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Post by thebosma on Jul 28, 2023 9:09:58 GMT -6
I just read Chaos by Tom O’Neil a few weeks ago and it was extremely good, would def recommend for everyone even if you aren’t a true crime person (I am not in the slightest)
I also read A Court of Thorns and Roses because my wife really likes it and I really did not care for it. However if I read the rest of these books I can leverage her seeing a bunch of dumb shit movies with me so I will continue to read them since they are easy to read
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Post by monasterymonochrome on Aug 1, 2023 10:34:48 GMT -6
July Books:
-- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson: Really great and not at all what I was expecting. Extremely short book, but every page is filled with tension such that the littlest things stick in your head. Slowly unravels much like The Bell Jar. I should read more creepy books.
-- A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman: It was pleasant. Like, the story / concept was really good and the writing was funny and breezy enough that I was engaged the whole time. But he just kept making it soooo Hallmark-esque that it was super cringy in spots. Like almost embarrassing to read at times.
-- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead: Loved this one. A crucial and crushing depiction of life in segregated "reform" schools in the South. Beautifully and hauntingly written. Also really made Lonnie Holley's new album hit harder.
-- Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri: Really great short story collection from ~20 years ago. Largely concerning clashes b/w traditional Indian culture and Western assimilation. Some really memorable stories and characters.
-- Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder: Sorry to Bother You but for motherhood. Really funny and fucked up account of a mother's transformation into the titular canine. Didn't love the ending, but it kept me hooked the whole time.
Currently reading Rickie Lee Jones' memoir Last Chance Texaco which has been great. And am working slowly on Neil Young's giant biography Shakey.
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Post by monasterymonochrome on Aug 1, 2023 10:38:49 GMT -6
Oh yeah and I went to Powell's in Portland a few weeks ago and picked up these bad boys:
-- Ficciones - Jorge Borges
-- Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler
-- The Complete Stories - Leonora Carrington
-- We Have Always Lived In A Castle - Shirley Jackson
-- All The Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
-- Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys
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Post by cosmo on Aug 1, 2023 12:43:02 GMT -6
Oh yeah and I went to Powell's in Portland a few weeks ago and picked up these bad boys: -- Ficciones - Jorge Borges -- Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler -- The Complete Stories - Leonora Carrington -- We Have Always Lived In A Castle - Shirley Jackson -- All The Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy-- Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys Not too familiar with the rest of the titles, but All The Pretty Horses is a bit of a guilty-pleasure for me. |
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Post by krentist on Aug 1, 2023 14:32:52 GMT -6
50 Shades of Grey and the works of Cormac McCarthy my two favorite trashy pool reads.
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Post by Tweet on Aug 1, 2023 20:56:42 GMT -6
Anyone on here read Sarah Kendzior? I seem to have torn threw all her books ("Flyover Country" being a re-read) this year already
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Post by ten15 on Aug 15, 2023 10:23:45 GMT -6
Re-reading The Stand (complete and uncut version) for the first time since it originally was published. I must say, it reads very differently in a post-COVID world.
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Post by Javo on Aug 15, 2023 19:03:33 GMT -6
Re-reading The Stand (complete and uncut version) for the first time since it originally was published. I must say, it reads very differently in a post-COVID world. One of my all time faves |
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Post by sthubbins on Aug 23, 2023 13:33:50 GMT -6
2023 so far:
The Right to Sex by Amia Srinivasan
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushie
Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse
Taking Care by Joy Williams
Actual Air by David Berman
Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (reread)
Minima Moralia by Theodor Adorno
10 Days That Shook the World by John Reed
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
Stay True by Hua Hsu
A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
Sent for You Yesterday by John Edgar Wideman
Now:
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
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Post by sthubbins on Dec 1, 2023 8:06:52 GMT -6
2023 so far:
The Right to Sex by Amia Srinivasan
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushie
Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse
Taking Care by Joy Williams
Actual Air by David Berman
Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (reread)
Minima Moralia by Theodor Adorno
10 Days That Shook the World by John Reed
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
Stay True by Hua Hsu
A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
Sent for You Yesterday by John Edgar Wideman
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
On Being Blue by William Gass
The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
A Swim in the a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
Now:
The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin
Underworld by Don Delillo
Three Lives by Gertrude Stein
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Post by monasterymonochrome on Dec 1, 2023 8:57:48 GMT -6
2023 so far: The Right to Sex by Amia Srinivasan Midnight's Children by Salman Rushie Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse Taking Care by Joy Williams Actual Air by David Berman Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (reread) Minima Moralia by Theodor Adorno 10 Days That Shook the World by John Reed American Pastoral by Philip Roth Stay True by Hua Hsu A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow Bluets by Maggie Nelson Sent for You Yesterday by John Edgar Wideman Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin On Being Blue by William Gass The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein A Swim in the a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders Train Dreams by Denis Johnson Now: The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin Underworld by Don Delillo Three Lives by Gertrude Stein Thoughts on the Kenzaburo Oe and Denis Johnson books? Both have been on my wishlist for a bit. |
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Post by Tweet on Dec 1, 2023 9:17:10 GMT -6
I feel like as a white dude I'm obligated to finish that Franzen book but it didn't grab me after 80 pages so I stopped. Should I try again?
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Post by goodson on Dec 1, 2023 11:18:42 GMT -6
favorite reads 2023 -
renata adler - a year in the dark: journal of a film critic 1968-69
renata adler - pitch dark
john williams - nothing but the night
clarice lispector - the hour of the star
dostoevsky -the gambler
don delillo - the names
steve erickson - days between stations
martin amis - night train
martin amis - money
gass - omensetter's luck
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Post by sthubbins on Dec 3, 2023 15:06:05 GMT -6
2023 so far: The Right to Sex by Amia Srinivasan Midnight's Children by Salman Rushie Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse Taking Care by Joy Williams Actual Air by David Berman Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (reread) Minima Moralia by Theodor Adorno 10 Days That Shook the World by John Reed American Pastoral by Philip Roth Stay True by Hua Hsu A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow Bluets by Maggie Nelson Sent for You Yesterday by John Edgar Wideman Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin On Being Blue by William Gass The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein A Swim in the a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders Train Dreams by Denis Johnson Now: The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin Underworld by Don Delillo Three Lives by Gertrude Stein Thoughts on the Kenzaburo Oe and Denis Johnson books? Both have been on my wishlist for a bit. Both good. Train Dreams was a really lovely read. I'm gonna get it for at least one person for Christmas. A Personal Matter was unsettling to read as a father to be but I still liked it so that must say something. |
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Post by sthubbins on Dec 3, 2023 15:07:20 GMT -6
I feel like as a white dude I'm obligated to finish that Franzen book but it didn't grab me after 80 pages so I stopped. Should I try again? I wouldn't call it essential but I liked it. It's not as weird or funny as his other books but it grew on me by the end. Are you a fan of his in general? |
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Post by Tweet on Dec 4, 2023 20:35:34 GMT -6
I feel like as a white dude I'm obligated to finish that Franzen book but it didn't grab me after 80 pages so I stopped. Should I try again? I wouldn't call it essential but I liked it. It's not as weird or funny as his other books but it grew on me by the end. Are you a fan of his in general? First book of his I'm reading tbh. Just know him from college as the cishetwhiteguy- the premise caught my eye and I think it was on a bunch of lists whatever year it came out which is why I found a copy originally |
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Post by sthubbins on Dec 5, 2023 12:21:54 GMT -6
I wouldn't call it essential but I liked it. It's not as weird or funny as his other books but it grew on me by the end. Are you a fan of his in general? First book of his I'm reading tbh. Just know him from college as the cishetwhiteguy- the premise caught my eye and I think it was on a bunch of lists whatever year it came out which is why I found a copy originally I'd read The Corrections first and if you like it maybe try Crossroads again or Freedom. |
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Post by scoots on Dec 30, 2023 18:33:22 GMT -6
I ended up reading 17 books this year. Less than I was hoping for, so something to build on for 2024.
Best reads of the year:
A Visit From the Goon Squad
Momo
The Haunting of Hill House
Station Eleven
Jazz
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Post by doso on Dec 30, 2023 19:20:56 GMT -6
Just finished Fire Weather by John Vaillant. Beautifully written, absolutely horrifying non-fiction.
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Post by doso on Dec 30, 2023 19:22:00 GMT -6
Tweet he was a guest on The Distraction podcast earlier this year; his appearance prompted me to pick up the book.
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Post by monasterymonochrome on Jan 1, 2024 17:21:18 GMT -6
Here's my 2023 in review! 42 books in total - 30 novels and 12 music non-fictions. ** indicates a book that I especially loved, and I'll bold my absolute faves in each category.
- Dept of Speculation by Jenny Offill
- The River Between by Ngūgī wa Thiong’o
- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke **
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
- An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
- Speedboat by Renata Adler
- The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren
- Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada
- Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolfe **
- Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
- Of Love and Shadows by Isabel Allende
- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead **
- Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
- Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder **
- Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
- The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington
- Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler **
- Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro
- All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy **
- Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
- The Sellout by Paul Beatty
- The Overstory by Richard Powers
- Underworld by Don DeLillo
- Bill C. Malone - Country Music USA **
- Richard Koloda - Holy Ghost: The Life and Death of Free Jazz Pioneer Albert Ayler
- Beastie Boys Book by Mike D and Ad-Rock
- Stealing All Transmissions: A Secret History of the Clash by Randal Doane
- After All Is Said and Done: Taping the Grateful Dead by Mark A. Rodriguez
- Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin DG Kelley
- Coal Miner’s Daughter by Loretta Lynn
- Last Chance Texaco by Rickie Lee Jones
- Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography by Jimmy McDonough **
- Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America by Jesse Jarnow
- Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker by Cisco Bradley
- DJ Screw: A Life in Slow Revolution by Lance Scott Walker **
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Post by Tweet on Jan 1, 2024 21:05:34 GMT -6
9 books so far: ahead of my "read 20 books" challenge according to Jeffery Bezos's booktracker: Autobiography of Malcolm X The Communist Manifesto Fahrenheit 451 The Young Bucks book What We Owe the Future The Crusades of Cesar Chavez Catholicism by John McGrevery Hiding in Plain Sight- Sarah Kendzoir The Overstory- Richard Powers Now reading: On Lighthouses and We Promised You a Great Main Event+ Kristen Radke- Seek You: A Journey Through American Lonliness Essay Collection- We Own The Future: Democratic Socialism, American Style They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us No Country For Old Men Solito by Javier Zamora (which should be required reading in this nation's school system) A Line in the World by Dorthe Nors They Knew by Sarah Kendzoir Go Ahead in the Rain Ken Layne's Desert Oracle Vol. 1 White Fragility I have ~30 pages left of Nate Jackson's Slow Getting Up. Goal is 25 in 2024 |
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Post by monasterymonochrome on Jan 1, 2024 22:10:45 GMT -6
9 books so far: ahead of my "read 20 books" challenge according to Jeffery Bezos's booktracker: Autobiography of Malcolm X The Communist Manifesto Fahrenheit 451 The Young Bucks book What We Owe the Future The Crusades of Cesar Chavez Catholicism by John McGrevery Hiding in Plain Sight- Sarah Kendzoir The Overstory- Richard Powers Now reading: On Lighthouses and We Promised You a Great Main Event+ Kristen Radke- Seek You: A Journey Through American Lonliness Essay Collection- We Own The Future: Democratic Socialism, American Style They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us No Country For Old Men Solito by Javier Zamora (which should be required reading in this nation's school system) A Line in the World by Dorthe Nors They Knew by Sarah Kendzoir Go Ahead in the Rain Ken Layne's Desert Oracle Vol. 1 White Fragility I have ~30 pages left of Nate Jackson's Slow Getting Up. Goal is 25 in 2024 Hanif's got a new one about basketball coming out next year that I'm psyched for! |
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Post by zircona1 on Jan 2, 2024 8:42:16 GMT -6
I'm reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Started out very promising, but I don't like how it keeps jumping around to different eras, it keeps derailing my interest in the narrative until I get into it again.
Not too long ago I reread Blood Meridian*. I remember thinking it was hard to follow when I first read it, but the second time it wasn't that difficult. Really enjoyed it.
*A long time ago I got a Nook - Barnes+Noble's version of a Kindle - as a gift. I only bought 2 books for it before I put it away. That was one of them, and I reread it on that same Nook. (The other book is a Springsteen biography.)
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Post by scoots on Feb 1, 2024 15:23:03 GMT -6
January 2024 completed books:
Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age: Interesting at times, but the author also came across someone who had no idea what they were talking about but lucked into some pretty good resources. Felt like I was reading an extended Wikipedia entry sometimes.
Dune Messiah: This is a wild book. Really hoping Villeneuve is able to stay on board long enough to see this story through.
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Post by zircona1 on Feb 1, 2024 15:28:47 GMT -6
I'm reading Infinite Jest. It was $1 at the library. 80 pages in so far.
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Post by thebosma on Feb 1, 2024 15:34:48 GMT -6
January 2024 completed books: Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age: Interesting at times, but the author also came across someone who had no idea what they were talking about but lucked into some pretty good resources. Felt like I was reading an extended Wikipedia entry sometimes. My wife’s aunt is frequently quoted in this, something we didn’t know until she picked up a copy on an unrelated recommendation. |
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Post by scoots on Feb 1, 2024 15:37:35 GMT -6
I figured an author would maybe ask permission to quote someone extensively, but that tracks with how this is written.
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Post by thebosma on Feb 1, 2024 15:40:16 GMT -6
Sorry want to clarify, my wife’s aunt very much knew, E just didn’t until she happened to read it and saw her aunt quoted.
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Post by scoots on Feb 1, 2024 15:41:37 GMT -6
Ohhhhh gotcha. Well that's cool for her aunt!
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