Reading & Rambling discussion

What is the best book you've read so far this year? What's your reasoning?

Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Boreum. Every once in a while a book will come along and really speak to me. Ask me tough questions, give me good advice or help me through a difficult time. Sometimes it'll come around at just the right time with the right message. This book was all that for me and more. I can't remember the last time I read a book that checks all the boxes of what I look for in a novel like this one. It really was a life changing read and I find myself thinking about it all the time.

Another contender for me is Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Still reading it but I'm absolutely engrossed in every word she writes and have been savoring every page like its the last page I'll ever read. I haven't annotated many books in my reading career but so far this book looks like a family Bible passed down for generations, every page a rainbow of highlights and more page tabs than pages.

The "best" book I've read this year is one that I am currently reading: Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus. Rabies is such a fascinating, terrifying disease that we as people did not understand for an alarmingly long time. Compared to many other sicknesses that we fall to, rabies is relatively rare, but just how unstoppable it is: how in so many cases it's a death sentence, has kept it prevalent as a deeply rooted fear. (e.g. The biggest argument against the Chunnel—the channel/tunnel that connects the UK to the mainland—was that the island had almost completely rid itself of rabies, and the people of Kent were TERRIFIED the instillation of the tunnel was gonna cause a resurgence of the virus.) Catching rabies is actually one of my good friend's greatest fears; another had been attacked by a rabid cat as a kid (they went unscathed), and held a fear of cats until college.

It's also perfect timing to read it (and I sure didn't intend it to be so), as there is a chapter that covers how the virus has influenced media and the world's monsters of legend. Upon getting to that point in the book, I had this epiphany: OF COURSE werewolves and vampires and zombies (not the Haitian voodoo kind) were all influenced by the real-life presence of rabies. DUH. Well, this particular chapter references the early 2000's movie 28 Days Later (the third installment of the series, 28 Years Later, just came out in theaters)—the first "zombie" movie to popularize the fast zombie.

Dudes, it's not a zombie movie. It's a rabies movie. They even call the condition "rage", which is what the virus was called in ancient Greece! When a human gets rabies, they don't sprint around biting shit like animals do, it's more on the side of the hydrophobia, lack of coordination followed by tragic death. The movie seems to be an imagination of what it would be like if humans came down with rabies the same way our other mammalian counterparts do, and if the gestation period was 30 seconds, as opposed to anywhere from weeks to months. Anywho, excited to go to the theaters and apply my freshly learned rabies knowledge to the new film!

The best book that I read so far this year is The Poppy War by R.F Kwang.

Basically, The Poppy War is a historical fiction, fantasy book about a peasant girl named Rin who through sheer stubbornness got into the most elite military school. During her time at this school she finds out that she has magical abilities.

I don't remember why but I hadn't expected to love this book as much as I did. I absolutely devoured it. It's my favorite book in the trilogy and by far the funniest (mostly because the other two got extremely depressing). This book was more like a setup for the other two but it took me on a roller coaster of emotions. Which is honestly one of the most important requirements for me for an amazing book 😅.

If I don't remember anything else from this book, I'll always remember one particular line, "Can you piss over the wall into town? Altan can." I read this book almost five months ago and I can remember this line as clearly as if I read it yesterday. I find myself randomly thinking about this line every few weeks and laughing like I'm crazy. Which probably makes me seem weird without the context.

I remember the general plot of other books I've read and what I liked or disliked about them but it's rare that I can actually remember a line like that. But then again he was my favorite character so.

Honestly, I dont know what to say other than I loved this book.

Ray wrote: "The best book that I read so far this year is The Poppy War by R.F Kwang.

Basically, The Poppy War is a historical fiction, fantasy book about a peasant girl named Rin who through..."

I've heard good things about this book and Kuang's other novel Babel. I'm interested in reading her one day! Though I have heard some dissenting opinions about her views/understanding of historical concepts that she writes about? I'll have to do some research into Kuang as an author once I finally get around to her.

And I agree that having an emotional impact is an essential requirement to make an amazing book. However! Anything that's relying on shock value (er-hrm, Naked Lunch: The Restored Text) or gratuitous abuse or misfortune (A Little Life; never read it, and never will, but existing as a bookseller, I have heard AWFUL things about this bestseller) is just bad.

Ratdaddy wrote: "Ray wrote: "The best book that I read so far this year is The Poppy War by R.F Kwang.

Basically, The Poppy War is a historical fiction, fantasy book about a peasant girl named Rin..."

I agree about shock value being bad. I think I mentioned it before but I read a book where one of the main characters died at the end. It kinda came out of nowhere. Then it was played off as it being realistic but the rest of the book (as in the plot it self) was unrealistic so it just made me angry.

Omg I’m about to start the poppy war because my English teacher recommended it to me lol. I’m glad I enjoyed it and I’m excited to start reading it!