liked it, not as much as Wolf Hall though, partly because I felt Mantel didn't quite pull off her historical smoke and mirrors stuff as well as she did in Wolf Hall. Still great though, and I definitely expect it to reward reappraisal in the future.
11-20:11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (14/1/15)
Why I read it: It was in a Kindle sale so I finally made up my mind to give it a try
Rating: *****
What I thought: I deliberated for ages what to give this - it strikes me as being a controversial, divisive book, and there's a lot of somewhat sketchy stuff in there that I can see putting people off. I might even end up hating it if I decide to read it again. Call me shallow if you like (and you might even be right), but I was simply blown away by Díaz's sheer verve, confidence, and exudatory skill, and I'm pretty dang excited (though keeping my expectation realistic) for This Is How You Lose Her, which I also got on sale sometime back.
12. The Free by Willy Vlautin (14/1/15)
Why I read it: It was in the library, and I liked Lean on Pete a lot.
Rating: **
What I thought: Willy Vlautin pretty much takes his style to its logical conclusion, and it's something I don't particularly like at all. Just far too spare and aimless for my tastes, unfortunately, though I can respect that that was kinda the point.
13. The Arrival by Katherine Applegate (15/1/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series
Rating: ***
What I thought: I don't know. I remember liking it, but not a whole lot apart from that. Definitely appreciate seeing more of the Andalites though and getting a greater insight into them, even if the results aren't exactly pleasing or pretty.
14. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (19/1/15)
Why I read it: My book club is planning on reading the book someday.
Rating: ****
What I thought: A certain aspect of this book completely infuriated me, and it still casts a shadow over it, even though I know now I completely misinterpreted the whole incident. So even if I don't like it as much as a lot of people seem to do, this is still a really, really great tale of friendship, war, and all that entails that I'm super looking forward to revisiting one day.
15. The Clockwise Man by Justin Richards (20/2/15)
Why I read it: I'm weird, so one day while I was watching Doctor Who I decided to go all out and never look back. This is where it started.
Rating: ***
What I thought: It peters out into messy, generic action near the end, and I don't think it uses its setting enough, but this works out to be actually quite fascinating and filled with interesting characters. A good enough start then.
16. Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane (22/1/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series next year.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Descended a bit too much into the metaphysical mysticismy side of the series for my tastes, though I still liked it.
17. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (22/1/15)
Why I read it: It was in the library and I'd heard it was good.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Some of this book really worked, some of it didn't. I found that the book didn't sufficiently justify its framing device enough for me, and a few of the stories were lacklustre, though a good few of them were ones I enjoyed.
18. Mr. Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham (23/1/15)
Why I read it: My book club does a mean line in TV as well, and they helped me fall in love with Veronica Mars so there was obviously no way I wasn't going to read the books as well.
Rating: ***
What I thought: The main case is somewhat perfunctory, but I really don't care, because this book doesn't just push the key storylines the film set up forward, but it also strikes me as Thomas's making amends for certain aspects of the series that weren't handled as well as they could be, and while I'm nowhere near the best person to talk about them, I think he does well here.
19. The Hidden by Katherine Applegate (23/1/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series.
Rating: **
What I thought: Damn it, ghostwriters, morphing does not work that way! Your book is also kinda creepy and I don't like that :/
20. The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan (25/1/15)
Why I read it: It was in the library and I'd heard it was good.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Ryan's definitely a very good writer who sure as heck knows what he's doing, but the shifting perspectives were a little hard to get to grips with and the book in general was a mite too dreary and insubstantial for my tastes. Perhaps. I really don't remember this book very well at all. Still interested in reading The Thing about September though.
21-30:21. The Other by Katherine Applegate (26/1/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series right now.
Rating: ***
What I thought: I liked this one a fair bit more than 3, actually. Nice kinda side story feel to it, a whole living life on the sidelines and coming to terms with prejudices and such. Good show, ghostwritery person.
22. Dracula by Bram Stoker (29/1/15)
Why I read it: It's Dracula!
Rating: **
What I thought: Bleh. Shoddily paced and too full of characters not doing sensible things and other things that just didn't make sense. And while I appreciate that Dracula is boring here, that still doesn't mean that I like that.
23. Back to Before by Katherine Applegate (30/1/15)
Why I read it: My book club is currently reading the series.
Rating: ****
What I thought: I liked that a lot of things happened in this book that just made sense, like all-out war and Tobias getting tangled up with the Sharing. Not sure if I'm the biggest fan of the resolution though.
24. Airborn by Kenneth Oppel (30/1/15)
Why I read it: Someone in my book club read the series last year and liked it a lot
Rating: ****
What I thought: It sagged in the middle somewhat, but other than that it was brilliant. Great characters and actiony stuff, pretty decent worldbuilding, and Oppel scribes it all with a skilful, fairly fearless hand. I can't wait until I get to read Skybreaker, basically.
25. Fairest by Marissa Meyer (31/1/15)
Why I read it: Saying I needed something to bridge the gap between Cress and Winter would be a bit mean, but that probably would have been it?
Rating: ***
What I thought: Good, yes, but I got the distinct feeling that Meyer didn't know what she wanted to think about Levana, or that she did know, but she wasn't getting it across well enough. I think it could just have been that I expected young Levana to be more sympathetic than she was. But she wasn't. Hmmm. (I also skipped the Winter preview because I didn't want to know what happens and I don't know if that was a good decision or not :S)
26. Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson (4/2/15)
Why I read it: I'd wanted to read it for years and finally gotten around to it when it was a Kindle Daily Deal at Christmas.
Rating: *****
What I thought: Just brilliant. Utterly, utterly brilliant. Sags slightly near the end, and some people's fates might not necessarily be deserved, but for me it was a bit like a throwback in all the best possible ways. I love it more than I can possibly express, and that's not just because I finally got to read it after all these years.
27. Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson (4/2/15)
Why I read it: I'd read The Wind Singer years back and loved it, but only managed to get around to reading the rest of the trilogy now.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Nicholson trades in the wackiness for general despair and despondency, but the characters I remember and love so well from before (as well as some new ones) still shine true, as does their hope. There's a lot of intriguing philosophical discussion in here, as well as some genuinely beautiful, lyrical passages, and not even the weirdly violent climax can ruin my mood on this one.
28. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (5/2/15)
Why I read it: It was in the library and it'd won the Booker, so I decided to roll with it.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Let's just say I'm happy I went on this journey, even if I'm not entirely sure it was entirely worth it. All the astrology stuff is just there as well. Like there's not much of a particular reason for it. It's just there.
29. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1 by Hiromu Arakawa (6/2/15)
Why I read it: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is only my favourite TV show in the whole wide world, so I think that's reason enough honestly! :D (I can thank my book club for that one too.)
Rating: ****
What I thought: :D mixed with :S and :(, but mostly :D. Sorry, it's really hard for me to be objective with this series, especially considering I read it so fast and I don't have that much experience with printed media of this type in general. But no, I had way too much fun with this. (It also doesn't help that I don't really remember what happens in what volume that well)
30. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (6/2/15)
Why I read it: I remembered hearing good things about this book years back but only got around to reading it now.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Perhaps I was just born in the wrong decade. I mean, I can respect this book, but I'm not a particularly big fan of it. With one or two exceptions, the characters never really jumped off the page as much as I would like, the writing was somewhat bland and perfunctory, and I really don't agree with the protagonists' morality here unfortunately.
31-40:31. The Familiar by Katherine Applegate (7/2/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series right now.
Rating: **
What I thought: Hrrrrmmmmgh. I mean I get that it was supposed to be bizarre and illogical, but it was still far too off-the-wall-on-a-bad-way for me to like. (view spoiler) The book's just wonky, is what I'm saying.
32. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 2 by Hiromu Arakawa (8/2/15)
Why I read it: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
Rating: ****
What I thought: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
33. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner (9/2/15)
Why I read it: I'd heard good things about this book years back but only got around to reading it now after bumping into it on Amazon for a really low price.
Rating: ***
What I thought: An extremely solid start and middle eventually fizzles out into tedium, but I still appreciate the solid character and dialogue work, as well as the fusion of mythology occurring here that provides the book with the distinct off-world sense that it has.
34. City of Bohane by Kevin Barry (9/2/15)
Why I read it: I'd heard it was good but had held off for ages, but finally gave it a try and loaned it out of the library this year
Rating: ***
What I thought: It's very Irish, no doubt about that. So much so that it almost dips into parody at times, and also made me feel very weird about myself. A somewhat plotless affair, and probably indistinguishable from several books of its ilk, but I never considered that a bad thing. Probably not for the faint hearted.
35. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 3 by Hiromu Arakawa (10/2/15)
Why I read it: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
Rating: ****
What I thought: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
36. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 4 by Hiromu Arakawa (12/2/15)
Why I read it: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
Rating: *****
What I thought: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
37. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 5 by Hiromu Arakawa (14/2/15)
Why I read it: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
Rating: *****
What I thought: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
38. The Journey by Katherine Applegate (14/2/15)
Why I read it: My book club is currently reading the series.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Animorphs meets Fantastic Voyage, and it actually works fairly well, even if it did weird me out a bit. Can't say I was too enthused about the Helmacrons randomly popping up again, but they weren't too bad. Marco's plotline is merely there to give him something to do though. It's not great.
39. Firesong by William Nicholson (14/2/15)
Why I read it: See Slaves of the Mastery
Rating: **
What I thought: Kinda disappointing really - it trades in most of the stuff I liked about the first two books (the characters are still great though) in favour of wonky mystical philosophical wandering and random vague apocalypses. It still manages to be a good ending to the trilogy though, weirdly.
40. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 6 by Hiromu Arakawa (15/2/15)
Why I read it: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
Rating: *****
What I thought: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
41-50:41. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 7 by Hiromu Arakawa (17/2/15)
Why I read it: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
Rating: ****
What I thought: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
42. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 8 by Hiromu Arakawa (17/2/15)
Why I read it: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
Rating: ****
What I thought: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
43. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 9 by Hiromu Arakawa (17/2/15)
Why I read it: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
Rating: ****
What I thought: See Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1
44. Emma by Jane Austen (17/2/15)
Why I read it: It's Jane Austen, I'd never read Jane Austen before, it was free on Kindle, I'd tried to read it before and given up so I thought, yes let's do this.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Ah, what a delight. Simply a book to get lost in and roll with the characters and their period eccentricities. The fact that it didn't really have much of a plot at all just added to that sense!
45. Magic Steps by Tamora Pierce (20/2/15)
Why I read it: My book club is in the process of reading Tamora Pierce's entire bibliography.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Easily up there with the best of Pierce's work, especially the Circle of Magic books which would be the most obvious point of comparison. I got utterly slayed a couple of times, and it was just really solidly paced, written, and characterised throughout, so I really have no complaints here.
46. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (21/2/15)
Why I read it: I read it last year on the back of a recommendation from someone in my book club, liked it, but wanted to give it another go for some reason.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Peter Grant is a brilliant creation, most of the other characters here are also great, and Aaronovitch has definitely constructed a very interesting... world I'd say is the best way of putting it. Ultimately though while his dialogue and characters generally sizzles and sparks, and (view spoiler), Aaronovitch strikes me as an author who's better at those two aforementioned things than plot. The thing is I don't really mind (it does make me wonder what his Doctor Who books will be like though), and I am definitely keen to read Moon over Soho someday.
47. The Test by Katherine Applegate (21/2/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series right now.
Rating: ****
What I thought: I must be a sucker for Tobias and Taylor angst, because I really connected with this book. Morphing Taxxons was pretty darn interesting too, even if it did get a bit icky.
48. Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard (24/2/15)
Why I read it: I knew it was a book that had received high praise (it was one of the options we could have done for Leaving Certificate English - we did Hamlet) and when it showed up as a Kindle Daily Deal one day I decided to go for it.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Ballard breaks out with some of the best metaphors that I've ever read and can't remember; he also breaks out with some of the worst but that's no big deal. My main problem with this book is that Jim's sheer aloofness, though certainly understandable, made it harder for me to get through this book, and sometimes made it unaccountably tedious. I'm still pleased I read it, mind, but I was hoping for better.
49. The Fourth Horseman by Kate Thompson (24/2/15)
Why I read it: I remember liking some of Kate Thompson's books from years back and decided to scout through my library for some more.
Rating: **
What I thought: What an odd book. It's a lot like her later Creature of the Night in that the fantastical plot largely occurs at the margins of the book in favour of more realistic concerns, but instead of the main character simply ignoring the former for the most part, here it's just sort of... there. Definitely not the book advertised, instead full of cricket and realistically annoying juvenilish philosophical and moralistic debates. At least Creature of the Night had character development though, this book really doesn't. I don't know, it's all just very peculiar.
50. Street Magic by Tamora Pierce (27/2/15)
Why I read it: My book club is currently progressing steadily through all of Tamora Pierce's books.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Somewhat similar to Magic Steps, but that's really not a bad thing. Evvy is pretty great, Rosethorn is also great, and the central plot is certainly interesting. Briar has some really well thought-out internal conflict here, but sadly (view spoiler) I still liked this book a lot, mind.
51-60:51. The Unexpected by Katherine Applegate (28/2/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series.
Rating: ***
What I thought: An odd one, this. I'm happy that Cassie stows away to Australia as opposed to teleporting somehow, but I didn't really expect or like that it took her so long to do so. The actual Australian content seemed fairly reasonable to me, though I could be lacking information. Otherwise though, I'm just nonplussed by this book and I'm not really sure it adds anything. Hmmm.
52. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (2/3/15)
Why I read it: I felt like reading it again.
Rating: *****
What I thought: 5 is probably a mite high, but again it's really not easy for me to be objective with this book. It's The Hobbit! I mean, yes women characters would have been greatly appreciated, and there are too many dwarves, but (unpopular opinion time) this might actually be Tolkien at his best (haven't read LotR in years though, been meaning to), his mostly keen senses of storytelling, pacing, worldbuilding and character development coming to the fore. Just brilliant, really.
53. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (2/3/15)
Why I read it: It's a classic that I finally managed to get my hands on in the library recently.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Ha! I'm genuinely surprised how much I liked this book. It's not even like I came into it with zero negative expectations either. Maybe it's because I'm 21 and shallow? I don't know. In any case, Holden was quite a creation to my inexperienced eyes, and Salinger writes in such a way to make Catcher in the Rye seem as fresh as it probably must have been back in its day. I don't even mind that it doesn't have a plot!
54. The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices by Xinran (5/3/15)
Why I read it: I needed a X book for the A-Z Challenge, and this one stood out from a list of suggestions and also happened to be in my local library.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Occasionally a little spare and mundane for my tastes (though how much of this is down to the translator I'm not so sure), but damn this was devastating. Could be regarded as emotionally manipulative, sure, but I still don't think a book has ever made me cry or brought me to the verge of tears as much as this has. A very hard book to read at times, but one that was well worth the journey.
55. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett (6/3/15)
Why I read it: My book club was reading it.
Rating: ****
What I thought: I'd heard this was one of the best ones, and it certainly didn't disappoint! The only reason I didn't like it even more than I did is because time pressures meant I had to read it in a fairly disjointed, discontinuous fashion. It still had a real sweep and genuine sense of evolution to it, though. One I want to come back to someday.
56. The Revelation by Katherine Applegate (7/3/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series right now.
Rating: ****
What I thought: The end is nigh, people, and it started with a bang! I don't want to say much more, but yeah, this is what they call a sea change, and I am all about it. :D
57. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (7/3/15)
Why I read it: It was the only Adichie book I hadn't read at least once already.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Honestly, after Half of a Yellow Sun turned out to be merely quite good on a second look and Americanah faded from my memory (I'm planning on revisiting it this year though), it was just a relief to read an Adichie book I can unquestionably love again. I think there were some stories that weren't quite as good as the others, but all in all Adichie mostly proves herself to be just as capable working with a shorter form. It was great.
58. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (9/3/15)
Why I read it: It's a classic and it was free for Kindle
Rating: ****
What I thought: Much better than Dracula, thank goodness! It did some interesting (in a good way) things that I really wasn't expecting, even if I already had some idea as to how different this would be from the classic portrayal of the story, and I was just very taken with how intelligent and considered it was. Could have done without Victor being encouraged to court and marry his adoptive sister though, which he eventually does. :/
59. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (9/3/15)
Why I read it: I wanted to read it again.
Rating: ****
What I thought: It has some definite first-novel jitters, and is occasionally a little too subtle for its own good, but yeah, by any standard this is brilliant. One of the things that I like about it so much is that it is subtle, that Adichie slowly draws Kambili out of her family's world and into sharing in both it and ours. Or something, I don't think I've really explained that right. And damn Eugene. Damn him for being so horrible and complex and (arguably, I thankfully don't speak from experience) realistic.
60. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch (11/3/15)
Why I read it: I was watching Twin Peaks and decided to go all out.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Really quite good, but poor Laura's spiral into self-hate and destruction is such that it makes this a really hard book to read at times. It did help me understand her character better though, a fair bit better than the show did honestly.
61-70:61. Autobiography of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper by Scott Frost (11/3/15)
Why I read it: I was in a Twin Peaks mood, though not enough of one to try coffee.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Skilfully transcending its origins and potential fate to reveal a very real beating heart of its very own, this book might have gotten me to like Coop a little less (he was younger then though, so I've more or less let it go) but together with Secret Diary I really feel that this book helped me to like and understand Twin Peaks more. Not strictly essential, but well worth the unearthing.
62. World War Z by Max Brooks (13/3/15)
Why I read it: I know that it's a book people like, but I'd been putting it off for years until the A-Z Challenge came along and I needed a Z book.
Rating: ****
What I thought: This rating still stands, even if I now know that Brooks apparently used military and related statistics that were straight up wrong. In any case, while I'm never been much of a zombie guy so take this how you will, I really liked this. I liked how diverse and international and far ranging it was, and how it spoke with passion and conviction on the human condition itself. Definitely one for the glad-i-read-it-list.
63. The Deception by Katherine Applegate (14/3/15)
Why I read it: My book club is currently reading the series.
Rating: ***
What I thought: The ending was somewhat wonky which is why I marked it down a bit, but this was still a pretty darn successful step towards the inexorable conclusion. One to keep.
64. Starter for Ten by David Nicholls (16/3/15)
Why I read it: It was randomly free on Kindle one day, and as I'd heard of it I decided to give it a try.
Rating: **
What I thought: Ugh, so disappointing. This might well be a protest rating on my part, and it's technically quite a high 2, but darn did this book burn out and squander its potential. It sucks even more because Nicholls is actually a decent writer, but not in the way that I like. Basically I don't like Brian. He's a douchey poseur that doesn't really change or grow in this story at all. Never mind (view spoiler)
65. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (17/3/15)
Why I read it: Someone in my book club mentioned liking it months back.
Rating: ****
What I thought: It took a while to get going, and I'd honestly be happier if (view spoiler), but this was still great. It's very well knitted together and nicely subtle when it wants to be, and Stead stitches Miranda's journey towards self-improvement with a skilful hand that easily defies middle-school expectations. Write it off at your peril, hopefully.
66. Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare (19/3/15)
Why I read it: I needed to read some form of poetry this year, and the collection I read was free on Kindle.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Pretty decent stuff, but Shakespeare didn't half rehash his themes. It also had some occasionally wonky rhymes, and I'm genuinely disappointed "A Lover's Complaint" wasn't included.
67. The Resistance by Katherine Applegate (20/3/15)
Why I read it: My book club is currently reading the series.
Rating: ****
What I thought: This one was weirdly interesting, what with the sudden lapse into American Civil War reminiscences. I was honestly expecting another alien invasion, and some of the framing was awkward, but I liked it a lot. The present-day stuff was also good, but now that the Animorphs have pulled ordinary folk into the mix there really isn't much of a way back.
68. Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce (22/3/15)
Why I read it: My book club is currently reading the series.
Rating: ***
What I thought: This book is almost fascinating in how utterly wonky it is. It's hard for me to explain exactly why, but it doesn't help that (view spoiler) Just an odd, lacking book all around, though still not that terrible strangely. I'm looking forward to see what my book club makes of this one; hopefully I won't feel too weird about myself if they like it.
69. The Monsters Inside by Stephen Cole (24/3/15)
Why I read it: It was still Doctor Who time for me.
Rating: ***
What I thought: It's grand but not great, partly because Cole just isn't as good a writer to me as he'd like to be unfortunately. It did get better as it went along, thankfully, and if nothing else the characters worked out fine.
70. The Return by Katherine Applegate (25/3/15)
Why I read it: My book club is currently reading the series.
Rating: **
What I thought: Ugh, my head! I'm probably been too harsh on this one, but it was just so confusing and bizarre that I just want to write it off and pretend it never happened, OK?
71-80:71. Shatterglass by Tamora Pierce (26/3/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series right now.
Rating: ****
What I thought: A lot better than Cold Fire, thankfully, though it shares some of its problems. Tris gets a harsh and tragic problem to solve that allows Pierce to thoroughly explore a dark facet of society, and there's some really interesting magic going on here too. Not quite as good as Magic Steps or Street Magic to me, but still worth the read.
72. Eric by Terry Pratchett (27/3/15)
Why I read it: My book club was reading it.
Rating: **
What I thought: Blegh. It threw back to the days of The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic but was nowhere near as well-plotted or enjoyable as they were, Eric was annoying until he stopped being annoying but then just became boring instead, certain aspects of this made me uncomfortable (they didn't in Good Omens though, which is strange, and I mention Good Omens because the two books came out around the same time and are strikingly similar to each other), and I already know that Pratchett can do better than this. Just disappointing, and intensely skippable really.
73. Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud (1/4/15)
Why I read it: Continuing my habitual exploration of Jonathan Stroud's bibliography.
Rating: **
What I thought: While I appreciate that Stroud wanted to do something different, this simply didn't work for me. Apart from Aud, all the main characters were samey, dislikable, and took far too many words to say what they needed to say, the pacing was erratic, and it just wasn't funny enough. I did appreciate the mythology extracts in which everyone was a jerkface in an unintended way though, and the third quarter was actually quite good. If only the rest had been more to my taste.
74. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (2/4/15)
Why I read it: My friend recommended it to me. I think.
Rating: ****
What I thought: By Perelandro this was fun! A really well-constructed book with great, memorable, picaresque characters that (view spoiler) Lynch does fall into the trap over-describing a fair bit, and I was wracked by mild confusion throughout because I can't see my friend enjoying this at all, but he was really onto something here. I don't necessarily know if I would normally be up to reading Red Seas Under Red Skies (view spoiler), but seeing as it came with Lies I'm definitely giving it a go. Even if I'd heard it's comparatively disappointing. Just gonna keep my expectations realistic, is all.
75. Winner Takes All by Jacqueline Rayner (3/4/15)
Why I read it: The timey-wimey train keeps on a rolling.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Probably a bit high, but this was definitely better than the other two. The video game stuff was mostly fun (kind of hilarious sometimes though), and it was cool to see Rose and Mickey running around their hometown generally being great and authoritative some more. Could have done with less of the creepy teenager though.
76. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (3/4/15)
Why I read it: I read it last year because it was a Big Deal, didn't think all that much of it, and wanted to give it another try because I thought I'd radically misjudged it.
Rating: **
What I thought: No. Unfortunately it turns out I like this book even less when I know what the Big Twist is. Basically I skipped most of (view spoiler) this time around. And yes I didn't like the main characters that much at all, and before anyone asks I don't mind characters I don't like, but I still need to be able to enjoy reading about them, and Flynn just couldn't bring that to the table for me. Also the ending is way too long and Tanner is still the best character. I'm still interested in reading more from Flynn, because she's actually quite a good writer, but at least here it just wasn't good in the ways I wanted it to be good.
77. The Diversion by Katherine Applegate (4/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club is currently reading the series.
Rating: ****
What I thought: More wonderful tragedy fun times for our favourite teenage shape shifters, and I'm still reading every word and liking it. Mostly. It could be taken as a bit crappy that (view spoiler) But no it's a real family affair this time, and by dandy is it searching. Or something.
78. I Am a Dalek by Gareth Roberts (6/4/15)
Why I read it: My appetite for Doctor Who prose knows very few bounds.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Charmingly decent stuff, and refreshingly similar in feel to the NSAs I've read. The central idea is a bit wonky though, and the ending is cheesy.
79. The Dust of Ages by Justin Richards (6/4/15)
Why I read it: See I Am a Dalek
Rating: ***
What I thought: Again, pleasingly similar to the mainline Doctor Who books I've read, even if the audience is technically different. The puzzles were pretty simple, and the fact that they're diegetic was just hilarious. All in all a fairly promising start to this branch, although it suffered from that Doctor Who-in-space problem that the show sometimes has by chucking too many characters in a small area at you and not really differentiating them enough, and there was quite a lot of just running around. Still fun though.
80. The Graves of Mordane by Colin Brake (7/4/15)
Why I read it: See I Am a Dalek
Rating: ****
What I thought: Zombies plus mild intrigue of a somewhat royalist sort makes for a very enjoyable romp, Ten is consistent to his televisual portrayal, and the Agent is honestly my favourite character in this entire series. Was he in this one much though? I'm not sure. In any case, I liked this one a lot, even more than I did "Planet of the Dead" when I finally got around to that actually. So that was nice.
81-90:81. Made of Steel by Terrance Dicks (7/4/15)
Why I read it: As long as officially published Doctor Who prose fiction exists in the world, I'll read it.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Again, decent stuff, nicely carrying on from "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday". Martha doesn't really get that much to do though.
82. Revenge of the Judoon by Terrance Dicks (7/4/15)
Why I read it: See Made of Steel
Rating: ****
What I thought: It was great - very efficient, very successful at mixing its disjoint parts into one cohesive whole. I'm a bit disappointed we didn't get more Arthur Conan Doyle, but (view spoiler) more than made up for that.
83. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan (7/4/15)
Why I read it: I liked Percy Jackson and the Olympians way too much, and wanted something suitable to read in between it and Heroes of Olympus.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Riordan still knows his way around most of the things he knew his way around before, and even throws in some interesting hints of race relations and fraught sibling relationships in too, to a fair bit of success. Unfortunately, it's slightly too long, somewhat overly-complicated, and contains way too many instances of people not telling each other things or not being able to tell each other things for my liking. Still a good book though, just not quite up to Riordan's previous work.
84. High Wizardry by Diane Duane (7/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series sometime next year.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Takes quite a while to get going, and I rushed its ending, which is an absolute shame, because there's a lot of interesting things going on here. Dairine is pretty great, though I'm unenthused by certain parts of her backstory.
85. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (7/4/15)
Why I read it: Goodreads was abuzz about this book months back, and I took notice.
Rating: *****
What I thought: Where do I even begin? This is a book that makes me glad to live in the world that I do, a world where a book like Station Eleven can exist and we can still share in what its characters consider to be distant dreams. But that would mean squat if the writing didn't deliver, and it does. Oh boy does it ever. It might not mean much considering it's only been two weeks and anyone who's been reading these knows full well by now that I am the worst Goodreads would-be reviewer in the universe, but my synapses haven't fired over a book the way they have over this one for a long time. Possibly ever. Up there with the very best, I'd say.
86. The Colour of Darkness by Richard Dungworth (8/4/15)
Why I read it: See Made of Steel
Rating: ****
What I thought: I remember liking this one a lot. Not sure why. I think the ideas and characters appealed to me in a way that they didn't in the first one.
87. The Depths of Despair by Justin Richards (9/4/15)
Why I read it: See Made of Steel
Rating: ***
What I thought: The Doctor goes to space again, except this time he's underwater. Same difference really. I'm pretty sure this one was mostly more running around, and intersected weirdly with the ongoing story arc. Not brilliant, still not quite terrible.
88. The Sontaran Games by Jacqueline Rayner (9/4/15)
Why I read it: See Made of Steel
Rating: ***
What I thought: Decent enough, though it was hard to visualise the setting and none of the side characters massively impressed. Nice twist though, and some of the Doctor's shenanigans are pretty darn entertaining. Still not sure what the Sontarans were up to.
89. The Vampire of Paris by Stephen Cole (10/4/15)
Why I read it: See Made of Steel
Rating: ****
What I thought: Chasing time vampires around Paris and enigmatic gentlemen? Oh yeah, you could say I'm into this all right.
90. Code of the Krillitanes by Justin Richards (10/4/15)
Why I read it: See Made of Steel
Rating: ****
What I thought: It's a lot of fun to simply watch the Doctor trying to live a normal life. Sadly Anthony Head couldn't make it, and for good reason, but the Krillitanes that do show up get a fair bit of good material, and fun things happen around them too. Also I like Henry. It's all good really.
91-100:91. Dubliners by James Joyce (10/4/15)
Why I read it: Just felt like reading it again.
Rating: ***
What I thought: My tastes have changed. While it's definitely not bad, it's now a good bit too realist and unadorned for my tastes. I'm still super looking forward to Ulysses and Finnegans Wake though.
92. A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane (10/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series next year.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Was utterly hilarious for most of its run (for really good reasons), but then tapered off into typical bemusing fantasy action stuff for the rest. A shame really.
93. The Ultimate by Katherine Applegate (11/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series right now.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Pretty solid stuff, but the disability plotline made me feel kinda awkward.
94. The Game of Death by Trevor Baxendale (11/4/15)
Why I read it: It was a Doctor Who book.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Important stuff happened, but the plot was so fillery it was a bit hard to care. Some of the twists were nice though, and it had robots punching each other really hard, so I had a great time eventually.
95. The Planet of Oblivion by Justin Richards (11/4/15)
Why I read it: See The Game of Death
Rating: ***
What I thought: Nothing too special. Some interesting ideas in there though.
96. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale (12/4/15)
Why I read it: I'd heard it was good, and needed a microhistory to read for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge.
Rating: **
What I thought: It did capture a huge chunk of my interest at points, but this was such a disappointment. The book simply never came alive for me, which I really thought it would. Sadly, it was dry, and never really managed to generate that air of intrigue that good mysteries provide. Not enough meat, way too much stuffing basically. Would not recommend.
97. The Pictures of Emptiness by Jacqueline Rayner (12/4/15)
Why I read it: See The Game of Death
Rating: ***
What I thought: Well, the first half's the worst trial in history, with the Doctor's antics being frustrating rather than endearing. The rest with the Doctor being embroiled in soapland is more entertaining. Good enough for me then.
98. The Art of War by Mike Tucker (14/4/15)
Why I read it: See The Game of Death
Rating: ***
What I thought: Solid historical action fare, but - somewhat obviously - nothing as good as the TV show provides. That being said, the new characters were decent enough.
99. The End of Time by Justin Richards (15/4/15)
Why I read it: See The Game of Death
Rating: **
What I thought: Bit of a protest vote, because this was such a disappointment. Sadly Richards ends this whole weird and wonky journey (because in hindsight it has been weird and wonky) with a whimper instead of a bang. T.S. Eliot would be proud. I don't regret reading the series, mind, but I'm a bit miffed it had to be this way, especially seeing as (view spoiler). And no, in case anyone's wondering, Rusty's finale is better than this, though I still enjoy the coincidence.
100. The Wizard's Dilemma by Diane Duane (16/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading this series next year.
Rating: *****
What I thought: This might be a bit high, I could just be being shallow here, it takes a while to get going, its ending is a bit wonky, but ultimately it all comes together brilliantly and I really don't care. This book feels real, so darn real it's hard to take some times. Easily the best book in the series since So You Want to Be a Wizard, and that for me wasn't too far off a 5, so I'm going with what I think is right. So there you have it.
Note to self that I've decided to start tracking my page count again, and I'm also going to steal Cassandra's statistics idea as well after seeing it in last week's 2015 Reading Challenge summary.
Bumping my challenge up again, by 5 to 130 this time.
101-110: (Includes things I only added to the challenge recently)101. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (18/3/15)
Why I read it: I'd heard good things about it and it was a nice enough price on Kindle, so I was curious.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Just struck me as being really on point. I'm a little reluctant to say more though.
102. The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll (28/2/15)
Why I read it: It was free on Kindle so I decided to give it a whirl.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Incredible fun. Pure nonsense, but in a glorious, enjoyable way.
103. The Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear (14/4/15)
Why I read it: I'd heard of Edward Lear before, and it was free on Kindle.
Rating: **
What I thought: It had its moments, but mostly it just seemed weirdly ageist and racist, and indulged far too much in nonsense-for-nonsense's sake in a very unsettling kind of way.
104. The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe (28/2/15)
Why I read it: It was in the Goodreads eBook section.
Rating: **
What I thought: Just really boring. I can appreciate it for helping start the detective genre, sure, but I'll take Sherlock Holmes over Dupin any day.
105. The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe (28/2/15)
Why I read it: It was in the Goodreads eBook section and I was curious.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Poe constructs a very nice atmosphere, but something was still missing for me.
106. The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (14/4/15)
Why I read it: It was free on Kindle and I was curious.
Rating: **
What I thought: I don't really want to say much, but at the very least I consciously realised thanks to this that I am not a communist. So that's something at least.
107. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster (17/4/15)
Why I read it: It was free on Kindle and I was curious.
Rating: *****
What I thought: What a gem of a book to suddenly appear out of nowhere! I'll admit that this book is centred around Judy to the detriment of everyone else, but it hardly matters because Judy is such a brilliant character, so wonderfully determined to make her own way in the world. It helps that the book is really well-paced too.
108. The Absolute by Katherine Applegate (18/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series right now.
Rating: **
What I thought: I liked the governor, but ultimately this was just boring, generic, and tedious, taking way too long to get going and not really going to all that great a place once it did so.
109. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (19/4/15)
Why I read it: I needed an audiobook for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge, and I had pretty easy access to this one. Plus it's Neil Gaiman!
Rating: ****
What I thought: This only went from a 3 to a 4 in the final chapter, but it made me look back more fondly on the rest, so I don't really mind. The thing I want to say is that this book took a very long time to settle in, it was just a bit too loose and languid for my liking. Part of that's thanks to the audiobook dialing it back and taking it easy, true, but some of it would still be there if I'd read the physical book quicker as I'm wont to do, and I get the sense that its being slow is exactly the point and that going quicker would ruin everything else. Apart from that the characters are great, and Neil Gaiman seriously needs to read more things because his voice is one of the greatest things on this earth. A book I definitely want to come back to someday.
110. A Wizard Alone by Diane Duane (20/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series next year.
Rating: ***
What I thought: The dialed back pace is definitely understandable, but too much of this book was spent just getting to the point, and ultimately I was left underwhelmed. I think the autism side of things was handled quite well though.
111-120:111. The Sandman Volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman (21/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club read it years ago.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Gaiman jumps medium to the comic like he’s been there his whole life, and while the artwork doesn’t always live up to it (it’s mostly very good mind), I’m extremely relieved as to how good this was, and how understandable it was too. I honestly thought it would be way more off-the-wall, to the extent that it would be actively off-putting. But no, Gaiman knows where he wants to know and how to get us there, and takes us on quite the journey in the process.
112. The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide (21/4/15)
Why I read it: It was a Kindle Daily Deal one day, and I’d seen it in a bookshop one day and it looked interesting.
Rating: ****
What I thought: What a delightful little book to come out of nowhere! Another one of those books that had me thinking quite a while afterwards, Hiraide excels at managing to lift the everyday and bring it the gravitas and dignity that to a certain extent it really does deserve. The description is extremely deceptive by the way; don’t trust it.
113. Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb (21/4/15)
Why I read it: Wanted to continue on with this series to read a ‘Q’ book for the A-Z Challenge.
Rating: **
What I thought: Eh. The writing was technically decent throughout, and the characters were fine I guess, but it was just so tedious and longwinded and at times flat-out annoying. It didn’t help that I’d forgotten most of what happened in Assassin’s Apprentice so I never really had a clear idea on what the heck Regal was even up to. I’ll still be reading Assassin’s Quest, but I don’t know if I’ll be interested in Hobb’s books that much once I’m done.
114. The Sandman Volume 2: The Doll’s House by Neil Gaiman (23/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club read it years back.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Better than Volume 1? I’d say so. I loved Rose for one, and loved how Gaiman was so able to well develop his side characters for the short enough time we saw them. That (view spoiler), ugh! Were it not for the fact that I tend to read comics way too fast and had to hurry to get this back to the library anyway, it’s entirely possible I’d be able to rate these higher. Maybe some day.
115. Wizard's Holiday by Diane Duane (23/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club’ll be reading it in the next year or two.
Rating: ***
What I thought: An odd one, this. Aspects of the plot were either flatout ignored for great stretches of time after cropping up out of nowhere, or awkwardly introduced abruptly after said great stretches of time. The character interactions were quite nice, but they took up a mite too much of the book for my overall liking. Duane also seeds hints towards future books in this volume, but in my opinion this detracts from the experience more than it adds to it. I’m willing to admit that my thoughts on this book may improve on reappraisal, when I take it a bit slower.
116. The Sandman Volume 3: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman (24/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club read it years ago.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Gaiman makes a pitstop, but his output is no worse for that. Only four stories this time, but all full of humour, horror, tragedy, and light. I can’t help but feel a tiny bit sorry for that author guy in “Calliope”, even if he was a gigantic ass, “Facade” was very sad, and I’m glad I finally have context for that “things don’t have to be real to true” line I love so much. Also, take care of your cats people! I guess is a pretty good moral to take from this.
117. The Sacrifice by Katherine Applegate (25/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series right now.
Rating: ***
What I thought: I don’t know, actually. It mostly worked out quite fine, and took the Animorphs to even more unnerving, tragic places in their story. Some of the character conflicts did annoy at me at times, although this was probably intentional.
118. The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith (25/4/15)
Why I read it: Saw it at the library and recognised it.
Rating: ****
What I thought: A very pleasant, extremely well-constructed story, and quite a relief after NW. Smith proves to be no less adept at the short story than she is at the novel. Admittedly it’s hardly unfamiliar territory for her, and while I’m happy I got it out of the library, I can’t say I wouldn’t feel somewhat ripped off if I’d actually bought it.
119. Wizards at War by Diane Duane (26/4/15)
Why I read it: My book club’ll be reading it eventually.
Rating: ****
What I thought: It’s the apocalypse sure enough, but Duane dials it all back, for the most part focussing on her characters and their personal struggles, which works really well. Imbuing the everyday with the essence of myth, and recontextualising quite a lot of things, it’s a definite winner in my book.
120. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters (28/4/15)
Why I read it: I was in a Sarah Waters kind of mood.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Nancy isn’t always the easiest character to read about, and I was expecting (and might have liked) more plot, but Waters already shows herself to have a really good sense of character, pacing, mood, and most of the things that go into making a good book. I’m still really looking forward to reading the rest of her work, let’s just say.
It looks like I've read 130 book-related things this year; I'm done! :D I realise I haven't exactly gotten there in the most reasonable way (though I did up my goal to concentrate), but hey that's what the rest of the year is for, right? ;) So I won't be increasing my goal any more than I already have done, but you can be guaranteed that barring any unfortunate circumstances, I'll be reading a lot more books this year. :)
121-130:121. Highway Robbery by Kate Thompson (30/4/15)
Why I read it: Continuation of my quest to read everything Kate Thompson ever wrote.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Pleasant enough, but somewhat unremarkable. Well-paced though, and with plenty of charmingly grotesque illustrations. I do like too that it mostly takes place in a single location, plus (view spoiler) is very much appreciated. No fantasy elements whatsoever either! Which is interesting.
122. Wanted! by Kate Thompson (30/4/15)
Why I read it: See Highway Robbery
Rating: ***
What I thought: A lot like Highway Robbery, strangely – it’s got a horse, it’s got the same brand of charmingly grotesque illustrations, the same unremarkable amiability, no fantasy elements. It manages to be its own thing, however, in a way I’m not entirely sure how. They’re both historical too, which is a definite change from what I remember of the rest of Thompson’s work. As to which I think is better? Hard to say. Wanted! features a bunch of violent death for some reason, which is odd and mildly offputting, but its characters are more developed than those in Highway Robbery, so it’s all much of a muchness. I can confirm that Highway disappointed me slightly though, and Wanted! didn’t.
123. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (30/4/15)
Why I read it: It was about time I gave it another go, I felt.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Quite a decent book, but aspects of it are simply tedious, plus it was extremely disconcerting to have the Mowgli content not only be half the book, but that it also had an abrupt and odd resolution, but that some of it wasn’t even set in the jungle but instead as far away from the jungle than you can get. I think I might have been a bit happier if Mowgli’s segments had been more spread out, but I don’t really know.
124. The Answer by Katherine Applegate (2/5/15)
Why I read it: My book club is currently reading the series.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Man, this book was a lot to take in. It’s a shame that I’ve apparently forgot most of what happened in it, but looking back darn it this had so much heavy, good, tragic stuff in it. I’m really not looking forward to the finale, let me just say.
125. A Wizard of Mars by Diane Duane (3/5/15)
Why I read it: My book club’ll be reading the series next year
Rating: ***
What I thought: Not a bad book, but filled with a lot of tedium, piece-arranging, and standing around. As well as that, it flat out confused me at certain points. I don’t have all that much affinity with Mars either, so that didn’t help, but I really feel like Duane didn’t properly set up the story in this one as well as she could have.
126. The Deviant Strain by Justin Richards (3/5/15)
Why I read it: I was in a Doctor Who kinda mood.
Rating: ****
What I thought: A fairly standardish DW runaround, elevated (though maybe not as much as my rating shows) by its quite excellent sense of pacing and character. Shame that Jack doesn’t get that much to do though.
127. Why Do Buses Come in Threes? by Rob Eastaway (4/5/15)
Why I read it: It was in a Kindle sale and I was curious.
Rating: **
What I thought: While it featured quite a lot of things I hadn’t previously known about mathematics, it also featured quite a lot of things I was already aware of. As well it never delved into enough detail on its topics for my tastes, and also had this weirdly elitist sceptical tone running through it, which was a bit of a turnoff for me.
128. Only Human by Gareth Roberts (5/5/15)
Why I read it: See The Deviant Strain
Rating: ****
What I thought: It resolves itself a little abruptly, true, but I love this book because I feel that it genuinely has something to say about the nature of humanity, and actually says it quite well. Of course, this wouldn’t matter so much if it weren’t an absolute blast to read, and thankfully it does, whizzing along at a fine pace with plenty of humour, verve, and truth. The Das and Jack sections in particular are an absolute hoot! If nothing else, I can definitely see why the BBC picked this book over the other Ninth Doctor books to reprint for the 50th anniversary celebrations. So yeah, if you read only one Ninth Doctor book, make it this one.
129. Lies of Silence by Brian Moore (6/5/15)
Why I read it: It’d been hanging around the house long enough.
Rating: **
What I thought: It had its good points – the characters generally kept my interest even if they weren’t always unlikable – but speaking of that, a big problem I had was that they never really sounded like actual people to me, instead reciting big paragraphs of truth and hurt at the drop of a hat. Also not enough happened, the pace kind of dragged, I wasn’t as interested in what was actually happening as I should’ve been, and the main character ends up being indecisive as hell, which is seriously annoying.
130. The Ellimist Chronicles by Katherine Applegate (9/5/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading the series right now.
Rating: ****
What I thought: A bit of a strange one, with a fair few aspects that only serve to confuse me, but this is still a very well-written, well-paced, and strangely tragic look at a most mysterious character. Some of the mystery is dispelled by this book, but not all of it, mind, though for whatever reason I can accept this time that some mysteries are better left unsolved. I wonder if the Ellimist will show up in the finale, come to think of it...
131-140:131. Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb (9/5/15)
Why I read it: Wanted to round out the trilogy.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Wow, this was great. I really wasn’t expecting that. I know there are a bunch of people out there who weren’t fans of the direction this series took, but I loved how introspective and wrenching and full of character exploration this book was. I think I might read some more Realm of the Elderlings books someday, which considering that after Royal Assassin I wasn’t sure I ever would is definitely an improvement.
132. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (9/5/15)
Why I read it: It was in the Kindle Christmas sale, and I wanted to give John Green a second chance.
Rating: ****
What I thought: I took off a star because I reluctant to give five to a YA book as YA-y as this for some reason, plus I’m not sure the ending was sufficiently earned, but I loved this. It hummed and fizzed with spark and life and felt incredibly real and true throughout. Thank somebody that this turned out to be so good, because not only can I go out and read more John Green with a fairly clear conscience, but so too can I go read David Levithan with a good mind. Also, I’m really surprised as to how well these two went together! Huh.
133. The Stealers of Dreams by Steve Lyons (11/5/15)
Why I read it: I still need a bit of Doctor Who in my life.
Rating: ***
What I thought: It gets a little muddled and messy on its way, but this is still pleasant enough, with some neat worldbuilding and great twists. I’m gonna miss you, Nine. :/
134. Close Range by Annie Proulx (13/5/15)
Why I read it: I’d heard it was good and it was in the library.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Proulx is a really good writer at times, at times being the operative phrase here. It was occasionally quite hard to properly relate to the characters in these stories and almost invariably the stories would devolve into this ludicrous, inexplicable, rushed mess of an ending. This didn’t happen with “Brokeback Mountain” which was probably one of the best of the eleven, though there’s still a problem or two that I have with it. I don’t know if I’ll be reading much more Proulx after this, probably just The Shipping News, but I’m still glad I gave this a try.
135. The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton (14/5/15)
Why I read it: It was free on Kindle and sounded familiar.
Rating: ***
What I thought: It steps over the Oorah! Religion! Line a bit much at times for my tastes, and a bunch of the cases turn out to have utterly ludicrous solutions. I don’t know whether I was supposed to be able to guess the solutions here, but I couldn’t, and that annoyed me. Thankfully it was mostly decent, and Father Brown has some nice wisdom to dispense here and there. Not as much as I’d like though, and he has this really odd mean streak every now and again too.
136. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (15/5/15)
Why I read it: It’s The Little Prince! It’s a classic! I’d been meaning to read it for years!
Rating: ****
What I thought: Just about as good as I’d thought it would be. Occasionally a little too wacky and offbeat for its own good, but still bursting with truth, melancholy, and charmingly bold and simple illustrations. I can definitely see why it’s a classic, and I bought it on Kindle almost as soon as I’d finished it.
137. The Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry (15/5/15)
Why I read it: I had such a good time with The Secret Scripture ages back, this was his newest one and it was in the library, so I thought I’d go ahead and go for it.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Might deserve a 5, though for some reason I was reluctant to go through with it. It was great though. Utterly hard driving and full of beautiful sentences, grief, loss, and displacement. I can understand that people might not like or be particularly interested in this book, but personally I loved it. I’m totally down for more Sebastian Barry, pretty much.
138. The Beginning by Katherine Applegate (16/5/15)
Why I read it: My book club is currently reading the series.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Well, the second half of the book was crap, Jake was let off too easy, and that’s all a shame because the first half is actually quite great. I know a bunch of people complained about this book back in the day, but personally I’m fine with most of what happened and it was pretty much going that way for a long time. That second half though...
139. Search for Senna by Katherine Applegate (17/5/15)
Why I read it: I wanted to keep the KAA train rolling.
Rating: ***
What I thought: This is all very intriguing and quite well-written, but I don’t enjoy this as much as I did the early Animorphs books. It simply tries to do too much and introduce too many new things and people right now to be overly successful. It doesn’t help that David’s an absolute weirdo either. Heh, David.
140. Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett (18/5/15)
Why I read it: My book club was reading it.
Rating: ***
What I thought: High 3? I’d say that. It really is quite good, and I do like how melancholic and satirical it is, and the climax in particular is wonderful. It just dragged a tad too much for me to give it higher, which can probably be partly blamed on the way I read it. In any case, I don’t like this one as much as a lot of people seem to, and that really is a shame. Maybe I’ll come back to it someday.
141-150:141. Stoner by John Williams (18/5/15)
Why I read it: I’d heard so many good things about it that I had to borrow it out once I found it in my library.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Just about as good as people had said it would be, and I could easily see myself giving it a 5 in a different time or somesuch. What took it down for me was that it was a mite too earnest and high-minded for my liking, and though I can justify it by Stoner being young and foolish, he made certain decisions essentially on a whim. If there were reasons for them I’m not sure even Williams would be able to explain them. I say high-minded because it would occasionally lapse into epiphany-like statements that were never all that justified by the text. Otherwise though it was great. Really stately and elegant and focussed and offering a strange kind of bittersweetness, it slowly grabbed me and refused to let me go. I can really see why this book emerged from obscurity after so long, it definitely deserved the reappraisal.
142. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (18/5/15)
Why I read it: It was hanging around the house long enough.
Rating: *****
What I thought: Yeah, I loved it, and I don’t care what that says or may say about me. I’ll happily admit that not everyone’s going to like this book (and that is in no way a bad thing), and that if they dislike it they might dislike it for exactly some of the same reasons as I liked it. In my book though, Tartt has an incredible way with words and metaphors, apart from some rough passages the pacing is excellent (I’m still kinda surprised at how gripping I found it), and she’s just very good at letting characters talk and revealing themselves through their words. This book is like Tartt tried to compress the entire world into 860 pages, or at least a small section of it, and she dang near succeeds. I can definitely believe that it took her >10 years to write this, that she could have spent hours and days agonising over single paragraphs, attempting to work out the right cultural reference to use as garnish or the proper words and sentences to justify her somewhat ridiculous (admittedly) scheme. (view spoiler) So yeah, I loved it basically. I don’t know if I could read it again, but I’m not entirely sure how much that matters.
143. The Stone Rose by Jacqueline Rayner (19/5/15)
Why I read it: I just can’t stop the Doc.
Rating: ****
What I thought: The timey-wimey stuff gets really complicated and tangled by the end, but honestly it’s hard to care. All in all this is a proper rollicking historical adventure in its first half that morphs into something else that’s genuinely quite fascinating for the rest of its length. A good start to the Tenventures, I reckon.
144. Land of Loss by Katherine Applegate (26/5/15)
Why I read it: After Animorphs I was just all in the mood to read her other series.
Rating: ****
What I thought: This is definitely better than Search for Senna, probably partly because it’s not being narrated by David, but also because it doesn’t have to introduce so much and so it can get right down to the action, which is written really punchily and well. Everyone still pretty much hates each other, and I can live with that, and everything’s all very mysterious, but hey! I’m still interested, and now we have an adamantium Swiss army knife that mysterious aliens upgraded, and I am all about that. :D
145. Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon (28/5/15)
Why I read it: I’d liked the other Pynchon books I’d read, so when this showed up unexpectedly at the library I swooped in and grabbed it. It helped that I’d also heard it was a good one.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Similar in tone and style to Bleeding Edge, and yet not as good. I think the problems here is that this time Pynchon seems to be trying to genuinely say something and have a semblance of a plot, and he’s not that great at pulling it off. It just led to all the thematic elements falling flat and the plot(s) getting too tangled for the book’s own good. Still an engaging read though, but not one that’ll have me requesting everything else he wrote out of the library just yet.
146. Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce (29/5/15)
Why I read it: My book club’ll be reading it eventually.
Rating: **
What I thought: Hardly terrible, but deeply flawed in several respects. The plot is practically non-existent, the pacing is leaden, the characters are either awful or flat or confusing, and while it’s still oddly engaging and pitted with flashes of truth and decent writing, it’s a considerable disappointment.
147. Enter the Enchanted by Katherine Applegate (30/5/15)
Why I read it: See Land of Loss
Rating: ***
What I thought: It doesn’t help that I read this over two days so I’ve forgotten most of the first half, but honestly this book was a little too confused and muddled for my liking. Otherwise it’s really quite good as our “heroes” resolve to stay in Everworld and stop the wildness (somehow) and there’s some very neat discussion on the power of myth! Could have done without the improvised surgery though D:
148. The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan (30/5/15)
Why I read it: I more or less liked the previous Amy Tan books I’d read, and seeing this show up in a Kindle sale got me to remembering it was in my local library (I didn’t want to buy it because I felt that’d be taking a gamble).
Rating: ***
What I thought: ScarlettMi’s review says it far better than I can really – in fact I get the sense I’ve been far too influenced by it, so it’s entirely possible that if I hadn’t read it I’d have a different opinion on this book. Nevertheless, yes this book could do with being a fair bit shorter, yes it does go a little overboard on the melodrama stakes (not all the time though, but a lot of the time it never feels particularly realistic to me, especially in terms of dialogue), and I have to say that (view spoiler), though the Magic Gourd education chapter is a particular highlight. I still liked reading it, mind, but I’m unlikely to pick up another book of Tan’s in the future.
149. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling (31/5/15)
Why I read it: It’s J.K. Rowling, the question’s more why I didn’t read it sooner.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Nicely delightful, even if I don’t actually agree with most of the conclusions drawn. Still, it was nice to get more insight into wizarding life, plus it helps that Rowling is quite a decent illustrator as well.
150. Thief! by Malorie Blackman (31/5/15)
Why I read it: I liked the other Malorie Blackman books I’d read previously, and wanted more. This happened to be at the library.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Well paced and always engaging, but easily the least impressive book of hers I’ve read. Very clearly written for an age group well below mine, it occasionally tipped into being weirdly excitable and exclamation-point filled, the plot was absolutely ludicrous and unexplained, some of the twists were obvious in several respects and some – while slightly less obvious – only served to make the bizarre events just as bizarre, and I found the morals simplistic and unfortunate, even if I do understand where Blackman was coming from.
151-160:151. Coraline by Neil Gaiman (02/06/15)
Why I read it: I tend to like Gaiman’s work in general, and this was one of his that I hadn’t read, so when I saw it in the library looking for Elidor I grabbed it right there though I hadn’t expected to find it.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Pleasant enough and fun to read, filled with very interesting, evocative characters and more than a pinch of snark, but ultimately a little too derivative and unsatisfying. It’s still not a bad book, but I had the distinct sense of Gaiman almost writing on autopilot in this.
152. The Stuff of Nightmares by Malorie Blackman (04/06/15)
Why I read it: I was in a Malorie Blackman mood.
Rating: ***
What I thought: A deeply strange book that by direct virtue of its structure never quite manages to hang together. Sometimes disbelief was pretty easy to suspend, sometimes it simply wasn’t. It has some nice twists that I really should have guessed and the ending is sufficiently heartwarming and brutal (if a tad shoved in and repetitive), but even though I still liked it (the nature of Kyle’s parents was frustratingly ambiguous) and some of the stories were very good, the only thing I really take away from it is that Malorie Blackman can have a supremely disturbed imagination sometimes. And honestly? I kind of knew that already.
153. Realm of the Reaper by Katherine Applegate (06/06/15)
Why I read it: To continue my quest of reading all of KAA’s Scholastic 90s work.
Rating: ****
What I thought:I remember liking this one a lot, full of fun runabouts and weirdness and sinister imaginings. Just wish I could actually say more about the characters without having to go back and check. But no I enjoyed it, even the somewhat offbeat ending!
154. Magic of the Angels by Jacqueline Rayner (06/06/15)
Why I read it: It’s Doctor Who and it was printed, so I decided to read it.
Rating: ***
What I thought:It sufficiently hits its emotional beats enough for me to bump it up to 3 stars. Ultimately though this book just comes across as being kinda generic and bland, the Quick Reads format really not doing the story all that much justice. Avoid.
155. The Silurian Gift by Mike Tucker (07/06/15)
Why I read it: See Magic of the Angels
Rating: ***
What I thought:Slightly better than Magic, still not all that great. It gets a little tangled and confusing in the middle, which largely works well, though not brilliantly. The central idea is fairly decent, and really that’s all this book is. Fairly decent. Any random Tenth Doctor Quick Reads book was better than this, though now that I think about it that really isn’t saying much.
156. Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce (09/06/15)
Why I read it: My book club will be reading it soon.
Rating: ***
What I thought: A good better than Will of the Empress at least – it didn’t anger me as much, the characters were more enjoyable, and it actually made me laugh at points. Unfortunately while the book did have its fair share of peculiar appeal that made me decide to give it a 3, it was largely tedious, stretched, repetitive, and irritating at times, with a fairly noticeable lack of decent characterisation. This seems to be more of a side story compared to the rest of the Emelan books, and it’s one that you could fairly easily skip without missing anything.
As well as this, I took the knowledge that Melting Stones was originally an audiobook and ran with it, and I reckon I made a pretty good choice. The sound quality was occasionally a bit tinny, but it was mostly fine, and while the original music was ludicrous at times, it was something I eventually grew to appreciate. The voice cast I’m genuinely quite pleased with, even if there was a lapse into somewhat charming homespun amateur accent country every so often. In fact, possibly the biggest problem with them is that they were sometimes too good in a sense! They sounded so like characters that I swear I’d heard before that at times one of the main things that got me through the book was imagining that I was hearing the Epic Thrilling Adventures of Patton Oswalt, Meg Bashwiner, Generic 90s Surfer Dude, and Aku Aku. It was definitely amusing, at least for me.
157. On Canaan’s Side by Sebastian Barry (09/06/15)
Why I read it: The Temporary Gentleman was so good that I decided to stick to my plan of clearing out my library of Sebastian Barry books (well, not literally, but you know what I mean)
Rating: ***
What I thought: Not up to the other books of his I’ve read. Still quite good though, with absolutely gorgeous sentences at times. The main problems I had here were the occasional voyage into melodrama, not so gorgeous sentences sprinkled in here and there (usually where Lily was attempting to make some sort of grand point that didn’t quite make sense, with words that didn’t quite ring true), and the vague sense I had throughout that I just wasn’t engaging as much with the book as I’d have liked to. I really think I would still recommend it though.
158. Discover the Destroyer by Katherine Applegate (13/06/15)
Why I read it: See Realm of the Reaper
Rating: ****
What I thought: SCIENCE! Sadly it’s science that doesn’t really go anywhere and ends up coming across more as padding (at least to me), but still! Science! Also lots of lovely double-crossing, mild intrigue, and interesting locations. So even if I don’t necessarily know if the twist at the end will really amount to all that much I’m still on board.
159. Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce (17/6/15)
Why I read it: My book club is reading it soon.
Rating: **
What I thought: While still somewhat pleasant and generally fine to read with nice character interactions and the like, it’s definitely not the book it was built up to be in terms of darkness, character development and the like. Even if you take that out of the equation (it probably doesn’t help that I spoiled myself a lot for a bunch of things), it’s still a very flawed book. The pacing is lumpy, the plot is tedious and strange and uninvolving, the characters really don’t impress that much at all apart from a few other than the main ones, and unfortunately it’s just not good. At all. Honestly, and though I really do hate to say it, apart from a few bits of glory sprinkled here and there the Emelan books after Shatterglass have pretty much been approaching a gigantic mess thus far. I am seriously a bit worried for future Pierce books now.
160. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (17/06/15)
Why I read it: I guess I liked Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth that much that I was definitely interested in more from her
Rating: ****
What I thought: A quiet epic, I feel is the best way to call it. Though occasionally a little too emotionally cool and distant for my liking, occasionally containing phrases that bit too much removed from common vernacular, for the most part it was just so full of elegance, empathy, a strange sort of compassion, and tact. It’s not always easy to read, it may not be pretty at times, but it bumbles and sparks throughout with what I like to think is the fragmented essence of life. I’d almost go so far as to call it a masterpiece. Highly recommended.
2015 Reading Statistics:
Genre
Biography/memoir: 4
Classics: 7
Fantasy: 68
General fiction: 63
Graphic novel: 13
Historical: 14
Horror: 2
Mystery/thriller: 8
Other nonfiction: 10
Play: 3
Poetry: 2
Romance: 1
Science/speculative fiction: 106
Short stories: 10
Length
Short (under 250 pages): 149
Medium (251-500 pages): 134
Long (501-750 pages): 22
Very long (over 750 pages): 6
Target audience
Adults: 136
Not adults: 175
Author gender
Female: 153 (132/21)
Male: 154 (145/9)
Team: 4 (4/0)
White: 281 (132/145/4)
POC: 30 (21/9/0)
New or familiar?
New: 106
Familiar: 199
Both: 6
Standalone or series?
Standalone: 123
Series: 188
Owned or borrowed?
Physical book: 38
ebook that I own: 72
Borrowed book: 199
Audiobook: 2
Reread: 14
#readwomen: 45
Location
Australia: 8
Canada: 3
Finland: 1
France: 2
Germany: 1
India: 1
Ireland: 22
Japan: 13
New Zealand: 2
Nigeria: 5
UK: 121
USA: 132
Rating
5: 12
4: 126
3: 132
2: 38
1: 2
Average: 3.3376 out of 5
With thanks to Cassandra for the idea.
161-170:161. Feast of the Drowned by Stephen Cole
Why I read it: Still can’t stop the Doc.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Somewhat throwaway and typical, but still a lot of fun when I was reading it. Better than The Monsters Inside at least.
162. The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
Why I read it: Wanted to read it again to refresh myself before The Burning Bridge
Rating: ****
What I thought: More or less as good as it was when I read it last year. The ending is kind of lacking and it’s clearly pitched well below my age level (dodgy, generic worldbuilding plus fairly obvious directional thrusts, asides, and weak justifications for people’s behaviour aside), but it’s still very well paced and full of enjoyable characters, nice offbeat thrums of humour every now and then, and a satisfying pervading sense that John Flanagan is a natural storyteller.
163. Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Three Adventures by Garth Nix
Why I read it: I went on a bit of a Garth Nix wander when I was finally able to start buying books for my Kindle last year, and this was relatively cheap, looked interesting, and I hadn’t heard of it before, so I picked it up! I only read it now because of other books coming in between, plus I wanted to build up sufficiently to finally reading To Hold the Bridge.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Very pleasant and interesting, and plenty of neat lady characters to boot with it. The worldbuilding was a tad bit laboured and the language got a mite too flowery for my liking at times though. That said, I’m happy I read it, and I wouldn’t mind more stories from this universe in the future, apart from the one in Rogues of course. :) [And apparently there are two more than that in other anthologies. Darnit!]
164. Fear the Fantastic by Katherine Applegate
Why I read it: For even more unorthodox KAA funtimes, of course!
Rating: ***
What I thought: 3 might be a bit low, because I recall quite liking this! It’s got some neat concepts and interesting new characters, so I think it must have just been (some of) the main characters being douchebags.
165. The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan
Why I read it: I liked The Ruins of Gorlan well enough when I read it.
Rating: ****
What I thought: I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I don’t think this was quite as good as the first one, though still pretty great. Evanlyn’s cool, the plot stuff is interesting, and a lot of the character interactions are a heck of a lot of fun in a road trip kind of way, and more of them are tragic, plus the book does things I genuinely never expected! I’m fairly sure I’m happy with them and all as well!
166. Newt’s Emerald (Original Version) by Garth Nix
Why I read it: Hearing that this was due to be rereleased in a revised and expanded form sometime later this year inspired me to find the original Kindle version and read that as part of my previously mentioned buildup to To Hold the Bridge.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Eh, it was all right. I don’t know if there’s a really good story in here trying to break its way out, but in any case I’m glad that this is being put back in the oven for a while. For one, though the writing is generally decent throughout the lead couple have pretty much zero romantic chemistry whatsoever, the pacing comes through in weird dribs and drabs, some of the characters are bafflingly redundant and make strange decisions (also some of the motivations are revealed far too late in the day), and while part of me likes how understated and commonplace the magic is here, part of me wonders if it could have been brought to the fore a bit more. So, a pleasant book, but not one I can recommend right now.
167. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Why I read it: I needed a book by someone from an indigenous culture to complete the Book Riot Read Harder challenge, and I had been meaning to read this one for quite some time regardless.
Rating: ***
What I thought: An odd, intriguing book, this. Mostly I enjoyed it for the look into a different yet very familiar world, and Achebe’s solid, stately, even-handed look at his characters, as well as the really keen-edged, considered pacing. It’s the kind of book where the writer essentially presents things as they were and defies you to come up with your own take on the matters. I don’t know whether I’d read it again, but I certainly liked it.
168. Why Weeps the Brogan? by Hugh Scott
Why I read it: It had cropped up in a list of recommended books for 8 to 11 year olds or there about, but I never did anything about it. Then I found that list again, and seeing this book on it and on a different list of recommended books, this time for teenagers, convinced me that it was definitely something I needed in my life.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Just about as good as I thought it would be, and it would be even better if I hadn’t glanced at the summary beforehand. I find myself reluctant to talk about this book in the unlikely hope that people will be able to find it, but what I will say is that my only real problem with it is that my attention briefly wavered here and there so I no longer understood what was going on for a bit. Other than that, I loved the pacing and Hugh Scott’s strange, simple, evocatising prose. I loved (for the most part) the slightly stilted conversational style that nevertheless makes absolute sense. I loved the peculiar little illustrations that wandered in now and then, and the ending really knocked me for six, even if I’d predicted a lot of it. Very much recommended.
169. Mister Monday by Garth Nix
Why I read it: This was relatively cheap when I went looking for Garth Nix books on Kindle the time I also found Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz. As far as I can remember the series had some sort of presence in my childhood but I never really felt motivated to check it out until then. The reasons I only read it now are the same as those for Hereward.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Quite a lot of fun, though I find myself down on parts of it for some reason. Definitely Nix wears his influences on his sleeve, and though this was a thing that I remember hearing once before and forgot, I’ve pretty easily figured out a key twist already. Arthur himself is also a little flat thus far. At the same time though, I love how fricking out there this book got at times, enough to overlook that it’s clearly pitched somewhere below my level, and I’m down to read the rest of this series (six more books though?) just to see what else Nix pulls out of his head. Also there better be more Ed and Leaf and they better be all right, you hear?
170. Ulysses by James Joyce
Why I read it: It was in the house, and it really seemed like the right time to finally wrestle that crocodile.
Rating: ****
What I thought: I don’t know what I can say about this book that hasn’t already been said thousands of times over. It’s hilarious, it’s long, it’s kind of tedious sometimes, it’s ambitious and surprisingly far-reaching and modern (even if it was written in the 1910s), it’s got passages that are confusing and that don’t seem to have any particular reason to exist at all, it’s slow and odd and somehow extremely rewarding at the end, even if just to say you did it. I can really see why this book has endured all throughout the years, and I can even kind of see why it took Joyce seven years to write. I don’t know if it’s a book I’ll ever return to, but I easily could. I really could. I get the sense that the whole world is contained within Ulysses, if only I could reach out and grasp it. Ultimately though, for me, one last thing I can say is to read the collected works of James Joyce and City of Bohane, and then you will come some way to understanding Ireland. Not that you should stop there mind, but that will get you a good portion of the way indeed.
After thinking about it for a few days I've decided to bump my goal up to 250. I don't know if I'm actually going to make it or not, but if I get close enough to it I'll likely increase it again, as I may easily be lowballing it as it is.
171-180171. The Playboy of the Western World by John Millington Synge (26/6/15)
Why I read it: I had just realised it was hidden in a schoolbook and I had never gotten around to it until then, so I decided I’d pull it out and see what it was all about.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Extremely pleasant and rather well-paced, and filled with decent enough characters, but it’s also somewhat conventional and oddly uninvolving. I’m still not entirely sure why Christy’s killing his dad made him such a hero, but it did. Still though, I’m glad I read it.
172. Gateway to the Gods by Katherine Applegate (27/6/15)
Why I read it: I will keep reading Everworld (and Remnants) even if it kills disappoints me.
Rating: ****
What I thought: This one was a lot of fun, as our heroes break into an all-out war! They’re also really good at it, which is kind of concerning. Also, tons of exploration of the Greek gods and their foibles and Athena being generally amazing.
173. Plugged by Eoin Colfer (28/6/15)
Why I read it: It’s Eoin Colfer! The whole “he’s writing for an adult audience now!” thing never really entered my mind to be honest.
Rating: ***
What I thought: For one, it’s hilarious. Really hilarious. Laugh-out-loud hilarious. As well as that its pacing is pretty much amazing and there are quite a number of great scenes, character interactions, and the like. The problem is though, near the end I suddenly realised that the plot was paper thin and a tad too ludicrous for my liking, and so it turned out that all I was holding on to was merely a trifle. Not a terrible trifle, mind you, and I had a great time reading it, but something about it on hindsight was just horrendously lacking. I’m still interested in picking up Screwed, incidentally, but I’ll happily wait until it comes to me instead of me going to it.
174. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (1/7/15)
Why I read it: It had been lying around the house for years, so I decided to read it because I was curious.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Granted, I need to remember that this was written in the 17th century, but not enough happens in the play to make me like it that much, and the characters for the most part simply aren’t present enough to hold my interest, never mind the way poor Shylock gets treated like crap at the end (and throughout, even if he is still a bit of a jerk (somewhat understandably though). That being said, it was well paced, it was nice to see that certain famous phrases arose from it, and every time Shylock appears he pretty much steals the show and wrestles everything away to himself, and it’s kind of glorious. But no, to say Shylock is the best character in the play is kind of the wrong statement, because that would be implying that everyone else in the play actually has character, or at least a good portion of it. Because they don’t. For the most part, they really, really don’t. Also the plot is a trifle, and not in a good way like in Plugged.
175. Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett (3/7/15)
Why I read it: My book club was reading it.
Rating: *****
What I thought: So gorgeous. Admittedly it took a little while to properly come to fruition, but it was just so full of wit and wisdom and richly drawn characters, operating almost as a strange redemption-style narrative in at least two different senses, that I just get the sense that anything less than a 5 would be a disservice. One of the better ones.
176. Clariel by Garth Nix (3/7/15)
Why I read it: I wanted to read it to make sure I was prepared for when the Abhorsen follow-up inevitably (?) comes out, plus I was still building up to To Hold the Bridge regardless.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Nix does some great work with Clariel here, fairly well capturing her sense of teenage frustration and yearning for freedom, and the plot does have signs of shaping up to something compelling. Then the ending just descends into ludicrosity and the pacing reveals itself to be not very good at all. Really other people have explained it far better than I can, but from what they’ve said that I can roll with, it might not even be that good a prequel, a few too many characters are underused, the pacing’s sort of all over the place, the narration style shifts weirdly for isolated moments into something not quite but almost completely different, and really I’m just vaguely confused more than anything else.
177. Brave the Betrayal by Katherine Applegate (4/7/15)
Why I read it: See Gateway to the Gods
Rating: ***
What I thought: Eh, it wasn’t that great. Too full of discomfiting religious talk and the weird sense that it was almost a contractually-obligated stop gap book. Bunch of cool things going on it though, I can say that much at least.
178. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (5/7/15)
Why I read it: Well, it *is* a classic. Go Set a Watchman didn’t really enter into it, honestly.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Yes! It was good! Though I would have liked it to be a bit better, it was still pretty darn good. The setting was very well evoked, the pacing was extremely well done, Atticus himself is about as big a legend as I expected (even if he’s a bit too much of a “let people be people, just be nice to everyone” kind of guy for my liking, which explains part of the 4 ranking, even though I can understand that this is probably values dissonance more than anything else), Scout herself is quite a creation, Boo Radley’s interesting and strange, and yeah, it legitimately is a very good book. Would I like it more if a sea of expectation hadn’t been built around it? I don’t know, and honestly that’s not a question I’m interested in thinking about. I was very happy with this, that’s all I know.
179. To Hold the Bridge by Garth Nix (9/7/15)
Why I read it: Garth Nix short story collections colour me excited.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Garth Nix certainly has a shed load of ideas rattling around his head that he was really eager to get out, and for the most part they’re very good ideas! Not to mention, most of them even end up looking pretty darn solid on the page! Sadly though, a bunch of these stories just suffer from somewhat lousy pacing; when you’re not left feeling you could do with more, just a tiny bit more, instead you’re shaking your head slightly because you get the sense that Nix hopped from B to C too quickly. Of course, part of this could be down to the somewhat confining nature of short stories and my general unfamiliarity with them. Then again, Across the Wall was a fair ton better of this, though that’s probably partially because it was so incredibly varied (in really bizarre ways in hindsight) and featured copious author’s notes. While this collection is varied too, it’s really all just short stories, full of setting and scenarios that are crying out for more. Although, with that in mind, some of them are just the right length, and some of them are also straight up not very good.
180. Theft of Swords by Michael J Sullivan (9/7/15)
Why I read it: Though I’d read it before, I barely remembered anything about it, so I was curious to see if it still held up and to see if I wanted to read Rise of Empire or not.
Rating: ***
What I thought: I can’t help thinking that this would make a really good TV series. Or possibly an anime. And that’s really not a value judgment on the book at all. It’s a lot of fun! Rather well paced, packed full of action and humour and fairly decent characters (which admittedly could do with a fair bit more development, but still), I can really see why this became such a smash (in a relative sense), and just like last year I’m definitely down for Rise of Empire. The main reason I seem to not like it as much as a lot of people seem to though, is that its worldbuilding is, in a word or two, rather lacking. From what I remember it’s mostly conveyed through giant pellets of exposition that the characters somewhat slowly pass back and forth from each other, and very little of it stuck to me so I just ended not giving much of a donkey’s antlers about most to all of it. Like, I get what the main thrust of the overarching plot is, and I get that some of the main players are called such and such a thing, but I have little to no sense of where anything is in relation to anything else, and I’m fairly sure that it doesn’t actually matter? In any case, it’s somewhat disappointing. The slow part is important because otherwise the book progressed really fricking quickly. I still like the book though, possibly more than I did last year, though I liked it then too and what eventually happened there is I stopped caring after a while.
EDIT: If I get accepted into the Let's Turn Pages Challenge, I'm going to have to overhaul all of this to make sure it properly holds to the rules. Some of these numbers are definitely going to have to change, though I can do that on my Excel sheet and just compare from there. So it shouldn't be that big a problem.My page counting comment is probably getting a bit unwieldy, so I'll break it up into 100 books per comment. :)
1. The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud – 448p
2. Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones - 480p
3. Graceling by Kristin Cashore - 370p
4. The Weakness by Katherine Applegate - 129p
5. The Accidental Apprentice by Vikas Swarup - 448p
6. The Moomins and the Great Flood by Tove Jansson - 64p
7. Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon - 477p
8. Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre - 350p
9. Pyramids by Terry Pratchett - 321p
10. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel - 482p
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz - 364p
12. The Free by Willy Vlautin - 288p
13. The Arrival by Katherine Applegate - 148p
14. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein - 353p
15. The Clockwise Man by Justin Richards - 256p
16. Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane - 190p
17. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann - 349p
18. Mr. Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham - 336p
19. The Hidden by Katherine Applegate - 121p
20. The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan - 160p
21. The Other by Katherine Applegate - 130p
22. Dracula by Bram Stoker - 406p
23. Back to Before by Katherine Applegate - 179p
24. Airborn by Kenneth Oppel - 433p
25. Fairest by Marissa Meyer - 256p
26. Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson - 308p
27. Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson - 339p
28. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton - 834p
29. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1 by Hiromu Arakawa - 183p
30. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff - 304p
31. The Familiar by Katherine Applegate - 143p
32. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 2 by Hiromu Arakawa - 185p
33. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner - 291p
34. City of Bohane by Kevin Barry - 288p
35. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 3 by Hiromu Arakawa - 186p
36. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 4 by Hiromu Arakawa - 189p
37. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 5 by Hiromu Arakawa - 189p
38. The Journey by Katherine Applegate - 160p
39. Firesong by William Nicholson - 341p
40. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 6 by Hiromu Arakawa - 189p
41. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 7 by Hiromu Arakawa - 189p
42. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 8 by Hiromu Arakawa - 185p
43. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 9 by Hiromu Arakawa - 183p
44. Emma by Jane Austen - 514p
45. Magic Steps by Tamora Pierce - 264p
46. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch - 392p
47. The Test by Katherine Applegate - 144p
48. Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard - 351p
49. The Fourth Horseman by Kate Thompson - 272p
50. Street Magic by Tamora Pierce - 255p
51. The Unexpected by Katherine Applegate - 160p
52. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - 280p
53. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger - 230p
54. The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices by Xinran - 230p
55. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett - 432p
56. The Revelation by Katherine Applegate - 144p
57. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 217p
58. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - 134p
59. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 307p
60. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch - 184p
61. The Autobiography of FBI Agent Dale Cooper by Scott Frost - 240p
62. World War Z by Max Brooks - 352p
63. The Deception by Katherine Applegate - 118p
64. Starter for Ten by David Nicholls - 473p
65. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead - 199p
66. Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare - 313p
67. The Resistance by Katherine Applegate - 160p
68. Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce - 253p
69. The Monsters Inside by Stephen Cole - 260p
70. The Return by Katherine Applegate - 148p
71. Shatterglass by Tamora Pierce - 358p
72. Eric by Terry Pratchett - 155p
73. Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud - 400p
74. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch - 573p
75. Winner Takes All by Jacqueline Rayner - 259p
76. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - 466p
77. The Diversion by Katherine Applegate - 164p
78. I Am a Dalek by Gareth Roberts - 114p
79. The Dust of Ages by Justin Richards - 118p
80. The Graves of Mordane by Colin Brake - 128p
81. Made of Steel by Terrance Dicks - 114p
82. Revenge of the Judoon by Terrance Dicks - 112p
83. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan - 517p
84. High Wizardry by Diane Duane - 166p
85. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - 336p
86. The Colour of Darkness by Richard Dungworth - 128p
87. The Depths of Despair by Justin Richards - 128p
88. The Sontaran Games by Jacqueline Rayner - 112p
89. The Vampire of Paris by Stephen Cole - 128p
90. Code of the Krillitanes by Justin Richards - 100p
91. Dubliners by James Joyce - 197p
92. A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane - 221p
93. The Ultimate by Katherine Applegate - 160p
94. The Game of Death by Trevor Baxendale - 128p
95. The Planet of Oblivion by Justin Richards - 128p
96. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale - 373p
97. The Pictures of Emptiness by Jacqueline Rayner - 128p
98. The Art of War by Mike Tucker - 128p
99. The End of Time by Justin Richards - 128p
100. The Wizard's Dilemma by Diane Duane - 263p
and continued (books 101-200):101. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 65p
102. The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll - 20p
103. The Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear - 56p
104. The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allen Poe - 25p
105. The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe - 48p
106. The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - 70p
107. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster - 146p
108. The Absolute by Katherine Applegate - 149p
109. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - 312p
110. A Wizard Alone by Diane Duane - 204p
111. The Sandman Volume 1 by Neil Gaiman - 240p
112. The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide - 144p
113. Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb - 752p
114. The Sandman Volume 2 by Neil Gaiman - 232p
115. Wizard's Holiday by Diane Duane - 263p
116. The Sandman Volume 3 by Neil Gaiman - 160p
117. The Sacrifice by Katherine Applegate - 151p
118. The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith - 69p
119. Wizards at War by Diane Duane - 330p
120. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters - 472p
121. Highway Robbery by Kate Thompson - 128p
122. Wanted! by Kate Thompson - 120p
123. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling - 177p
124. The Answer by Katherine Applegate - 157p
125. A Wizard of Mars by Diane Duane - 550p
126. The Deviant Strain by Justin Richards - 259p
127. Why Do Buses Come in Threes? by Rob Eastaway - 224p
128. Only Human by Gareth Roberts - 240p
129. Lies of Silence by Brian Moore - 208p
130. The Ellimist Chronicles by Katherine Applegate - 208p
131. Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb - 838p
132. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan - 321p
133. The Stealers of Dreams by Steve Lyons - 258p
134. Close Range by Annie Proulx - 318p
135. The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton - 232p
136. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - 93p
137. The Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry - 288p
138. The Beginning by Katherine Applegate - 159p
139. Search for Senna by Katherine Applegate - 208p
140. Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett - 363p
141. Stoner by John Williams - 278p
142. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - 864p
143. The Stone Rose by Jacqueline Rayner - 259p
144. Land of Loss by Katherine Applegate - 185p
145. Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon - 384p
146. Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce - 555p
147. Enter the Enchanted by Katherine Applegate - 169p
148. The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan - 608p
149. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling - 109p
150. Thief! by Malorie Blackman - 240p
151. Coraline by Neil Gaiman - 208p
152. The Stuff of Nightmares by Malorie Blackman - 341p
153. Realm of the Reaper by Katherine Applegate - 173p
154. Magic of the Angels by Jacqueline Rayner - 60p
155. The Silurian Gift by Mike Tucker - 112p
156. Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce - 312p
157. On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry - 256p
158. Discover the Destroyer by Katherine Applegate - 171p
159. Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce - 352p
160. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri - 340p
161. The Feast of the Drowned by Stephen Cole - 258p
162. The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan - 280p
163. Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Three Adventures by Garth Nix - 79p
164. Fear the Fantastic by Katherine Applegate - 186p
165. The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan - 265p
166. Newt's Emerald by Garth Nix - 200p
167. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe - 152p
168. Why Weeps the Brogan by Hugh Scott - 102p
169. Mister Monday by Garth Nix - 370p
170. Ulysses by James Joyce - 682p
171. The Playboy of the Western World by John Millington Synge - 57p
172. Gateway to the Gods by Katherine Applegate - 176p
173. Plugged by Eoin Colfer - 277p
174. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare - 247p
175. Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett - 351p
176. Clariel by Garth Nix - 496p
177. Brave the Betrayal by Katherine Applegate - 208p
178. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - 309p
179. To Hold the Bridge by Garth Nix - 512p
180. Theft of Swords by Michael J Sullivan - 704p
181. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black - 419p
182. Philadelphia, Here I Come! by Brian Friel - 110p
183. Inside the Illusion by Katherine Applegate - 208p
184. Summer Falls and Other Stories by James Goss, Justin Richards - 288p
185. Tales of Trenzalore by Justin Richards, Mark Morris, George Mann, Paul Finch - 226p
186. A Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton - 368p
187. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - 375p
188. A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge - 489p
189. The Resurrection Casket by Justin Richards - 259p
190. Understand the Unknown by Katherine Applegate - 179p
191. WARP: The Reluctant Assassin by Eoin Colfer - 336p
192. The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer - 291p
193. Mystify the Magician by Katherine Applegate - 200p
194. Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell - 278p
195. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson - 592p
196. The Nightmare of Black Island by Mike Tucker - 259p
197. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 477p
198. War Horse by Michael Morpurgo - 193p
199. Entertain the End by Katherine Applegate - 156p
200. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan - 448p
and continued (201-300):201. The Mayflower Project by Katherine Applegate - 178p
202. Magyk by Angie Sage - 564p
203. Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch - 644p
204. God's Own Country by Ross Raisin - 210p
205. The Art of Destruction by Stephen Cole - 258p
206. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - 662p
207. Destination Unknown by Katherine Applegate - 151p
208. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler - 337p
209. A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry - 292p
210. Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett - 368p
211. 1984 by George Orwell - 211p
212. Lord of the Flies by William Golding - 225p
213. Agent of Change by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - 308p
214. Them by Katherine Applegate - 171p
215. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson - 448p
216. Gullstruck Island by Frances Hardinge - 502p
217. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert - 349p
218. Nowhere Land by Katherine Applegate - 176p
219. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie - 432p
220. Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett - 464p
221. 1,227 QI Facts to Knock Your Socks Off by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson - 336p
222. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown - 593p
223. Mutation by Katherine Applegate - 164p
224. To School Through the Fields by Alice Taylor - 183p
225. Angelfall by Susan Ee - 272p
226. The Price of Paradise by Colin Brake - 256p
227. The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters - 576p
228. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver - 414p
229. Breakdown by Katherine Applegate - 164p
230. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton - 128p
231. Sting of the Zygons by Stephen Cole - 248p
232. What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn - 256p
233. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr - 198p
234. Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch - 375p
235. After Tomorrow by Gillian Cross - 296p
236. Isolation by Katherine Applegate - 176p
237. Triskellion by Will Peterson - 388p
238. With a Little Help by Cory Doctorow - 365p
239. The Last Dodo by Jacqueline Rayner - 248p
240. Mother, May I? by Katherine Applegate - 160p
241. The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro - 535p
242. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky - 431p
243. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - 685p
244. No Place Like Home by Katherine Applegate - 176p
245. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett - 400p
246. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - 529p
247. Lost and Found by Katherine Applegate -
248. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin - 368p
249. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami - 298p
250. Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez - 927p
251. Fire by Kristen Cashore - 352p
252. The Thieves of Ostia by Caroline Lawrence - 164p
253. Dream Storm by Katherine Applegate - 176p
254. Wooden Heart by Martin Day - 247p
255. Forever Autumn by Mark Morris - 244p
256. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones - 223p
257. Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor - 416p
258. Not on My Patch by Diane Duane - ?p
259. Aftermath by Katherine Applegate - 176p
260. The Sandman, Volume 4: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman - 224p
261. How Lovely Are Thy Branches by Diane Duane - ?p
262. Survival by Katherine Applegate - 176p
263. Lifeboats by Diane Duane - 391p
264. Rise of the Zombies by Drac von Stoller - 3p
265. Triskellion 2: The Burning by Will Peterson - 480p
266. Begin Again by Katherine Applegate - 160p
267. The Weapon of a Jedi by Jason Fry - 192p
268. Sick Building by Paul Magrs - 243p
269. Wetworld by Mark Michalowski - 244p
270. The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge - 411p
271. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - 621p
272. Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch - 418p
273. Elektrograd: Rusted Blood by Warren Ellis - 41p
274. Moving Target by Cecil Castelucci and Jason Fry - 240p
275. After Dark by Haruki Murakami - 208p
276. Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C O'Brien - 298p
277. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume - 176p
278. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi - 368p
279. Winter by Marissa Meyer - 833p
280. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson - 499p
281. Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Woodring Stover - 480p
282. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler - 358p
283. Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett - 337p
284. Lost Stars by Claudia Gray - 560p
285. Smuggler's Run by Greg Rucka - 192p
286. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell - 377p
287. Triskellion 3: The Gathering by Will Peterson - 378p
288. Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne - 178p
289. Windhaven by George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle - 415p
290. Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien - 146p
291. In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami - 180p
292. Utopia by Thomas More - 120p
293. The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima - 506p
294. The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr - 32p
295. The Gathering by Anne Enright - 272p
296. Aftermath by Chuck Wendig - 400p
297. The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan - 446p
298. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - 384p
299. Let It Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle - 368p
300. Come What May by Dónal Óg Cusack - 280p
301. Wishing Well by Trevor Baxenbale - 258p
302. The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan - 401p
303. The Pirate Loop by Simon Guerrier - 258p
304. Peacemaker by James Swallow - 258p
305. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro - 317p
306. Martha in the Mirror by Justin Richards - 256p
307. A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride - 203p
308. Making of Star Wars by J.W. Rinzler - 416p
309. Snowglobe 7 by Mike Tucker - 256p
310. The Many Hands by Dale Smith - 258p
311. H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald - 300p
88,036/67,500
311 books, 88,036 pages, 365 days - 241 pages per day, 283 pages per book
I accidentally clicked on your folder, but I'm glad I did. You are very thorough. I'm very impressed and will try to emulate your concept next year!
I wouldn't say I'm that thorough, really - heck, it took me months to figure out that I should be using two threads instead of just one! Plus there are way fewer comments here than there really should be. That's something to fix for next year I guess. Thanks for the compliment though! :)Out of curiosity, anything here that particularly interests you?
Well, I love your set up. Specifically where you rate the book and tell us why you read it and what you thought of it. As far as the actual books, I briefly went through your list of books and noticed we had some in common. I was curious on how you rated them. It seems we might be complete opposites! Really, you didn't like Gone Girl? I love all her books and I also loved Dracula as well. You do have a few on the list that I've been meaning to read for a while such as The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and The Hobbit to name a couple. I haven't had a chance to thoroughly go through all your set up here but plan on doing so when I get home. I see you read quite a bit. Even more so than I do and I'm wondering if I could possibly find more books here. I tend to fall into a rut at times!
It'd be accurate to say I didn't like Gone Girl that much, but at the same time I wouldn't say it's not good, if that makes sense? I definitely consider Gillian Flynn to be pretty skilled technically as a writer, and I'm angling to read Dark Places and Sharp Objects eventually. At the same time though, and I'm not entirely sure how best to phrase this, the general worldview I guess of the book really doesn't match up with mine, and for the most part I found the characters not so much unlikable as actively repellent. Plus it's really not as enjoyable/interesting a book the second time as it is the first. And I reckon all I can really say about Dracula I've already said up above.I hope you don't feel under pressure to take a look at all this, I just figured it might be neat to try to keep the conversation going, that kind of thing. I do read a lot, definitely! More than I used to, at least, and certainly more than I thought I would. Part of it's because I started bringing my Kindle to college, and I always make a point of reading at least three books at once, never mind that I tend to read pretty quickly anyway.
Also, I took a look at your page and it turns out that though we don't have that many books in common, apparently we agree 78% of the time on them! So I guess Gone Girl and Dracula could just be blips? :) In any case, I'd definitely be interested to see if you find anything new here - as for me I have so many books lying around that I probably won't get stuck in a rut for another three years or so. :D
EDIT: And I just realised, the problem with being thorough is that it takes a lot of time to do, hee. I still have a few updates to do on top of this, so hopefully I'll be able to get around to them sometime today. :)
181-190181. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (10/7/15)
Why I read it: I wanted to read at least something of Holly Black’s before my book club embarks on the Curse Workers series sometime in the distant future, and this was in the library with a fair amount of buzz attached to it.
Rating: **
What I thought: Disappointing. It had a lot of neat worldbuilding and started out nicely enough, but it was never able to sufficiently convince me of its central premise. Though I’ll accept that this is because of something way out of my worldview. Then again, doesn’t this book fall down because it still can’t convince me sufficiently why people would go to Coldtowns, even if I wouldn’t do so myself? As well as this, there were too many words and not enough story, neither the rest of the worldbuilding or the characters in general were particularly impressive, and there was a ridiculous unearned romance thrown in there that didn’t help matters either at all.
182. Philadelphia, Here I Come! by Brian Friel (10/7/15)
Why I read it: It was in the house and I’d wanted to read it at some point, but then it went missing so I never got around to it until I found it again recently.
Rating: ****
What I thought: It’s short, but oddly sweet, admittedly in a bittersweet way. Most of the dialogue lands brilliantly, and the core concept of splitting Gar up into his interior thought processes and exterior persona works great. Presumably, it works better on stage than it does as just words on a page, but the stage directions do a really good job of conveying what needs to be said. A small part of me wishes I could relate more with Gar though. A small bit more.
183. Inside the Illusion by Katherine Applegate (11/7/15)
Why I read it: Still reading Everworld.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Senna gets her own book, and it’s as great and sinister as I had been half-expecting it to be. The present-day stuff isn’t that bad either, although Senna recruiting neo-Nazis still strikes me as a peculiar step.
184. Summer Falls and Other Stories by James Goss and Justin Richards (11/7/15)
Why I read it: My unofficial quest to read nearly every Doctor Who book that comes out continues unabated.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Neat stuff, nothing special. Even if I get over my vague disdain for River, Angel’s Kiss still has a rather nonsensical, convoluted premise (narrated nicely though), and Summer Falls really does neatly capture that old timey children’s book feel. Devil in the Smoke is merely all right though. Huh, I don’t seem to have that much to say about this after all do I?
185. Tales of Trenzalore by Justin Richards, Mark Morris, George Mann, and Paul Finch (13/7/15)
Why I read it: See Summer Falls and Other Stories
Rating: ***
What I thought: Ultimately what we got in “Time of the Doctor” was probably enough, but I can’t complain with this efficient, sweet, sometimes punchy collection we got here. Plus they brought back the Mara! I can’t hate that! (Even if I’m not entirely sure if that makes sense to do or not, considering I’ve never seen any Classic Who). The first story in particular is really quite clever, and the characters are sufficiently drawn enough that I can roll with them, though the various defeats are occasionally too perfunctory for me to be happy about them.
186. A Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton (15/7/15)
Why I read it: I don’t know? It was part of a Kindle sale and something about it just called out to me.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Nothing special, really. Just a bunch of efficient running around, following up on leads with the odd hints of eccentricity and romance that sadly aren’t really enough for me to like this book all that much or continue with the series. Something about it was just flat, you understand? Not the sort of flat you can appreciate as being unshowy, either. Just ... somewhat bland, is what I mean.
187. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (15/7/15)
Why I read it: It had been in the house for a long time and I finally decided it was worth reading fairly recently.
Rating: ****
What I thought: I never quite got past the sense that most of the characters were bordering on the magical, and the ending is quite weak, but I really liked it. It pretty much transcended its vaguely underwhelming and conventional origins to become something filled with genuine heart and wisdom and really solid and understandable characters. I can respect that certain people might find it to be Christian and wholesome and the like for them, but for me it was a winner, and a rather unexpected one to boot.
188. A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge (16/7/15)
Why I read it: Cuckoo Song was that good that I wanted more.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Frances Hardinge does it again. Or rather did because this came out before Cuckoo Song. But whatever. Although I would’ve preferred if there was a bit more character development and a bit less showing, this was a frankly glorious mix of bizarre yet awesome ideas, rather rounded characters with understandable motivations and outlooks, all delivered with an utterly rollicking pace mixed in with some incredible plot twists and metaphors that ultimately gives off the effect of a slowly building and gathering gigantic boulder that you still don’t know is going to be big and well-made enough to do whatever it is you want to do with it, until it does it. More or less astounding, really.
189. The Resurrection Casket by Justin Richards (17/7/15)
Why I read it: See Summer Falls and Other Stories
Rating: ****
What I thought: This was fun! It had fricking space pirates and tons of neat plot twists and very decent characters (except Kevin, but instead of being merely decent he’s fricking hilarious), plus it was paced very nicely. It fizzled out slightly by the end, and I probably like it more than I should, but I still enjoyed it greatly.
190. Understand the Unknown by Katherine Applegate (18/7/15)
Why I read it: See Inside the Illusion
Rating: **
What I thought: Bleh. Not good. Poor. Weird. Terrible cliffhanger. Somewhat odd intrusions of various things that are slightly interesting but are unlikely to amount to all that much. A general sense that the writing standard has momentarily and inexplicably dropped. Rather disappointing, all things being told, though it was hardly terrible.
191-200191. The Reluctant Assassin by Eoin Colfer (21/7/15)
Why I read it: It was Eoin Colfer and it was in my library, so why not I thought. Why not indeed.
Rating: *
What I thought: A horrendous, inexplicable disappointment, really. Weird villain, annoying plot contrivances, slightly messy, vaguely confusing moves and turns, flat, annoying characters, oddly charmless prose for the most part, and the last-minute sense that Colfer is desperate to spin this off (which he ultimately does, though thankfully only for two more books). I’m not even mad; I’m just put out.
192. The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer (24/7/15)
Why I read it: It was Eoin Colfer, it was in my library, I hadn’t read it in at least ten years and I felt like reading it again.
Rating: ****
What I thought: Yeah, thankfully this one was much better. It’s definitely got problems too – it’s a little too throwaway, even when it’s trying to be utterly serious and revelatory about itself – but it’s fun, frenetic (it sometimes gives off the sense that it’s overly fragmented and thrown together, or rather that it’s hurling you from place to place, but I like and respect that as being emblematic of the rundown world that the book is set in), the characters are pretty much uniformly decently
193. Mystify the Magician by Katherine Applegate (25/7/15)
Why I read it: Still reading Everworld.
Rating: ****
What I thought: I actually really liked this one for some reason, not sure why. It wasn’t all that much to do with them going to their equivalent of Ireland, so I think it could have been because it amped up all the action and mild intrigue and just let everyone go to town horrendously on each other. And it worked! Can’t wait to see where the rest of this series goes! ...Yeah, about that.
194. Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell (26/7/15)
Why I read it: Ever since one of my Goodreads friends waxed rapturously about it months back I’d been keeping a vague eye out for this book, but only managed to find it at my library right then.
Rating: ****
What I thought: I think 4 might be a bit high for this one (in fact I gave it a 3 at one point before I dialled it forward again), but I did like this a lot. It moved a little too quickly in the last quarter admittedly, though I think that was my fault reading it too fast – I can definitely picture this as being, if maybe not a future children’s classic (then again I’m nowhere near being a good judge of that), a book that I can imagine being read to children. It’s also a tiny bit cutesy for my liking, but with that it was still very gorgeous and fist-clenchingly great in parts, really allowing the reader to sweep merrily along in its wake. Ultimately, though I did like it a lot, I’m just going to have to acknowledge that I may have finally bumped up against a book that isn’t quite for me. That’s hardly a bad thing though, considering that doesn’t even mean it’s bad!
195. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson (29/7/15)
Why I read it: I’d been meaning to break into this guy’s work for a while, and considering that he put this book up on his site for free I figured this was a good place to start.
Rating: ****
What I thought: A very fun, bouncy, and well-paced tale that is definitely worth more than its asking price. It could do with being a little less telling and show a tad more, but even if the general development levels aren’t as high as they could technically be, the book is still engaging, the magic system is sufficiently engaging, and there’s a very real sense that Sanderson has deeply thought about his world and his characters, and so posits questions that are as much natural extensions of the situations they arise out of as things he just felt like writing about at the time. Seemingly. It’s a small shame that it all sort of comes undone at the end, but I really liked this, and if nothing else, it got me to buy The Way of Kings and Steelheart more or less straight afterwards, so at least it was successful in that regard.
196. The Nightmare of Black Island by Mike Tucker (29/7/15)
Why I read it: I will never stop reading Doctor Who stuff, even if it’s kinda not very good.
Rating: **
What I thought: Eh. It’s not terrible, but for some reason I wasn’t overly enthused by this one. It does have one heck of a twist at the end, I’ll say that much.
197. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (30/7/15)
Why I read it: I’d been meaning to reread it for a while, even before I knew it had been chosen as one of the July Group Reads.
Rating: ****
What I thought: It’s still pretty great, which I think needs emphasising, even if it’s ultimately not quite as good as I’d like it to be. Four stars is something that this book just about makes more than it easily achieves, honestly. While the writing style doesn’t perceptibly change throughout, there’s a noticeable sense that the beginning is merely buildup, and once the protagonists return to Nigeria it sags terribly and never quite recovers. Plus Obinze’s adventures in England are some rungs lower on the ladder in quality than most of the book, even if their thematic relevance is never in doubt. With all that being said though, and even with a slightly disappointing tendency for incidental characters to function as mere talking points, Adichie is on fine form in this book, proving as adept at building up a convincing friendship and relationship as she is at conclusively defining white privilege and posing several, several rather difficult, important, and admittedly necessary questions about the fabric of modern society and intersectionality, all borne out of the veritable melange of cultures her characters grow up in, and the opposing experiences and mindsets they each bring to the table. If this book were at a more uniform level of quality (i.e. that the not-so-great bits were as good as the great bits), then this strikes me as the kind of book that I could finally exhort everyone to read. As it is though, it’s merely rather very good.
198. War Horse by Michael Morpurgo (31/7/15)
Why I read it: Several things confluenced in my mind (hmmm, I remember this author, some sort of childhood nostalgia, this is a book of his that particularly stands out in the public sphere) when I saw it as a Kindle Daily Deal one day, so I figured I’d go for it.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Decent enough, nothing massively special, which seems almost rude considering how tragic and rewarding it gets at points. Morpurgo’s a surprisingly mature writer, honestly, conveying his presumably clear theme mostly naturally through the characters and the not all that unrealistic (I imagine) situations they find themselves in, with only a few brief lapses into speechifying. I think. In any case, Joey is fairly realistically rendered, with thankfully little to no anthropomorphism whatsoever, and he remains an engaging enough presence through the book. The decision to trade him off to German troops part way through the book works wonders, even if it does help that Morpurgo chose to set this book during World War I.
199. Entertain the End by Katherine Applegate (3/7/15)
Why I read it: See Mystify the Magician
Rating: **
What I thought: The book where the series got cancelled. I knew this was going to be the case before I read it, and even though I shouldn’t really have let it affect my opinion, honestly that fact was hanging like a spectre over the pages throughout. So when I got to the end, and even though I suppose the book on its own merits was actively quite decent, all I could feel was this great sense of disappointment and resignation, as well as a keen tinge of annoyance at what I considered to be a medium-sized contrivance that only appeared in the way it did because the end of the series was so uncertain at the time (I say medium-sized, because it does admittedly arise in no small way from the ending of the previous book). I’d be even more disappointed if I thought that this series outdid Animorphs as I’d heard it would do. In the end, though I did enjoy reading the books moment-to-moment, I look back and kind of wondered why I bothered, and that’s not just because of the somewhat unfulfilling ending. Even if, like I’ve said before, it was never all that far from my mind.
200. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (3/7/15)
Why I read it: It won the Man Booker Prize, and while I know enough now to know that the jury’s tastes don’t always match up with mine, I still don’t know enough not to turn and run when I see one. (Which isn’t quite the case at all, I just like this thread I’ve set up.)
Rating: ****
What I thought: This isn’t going to be a book for everyone, and it’s in no way as good as I’d like it to be, although this is more personal opinion than anything else. For one, its general atmosphere is almost uncompromisingly grim, bitter, and rather visceral at times in its descriptions of wartime injuries and repercussions. It also possesses a slightly intellectual streak in its early stages, demonstrated through rather tedious recitations of poetry extracts and odd, peculiar, metaphorical descriptions of people doing things, which presumably do have purposes, and some of these purposes are hardly difficult to understand, but they end up working in the book’s benefit a little too well. At least, I’m assuming we’re not supposed to like young Dorrigo that is. Plus the end of the book is a bit wonky with the strange fire that starts happening.
All that said, when this book is good it’s brilliant. It’s almost beautiful, in yes, a rather grim, brutal and disgusting way, but it never feels all that gratuitous even at its worst; it all seems dedicated towards expounding its harsh landscape of the experiences of being caught up in war, war prisons, and their aftermath, while delving deep into the ragged heart of humanity, and dragging out the flawed, contradictory, heaving spirit of most of us, if not all. In particular, Flanagan’s frequent use of perspective from Japanese army members is near revelatory, and oddly stunning, and thankfully pulls this book out of being the overly white mannish story it had being struggling to save itself from (it’s kind of like Stoner oddly, if John Williams were a lesser writer and hadn’t realise that sheer simplicity would serve him so well). So while at its most uninvolving and deadening, it is indeed both of those things, sometimes this book pulls out a winner and repeatedly strikes one cold with the sudden realisation that, yes, this indeed must have been what it was like. It’s got a vitality to it, but only in the sense that it convinces this particular reader of its importance and right to exist. It’s a spiritually cold and deadly vitality to it though. Ultimately The Narrow Road to the Deep North is an easy book to admire, a surprisingly not-so-hard one to love, and though it’s not quite a masterpiece (some of its pages need real work, and maybe there need to be fewer of them), I can see why it won the Booker last year, and I think it’s worth the read for all but the faint of heart. Because it’s a really ugly book at times, and I’m not sure a preview would actually make that all that clear.
Preparing for the #readwomen 2015 challenge:1. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
2. The Moomins and the Great Flood by Tove Jansson
3. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
4. Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
5. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
6. Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 1 by Hiromu Arakawa
7. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
8. Emma by Jane Austen
9. The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices by Xinran
10. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
11. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch
12. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
13. Winner Takes All by Jacqueline Rayner
14. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
15. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale
16. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
17. Close Range by Annie Proulx
18. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
19. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
20. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
21. A Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
22. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
23. Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell
24. Magyk by Angie Sage
25. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
26. Agent of Change by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
27. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
28. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
29. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
30. To School Through the Fields by Alice Taylor
31. Angelfall by Susan Ee
32. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
33. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
34. What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
35. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
36. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
37. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
I'm going to split the difference between potentially lowballing and possibly highballing and aim for a goal of
Future immediate plans:
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (?)
- Lost Stars by Claudia Gray
- The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell
- A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
- Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Paul wrote: "It'd be accurate to say I didn't like Gone Girl that much, but at the same time I wouldn't say it's not good, if that makes sense? I definitely consider Gillian Flynn to be pretty skilled technical..."Just noticed your previous reply today. Sorry, It's been so crazy. Anyway, I think I will occasionally check your books. I sometimes get bored and need ideas for a new book to read.
By the way, Wuthering Heights is one of my favorites. However, having said that, everyone else I know that has read it, didn't like it. Let me know what you think when you get around to it.
201-210:201: The Mayflower Project by Katherine Applegate (8/8/15)
Why I read it: The KAA odyssey continues with the Remnants series!
Rating: ***
What I thought: It was pretty good, yes, but from what I can remember there was still something slightly offputting about it. I mean, I had expected that it would be weird, but still. A large part of it is that while I was admittedly fairly arrested by the prose, it took a very long time to get to what I was imagining was the point, and none of the characters particularly jumped out at me as of yet.
202: Magyk by Angie Sage (8/8/15)
Why I read it: It ended up being absurdly cheap for Kindle at one point, but I didn’t buy it then; in fact, it allowed me to realise that I’d heard of this series in some form before, although that was because one of my best friends in school utterly hated it. In any case, this got me to thinking to searching for it in the library at some point, and it turned out to be there!
Rating: ***
What I thought: An incredibly odd book, strangely paced and full of peculiar things that I’m not entirely sure added up to the sum of their parts. Even if some of those ideas were really neat admittedly (messenger rats, ghost pubs, Hagrid-esque seal boggarts) and every so often a line or two would show up that would leave me utterly reeling with unexpected laughter. Unfortunately, the pacing is indeed strange (though this seems to be a by-product of its unabashedly being for children from reading other people’s reviews. However, I still contend that for the most part the middle is too inert for my liking), the main villain and ending are pants (I could still enjoy the former for his incredible pantsness, but not the latter), the main characters are slightly dickish way too much for my liking (especially in their treatment of the Apprentice and particularly the Hunter - (view spoiler)), the world was sort of weirdly jumbled together ((view spoiler)), and although DomDaniel getting trolled by his former apprentice was hilarious, it kinda technically still counts as gaslighting, so that was unfortunate. Ultimately, I won’t be continuing with this series as I don’t care about the characters enough, but I didn’t mind reading it, and it almost makes me wish I had children I could read it to. If only Frances Hardinge could have written it though, then it would probably be better.
EDIT: Also, this book has a lot of Capitalised Significant Words, so much so that it unintentionally borders on self-parody. So while I didn't think that was that big a problem (I thought it was kinda hilarious), it could definitely annoy some other people. Apparently it was even worse in an earlier edition when they were bolded, I can really see myself being turned off by that.
203: Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (11/8/15)
Why I read it: I liked The Lies of Locke Lamora quite a lot, frankly.
Rating: ****
What I thought: I’m having a little trouble remembering what I specifically thought of this book, but I really didn’t think it was that much of a downfall from Lies at all. Granted, yes, Lynch does get a little too in deep with his sailing words and the plot progression occasionally gets a tad wonky as subplots crash into each other and appear to be important but then end up not being, but for the most part this is the Gentleman Bastards series as you remember it, just a little bit different. Admittedly it helps that it has so many of what I figure are good lady characters and the piracy is great fun for the most part. I say go for it! But only if you liked Lies I suppose.
204: God’s Own Country by Ross Raisin (11/8/15)
Why I read it: An English textbook recommended it years back, so I’ve been keeping that information locked away since then.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Raisin is a fairly decent prose writer to be fair, but this book didn’t particularly do a whole lot for me. I reckon part of it was down to just how everyone seemed to dislike the main character, that he was also fairly unsettling, and that I was never quite sure that he hadn’t done the thing he had been accused of doing. He would also have more than occasional brief conversations with farmyard animals and they would talk back, which was pretty jarring if I’ll admit it. Also the final third was somewhat disappointing – not quite as sinister as I’d expected and tied up too neatly. So not awful, but it didn’t do a whole lot for me. Nicely paced though.
205: The Art of Destruction by Stephen Cole (12/8/15)
Why I read it: More Doctor Who!
Rating: ***
What I thought: Nicely swift and easy to read, features some pretty decent lines, and I give it props for being set in Chad, having the entire supporting cast not being white, and that the main alien character is something different than usual. Also it does try to tilt at some genuinely important themes. It never quite hit greatness though, Rose and Ten seemed to embody the worst of themselves in Series 2 most of the time, and it's also way too happy about being set in Africa (and mentions Africa instead of Chad a bit too much) for me to be completely happy with it. Seeing everything piece itself together was near despite all of that admittedly.
206: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (13/8/15)
Why I read it: I had an odd feeling it was overdue for reappraisal.
Rating: ****
What I thought: I am still not entirely sure what to make of this book, even though I’m fairly confident I liked it this time. For one, although Kvothe can be a gigantic jerkass sometimes, he really has enough shades and layers that I don’t mind all that much. The magic system is still neat, and I still contend that Rothfuss is actually a very decent writer who’s simply not necessarily writing the kind of book I prefer. Which is fine! Happily though my reading outlook has changed enough that I can roll with measured doorstoppers more than I used to be able to, so I can just trust that Rothfuss knows what he’s doing and let him slowly unravel this tale he’s telling. His idea of good pacing still doesn’t quite match up with mine, however, not to mention that I’m not entirely sure I actually care about the Chandrian all that much. So in summary, I hold this book in greater regard (heh) than I used to, but this is strange, as the problems I had with it back in the day still exist to a large extent. What I think it is that its high points are now coming out even higher in my mind, though I don’t believe that that’s particularly much of a reaction to anything. In any case, I want to read The Wise Man’s Fear now, and even though I don’t know when that’ll happen, that’s got to be a point in Wind’s favour if nothing else.
207: Destination Unknown by Katherine Applegate (15/8/15)
Why I read it: See The Mayflower Project
Rating: ****
What I thought: So this is where things get weird I guess. In any case, I liked this one a fair bit, if only because it was fairly weird, and characters got to open themselves up slightly. The ending was just a jumble to me, sorry.
208: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (16/8/15)
Why I read it: It was in a Kindle sale at Christmas I think, and something about it just drew me in for some reason.
Rating: **
What I thought: I’m not going to ruin the twist here, but suffice to say that I did not find it as impressive as a lot of people seem to have done. Really, the book’s two big problems are structure and character, with a side order of plot, as to an extent this book died for me as soon as Rose got arrested the first time for seemingly no reason, and also ethos. I just found it really hard for the most part to properly get attached to most of the characters or really care about what happened to them, they would drop references that even I found annoying, and the book tended to wander around back and forth without much sense of there being anything it was aiming towards. Plus there was a lot of minidumps of psychology talk, which really got grating. So yes, it wasn’t that great ultimately.
209: A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry(17/8/15)
Why I read it: Clearing out what was left of Barry in my library.
Rating: ***
What I thought: It’s Sebastian Barry, so it’s still pretty good. Unfortunately, even if this was probably the point, the general progression of steady bleakness served to put me at a remove from the book, so I was never able to quite connect with the characters as I would have liked to. As well as that, the prose simply doesn’t sparkle and impress as much as it did in even On Canaan’s Side, which to an extent is understandable (so much so that it may have biased me into believing this) as this is the earliest published book of his that I’ve read. As such, the overwhelming sense I have from this is that everything that makes Barry Barry is here, just in a relatively undeveloped form. I wouldn’t start with this book, is what I’m saying.
210: Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett (18/8/15)
Why I read it: My book club was reading it.
Rating: ****
What I thought: The metatextual discussion about the power of stories occasionally got a little too heady for me, Greebo is just weird, and some of the things that result from setting a large section of the book in what is essentially fantasy New Orleans gave me a moment of pause here and there. For the most part though, this book is great! It’s hilarious and full of wisdom and interesting characters, and I really don’t care that it takes the witches about half the book to actually get to where they’re going because they’re having so much fun on the way (the card game is a particular highlight, I think). So one of the great ones then – probably better than Wyrd Sisters, I still prefer the earlier book, they’re both well worth reading regardless.
I've increased my #readwomen goal to 36.
[I apologise for these capsule reviews being particularly rough – it’s been quite a while since I read these books, and I just haven’t been able to write anything down on them until now.]211-220:
211. 1984 by George Orwell (18/8/15)
Why I read it: It’s an unabashed classic of pre-modern English literature. That seemed reason enough.
Rating: ****
What I thought: It gets a little talky at times (especially near the end, to its detriment), but for the most part its power is undimmed. I can absolutely see why this is an unambiguous classic nearly 70 years after it came out, because it mostly works, and it’s mostly still chilling. And while I’m no revolutionary, it seems to me to be that way as much if not more so for the ways in which Oceania resembles the society of today, as for the ways in which it does not.
212. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (19/8/15)
Why I read it: I felt it was overdue reappraisal.
Rating: ***
What I thought: It definitely earned its reappraisal, that’s for sure. I still don’t believe I connected with it as much as I would have liked to – perhaps it fails to sufficiently transcend its sheepish Boy’s Own adventure clothing for my tastes – but it really is a plenty brutal examination of how disaster can cause society to collapse utterly by degrees and degrees. When it gets mythic (and it gets mythic quite a lot), it’s almost near brilliant.
213. Agent of Change by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (20/8/15)
Why I read it: A sort of an Internet friend recommended the series to me. Looking back I can’t remember why.
Rating: ***
What I thought: The space turtles are amazing. The writing is solid. The characters seem fine. There’s just a general lack of things happening. At all. It’s pretty much just the main characters running away from very little in particular towards practically nothing in particular, and then you realise that you’ve unexpectedly found yourself reading a sci-fi romance (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing *waves over at the Lunar Chronicles*, but it’s still not quite my thing), and then they get on a weird spaceship that gives them hallucinations causing the book to collapse almost literally into a dream-like succession of images, and I just lost hope. I don’t regret reading it, mind, but I’m happy I didn’t have to pay anything for it.
214. Them by Katherine Applegate (22/8/15)
Why I read it: Finishing up on the last of KAA’s key 90s Scholastic output.
Rating: ***
What I thought: I think this one was pretty interesting, opened up the story a bit, more weird messed up stuff happened. I just have trouble working out anything to say about these books even after I’ve read them – ultimately they’re just too bizarre and odd and disgruntable and unsettling for words. Plus I already know a bunch of stuff that makes me not so inclined to get all that invested. A shame really. On the plus side, KAA is very good at balancing all the different characters and using third-person perspective, even if I wish she hadn’t used a line from each chapter as their subtitle.
215. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (25/8/15)
Why I read it: It was a Kindle Daily Deal that I bought on a whim because it looked interesting.
Rating: ***
What I thought: I wanted to like this book more than I did. Alif himself is sort of irascible and douchey, which is understandable, and he does more or less improve eventually, but that was sort of a stumbling block for the most part. Didn’t help that I wasn’t that big a fan of Vikram either. I liked the imam though. He seemed cool. As well as that the fusion of Islamic mythology and contemporary techno punky thriller made for strange bedfellows, bedfellows that I don’t believe ever really got comfortable with each other. Plus contemporary techno punky thriller doesn’t seem to be that much of my thing in the first place. At the very least it didn’t turn me off wanting to read Ms. Marvel, so I ain’t complaining.
216. Gullstruck Island by Frances Hardinge (27/8/15)
Why I read it: Clearing out what was available from Hardinge from my library (or at least I thought I was, I still have The Lie Tree left :D)
Rating: ***
What I thought: A lot of things that make Hardinge Hardinge are here, just in a somewhat unrealised form. I think the biggest problem here was that (though I hesitate to use this term, I cannot think of another appropriate one) Hardinge seemed to almost bring a sense of magical realism to the table, so I was just confused trying to work out whether the mountains were actually alive or not. I think they were, it was just very ambiguous and I wasn’t sure what to think. Plus the heroes had a weirdly unsympathetic backstory which set me off on the wrong foot and I never quite recovered. Also weird pidgin was weird. Still though it moved along at a fairly nice clip, it was mysterious and hilarious and had neat characters and it was generally solidly written, even if it oddly unloaded a lot at a very late stage and the writing just wasn’t as good as I’m used to from Hardinge.
217. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (27/8/15)
Why I read it: It was in the house and I figured I’d give it a go.
Rating: ***
What I thought: It was a fair bit more spiritual than I was expecting, which isn’t actually a bad thing, but it did lead to the India sections in particularly utterly dragging, as well as a discomfiting sense that Gilbert was engaging in grand appropriation. For the most part though, I did like it, even with the dragging. It helps that Gilbert is a very good writer with an utterly incredible writing voice, and I can really see why this book charmed the socks off a lot of people back when it came out. It also didn’t quite strike through in a few places, the people in it seemingly having stepped right out of a dodgy YA novel, even if they were real. Odd.
218. Nowhere Land by Katherine Applegate (29/8/15)
Why I read it: See Them
Rating: ***
What I thought: Yep, again I just don’t have a whole lot to say about this one. I really wish I did. It’s not like I don’t like the books though, because I do! Just not as much as I’d like to, and not enough to find them all that memorable at all. It’s just a jumble of oddness and people being grumpy at each other. Again, a shame.
219. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (31/8/15)
Why I read it: I’d been interested in it ever since it won every SF award under the sun last year, and then it went on sale as a Kindle Daily Deal fairly recently and that just solidified it.
Rating: ****
What I thought: This book is odd. I like it, but I think I like it more than I should. I like to describe it as a 400 page shell game, because all in all I’m not sure all that much actually happens. Plus the revelations were delivered in an oddly perfunctory way, which makes sense considering who Breq is, but it’s still a bit odd. That being said Leckie writes with extraordinary confidence and verve throughout, skilfully guiding the reader from place to place, person to person and bouncing around between all the viewpoints and time periods. And yes, while to an extent the whole treatment of gender is a tad gimmicky, I won’t lie that it did make me think, and I did enjoy the whole constructed linguistics stuff going on. To sum up, I will probably read Ancillary Sword at some point, but not right now.
220. Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett (1/9/15)
Why I read it: After reading The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End ages back, I figured it was worth going back to his thriller roots for a spell or two.
Rating: ***
What I thought: Not terrible, but hardly brilliant. I do like that one of the viewpoint characters is kind of a rat bastard and that never really changes (even if he does vomit at death for some reason, I still thought he was decently characterised), but the book never quite transcended bland runaround in its workings, especially when it took like half the book for him to actually get to the island. Pretty decent writing and engaging enough characters though, and you can definitely see the keen interest in people that Follett would display to absolutely marvellous, devastating force in Pillars and World.
2025 Reading Challenge
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