2022 Reading Challenge

ranbalam said:
right up there with East of Eden.
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I've been eying up my copy of East of Eden over the last couple of weeks, thinking this might finally be the year... I absolutely love all the other Steinbeck I've read. Grapes of Wrath remains an all-time favourite for me, which I never even remotely expected to be the case when I picked it up 15 years ago!

I've yet to crack into any Tolstoy. The Master and Margarita is my favourite so far from that side of the world - and probably favourite overall if forced to choose.
 
I land somewhere in the middle on Devil House, and I wonder if my opinion is skewed by the fact that I've never read any of other Darnielle's other novels. I enjoyed the prose a lot, but some of the themes just fell flat withme.

And without spoiling anything,
about 2/3 in there was a section that still has me scratching my head. Gorbonian or something? It was printed in a typeface that hurt my eyes, and I still have no idea what I read.
 
Book 23: The Sign of Four - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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Mainly while I decided what I really wanted to read next, I continued my way through The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes anthology. The second outing for Holmes was The Sign of Four.
I'm finding these to be entertaining enough. They definitely have an old world charm and of course I'm very aware of how important they are to the development of the genre but, they really do seem unsophisticated, almost children's-book-like at times and to that end, I feel like I would have enjoyed them much more had I read them when I was a boy.
This time, Holmes and Watson take a case of stolen treasure which naturally, leads to a murder. Watson finds love, Holmes takes great pleasure in ridiculing both Watson and the Metropolitan Police force for being unable to solve what he does in a few pages and a (historically relative) high speed chase down the Thames ensues. Following the obvious capture, the final and by far longest chapter of the book is given to the criminal to explain how we got here.
Fun and as I say, not without charm but modern novels and a cultivated familiarity of the genre conventions leave this feeling basic.
 
Bennnnn said:
I really loved Devil House. And I think the thing with John Darnielle's writing is...there is a plot, sort of with all three novels (the second one having the most clear plot), but he always goes much deeper into themes over plot. Which I get can just not work for everyone.

So, Devil House has a story that you can follow as you keep track of each section and how they circle back and connect to each other. It’s a lot of playing around with structure, and using it to reveal greater depths to the overall meaning of the book. But that’s all not to say that it’s only compelling thing is its form. I think the stories being told in Devil House are great, and just really engaging to me. But there’s also an emotional depth to what’s going on.


I found the same to be true with Wolf In White Van - which I love. That book is so interestingly written and constructed, but at its core there’s something so emotional about it. Devil House doesn’t necessarily hit that emotional high, but there is incredible stuff inside it.

I get why people do not like his books. But they have given me a lot of enjoyment personally. They are unique experiences. Universal Harvester is my least favorite (but it has the most initially hooking plot). Devil House feels like the culmination of his writing so far - and a nice addition to his music. There’s a lot of types of characters and subject matter in Devil House that he’s definitely played around with in his music.

Not everything works 100% in Devil House. I am intrigued by a certain…bizarre section in the middle. I’ve read a bit about what he’s said about it and still I’m not sure it completely connects to everything else. However, it’s probably the most engaged I’ve been reading a book this year.
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mgp said:
I land somewhere in the middle on Devil House, and I wonder if my opinion is skewed by the fact that I've never read any of other Darnielle's other novels. I enjoyed the prose a lot, but some of the themes just fell flat withme.

And without spoiling anything,
about 2/3 in there was a section that still has me scratching my head. Gorbonian or something? It was printed in a typeface that hurt my eyes, and I still have no idea what I read.
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I definitely get Darnielle’s “thing,” and enjoyed it in Wolf and Universal; it just fell flat here for me. The lack of emotional depth in the first section really put me off, and I felt like I understood what he was going for more from reviews than from the work itself. I also think his previous books were a lot slimmer, making it easier to forgive ambiguity or confounding plotting.

Again, the feeling was less “this doesn’t work” than “this isn’t working for me right now.”
 
Book 18 - Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty - Patrick Radden Keefe
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This was equal parts interesting and infuriating. Reading about how a bunch of billionaires made themselves out as the victim after causing a major addiction crisis makes me so angry. I'd definitely recommend this one but it will probably frustrate you.

Book 19 - The Aosawa Murders - Riku Onda
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I wasn't sure how I would feel about this one since I'm not usually a big mystery person, but I thought this was okay. I wasn't crazy about the ending, but I think that was partially due to the translation (which I had been liking pretty well until then). It seemed like the translator was going out of their way to make certain details extra convoluted at the end and it doesn't seem like it would have been explained that way in the original Japanese but I can't be sure.

Not sure what I'll pick up next, I grabbed the audiobook for The Final Revival of Opal and Nev from the library, but I'll need to look through my ebook backlog as well.
 
Bull Shannon said:
I definitely get Darnielle’s “thing,” and enjoyed it in Wolf and Universal; it just fell flat here for me. The lack of emotional depth in the first section really put me off, and I felt like I understood what he was going for more from reviews than from the work itself. I also think his previous books were a lot slimmer, making it easier to forgive ambiguity or confounding plotting.

Again, the feeling was less “this doesn’t work” than “this isn’t working for me right now.”
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Yeah I think that first section is a little cold and factual, and you don't necessarily get a good grip on the narrator there. But i feel like that is intentional? Maybe? I'm still kinda unraveling my thoughts about it as I just finished it last week. Also yes this book is pretty lengthy for him, and it keeps shifting perspectives and angles, so it's tough to fully grasp the point and if you aren't on board with it early on I don't think it would change anyone's mind.

mgp said:
I land somewhere in the middle on Devil House, and I wonder if my opinion is skewed by the fact that I've never read any of other Darnielle's other novels. I enjoyed the prose a lot, but some of the themes just fell flat withme.

And without spoiling anything,
about 2/3 in there was a section that still has me scratching my head. Gorbonian or something? It was printed in a typeface that hurt my eyes, and I still have no idea what I read.
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yes, that section - I sadly knew it was coming sorta because I had read beforehand that it happens. But what it ends up being about just didn't fully connect with me. I almost just wanted to get through the section cause I wasn't that into what it was - and yeah hard to read some of it. I appreciate the boldness to throw that in there, but I don't totally get the point.
 
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Book 13

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott & Harmony Becker
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I'd been meaning to read this one for quite some time. A powerful look at the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII through Takei's first-hand experience. The format and his collaborators make it an easy read despite it being not, in fact, an easy read. Very well-paced and well-presented to make it accessible to a broad audience - it doesn't sacrifice the heaviness of the subject and experience in order to be an easier read. Would be a great addition to most school curricula. Recommended read.
 
Hhabelt said:
Wrapped up The Demon Crown this morning. I went from a plague in book one to murder wasps in book two. I think this guy knows something we don't 🤔

Anyway, did you know there's a salt mine in Poland, the Wieliczka Salt Mines, that reaches a depth of over 300 meters and expands horizontally for over 250 meters? There are lakes and chapels. Horses were used in the mining process - some spent 20+ years without seeing the light of day.

Now, a lot of this book took place in Hawaii and the surrounding waters. It reminded me that we should take a moment to really consider if our dream Hawaiian vacation is absolutely necessary. Native Hawaiians are facing issues of overcrowding, environmental damage and a higher cost of living. Oh, and there's a pandemic - I can't imagine tourism is alleviating any of that pressure.

Crucible is up next. Looks like it's gonna be witches and artificial intelligence. Spooky.

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I'm finally caught up with the James Rollins Sigma Series. I wrapped up Crucible a bit ago and finished with The Last Odyssey just last night. AI is terrifying. Surveillance is terrifying. And I'm gonna take a break from apocalypse scenarios for a minute. 🤣😂😰

Next up is You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism by Amber Ruffin & Lacey Lamar.

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Super slow this year...

3. Hip-Hop (and Other Things) by Shea Serrano

Similar to his other Other Things books, I definitely enjoyed the mixture of deep hip hop knowledge and humor. Took a surprising amount of time to make it through, but almost all of it was enjoyable.
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4. John Prine (33 and 1/3 series) by Erin Osmon

The best way of thinking of this 33 and 1/3 is as an extended liner note for this album or the first third of a biography. Pretty much the origin story of the album and Prine's career, this was a really easy read. Provides the context for this collection of songs. Well written. The only weakness is nothing is revelatory, but that's not really the point here.
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Book 14:

Jack Reacher: Night School by Lee Child (Bantam Press, 2016)

Another really easy read. These Lee Child books are always my go-to after I have read something a bit heavier or just fancy a lighter read. This one acts as a flashback to the 90's which is quite a nice idea as it delves a bit more into Reacher's early career and introduces a few characters that make an appearance in later books.

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Hhabelt said:
I'm finally caught up with the James Rollins Sigma Series. I wrapped up Crucible a bit ago and finished with The Last Odyssey just last night. AI is terrifying. Surveillance is terrifying. And I'm gonna take a break from apocalypse scenarios for a minute. 🤣😂😰

Next up is You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism by Amber Ruffin & Lacey Lamar.

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I finished with You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism this afternoon. This was a quick and eye opening read. Spoiler alert: racism is shit.

I've got a box of books that I picked up from library sales that I need to dive into before I get to the newer releases. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas is up next.

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Book 20 - Please Look After Mom - Kyung-sook Shin
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I discovered this author by accident a few years ago with her book I'll Be Right There. I absolutely loved that one (though it is very sad), and I thought this one was beautiful as well. It follows a few members of a family who have to try to search for their mother after she goes missing from the Seoul train station. It's very sad, but really looked into the different relationships each of the characters had.

Book 21 - The Book of Shanghai: A City in Short Fiction
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If you like short stories and translated books, I'd recommend checking out this series. Each book chooses a city in the world and compiles a set of short stories by authors who live there that talk about life and issues surrounding everyday people. I had only heard of one of the authors in this collection before (Chen Qiufan), but I enjoyed a good number of these stories, my favorite one was "Women Dancing Under the Stars" by Teng Xiaolan. This is the fourth book from this collection that I've read and so far I've really liked three of them (This ons, Tokyo, and Tbilisi) and have really not liked one (Rio).
 
Book #8

Sean Doolittle "The Cleanup" (2006 Dell)

Impressions: Finished this about a week ago. Took a little longer to get through this one compared to my previous reads. In part because the month was quite busy, but also because it took me a good 50 pages to click with the writing style. I'm not sure why that was, but at first the text didn't flow as well as usual for these types of pop books. Anyway, the story itself was well constructed. A straight-up noir story that feels like it could be the script for a season of the Fargo tv series.

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Up next:

Wallace Stroby "Gone 'Til November"

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Book 14

Star Wars: The High Republic - Mission to Disaster by Justina Ireland
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The last of the juvenile novels from the first phase of The High Republic. I've only about half a dozen releases from the first phase that I've yet to read and so far everything has ranged consistently from quite good to great. Here we reunite with key characters from A Test of Courage in a more foreboding adventure a year or so later. Great stuff; breezy reading.
 
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