2023 Reading Challenge

[Indymisanthrope]

I stalled out on #13, bringing my 2023 to a sad total of 12. Oh well. There's always 2024! Who's starting the next thread?

 

[ayayrawn]

Just saw this had a movie release. I hope they do it justice, it definitely has potential to be a compelling feature.

Saw the movie a couple weeks ago and it rules. Definitely does the book justice.

 

[ayayrawn]

I stalled out on #13, bringing my 2023 to a sad total of 12. Oh well. There's always 2024! Who's starting the next thread?

2024 Reading Challenge

Well, the 2023 Reading Challenge was a hit! I loved seeing all the books you all read and have added quite a few to my own readlist! Lets start afresh with the 2024 Reading Challenge!

www.needlesandgrooves.com

 

[Bull Shannon]

Book 34: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
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I'm a sucker for Taylor Jenkins Reid, and this novel seems like the inflection point in her career, the book booktok adores (if every Criterion Closet video includes one mention of Being There, every booktok suggestion video must flash Seven Husbands). I enjoyed it for the most part; a journalist is invited into a reclusive Hollywood starlet's home to write her tell-all biography, with her seven highly-publicized marriages as the skeleton of the tale. The ending was rather silly imo; I prefer Daisy Jones and the Six.

Book 35: Chain-Gang All-Stars, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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In rare form and spurred on by my utter unfamiliarity with anything on the yearly goodreads poll, I have picked up a buzzy new release. In a not-so-unfamiliar (elbows you slyly) near-future, prisoners can compete in televised gladiatorial battles for their freedom. This felt like a short story or novella padded out to novel length, and while there are many characters and perspectives shared, there's kind of just one story here. The writing is sharp and propulsive, but there's an emphasis on worldbuilding over story and didactic circumstances take precedence over character.

Book 36: Foucault's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco
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I read this in the background of the previous two, as it was work to get through. I don't mean to be dismissive, and maybe I should have been flipping through wikipedia to verse myself on some of the subjects discussed, but it felt like the point was to throw the reader into discursive discussions of historical theory and have a bit of a laugh over the imperceptible line between a logical conclusion and a fantabulist conspiracy. The bulk of the text consists of long discussions about history and is quite dry.

Book 37: The Mysteries, by Bill Watterson and John Kascht

I've actually spent the last three weeks reading Don Quixote (nearly done with part 1, will take a break between parts so I imagine you won't see an update to the 2024 thread until next month), but snuck this one in Christmas morning as it was a gift from my sister.

I heard muted response to this book once it came out. That's understandable; there's very little to this story, just 72 pages of an illustration paired with a sentence or two. It's really good, however; I thought it was a clever little fable which reminded me of the sort of story Calvin might tell in class and utterly vex Miss Wormwood. There's something of a climate fable here, though I'd zoom out further and say it's a nihilist/absurdist rumination of the Search for Meaning. Very glad to have this on my shelf.