https://www.bookadoro.com/s/dmgDVViyXdfFT1JICa0V

45/52 read so far, and lots of good ones! Currently reading Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

I dipped my toe into the macabre more than I was used to, but it was a great reading year. The images and list are not in the same order.

1. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (reread, love this one)
2. Joyland by Stephen King
3. The Institute by Stephen King
4. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (reread)
5. La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust, #1) by Philip Pullman
6. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
7. Chess Story by Stefan Zweig
8. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
9. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
10. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
11. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson
12. 11/22/63 by Stephen King (Great on audiobook)
13. Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos by Lisa Kaltenegger
14. The Immortality Key: Uncovering the Secret History of the Religion with No Name by Brian C. Muraresku
15. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green (Great on audiobook)
16. Fairy Tale by Stephen King (Great on audiobook)
17. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
18. Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
19. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Pratchett, Terry & Neil Gaiman (Great on audiobook)
20. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer
21. A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck
22. Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly
23. Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot, #18) by Agatha Christie
24. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
25. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, #4) by Agatha Christie
26. Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
27. The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges (to go with #21)

psa i’m basically gonna spoil the whole thing.

finished this book on friday and like after ruminating on it over the weekend im so confused why this book is so beloved? 😭

like i really don’t think im someone who only wants to read books with happy endings (atonement is one of my favorite books ever) but i just feel like kevin the rapist got everything he ever wanted, the girl he raped and her whole family get their lives irreversibly ruined, the kid who was struggling with his identity ultimately decides to keep hiding it and all these terrible terrible boys and men face not a single consequence for anything, in fact along with kevin the rapist many of their situations seem to only improve after all the terrible things they do.

and like while i know that’s not unrealistic im just sorta like… well what was the point of all that.

also i found the writing really really repetitive. if i took a shot every time beartown was mentioned i’d be dead by the end of the first chapter. i know everyone lives there and they’re real prideful about it but jesus.

slow burn arctic gothic where the terror of four months of unbroken polar night and a vengeful ghost lurking in the cold.

I finished last year at 58, so at this point I’m just going to keep reading and see how many I finish!

Favorites so far: The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong, Lonely Crowds by Stephanie Wambugu, Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, The Make-Believe by Hannah Murray, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman, The Sisters by Jonas Haden Khermiri

I most recently finished The Sisters and I somehow didn’t want it to end even though it was over 600 pages.

I’m currently reading Whistler by Ann Patchett (kinda dragging for me) and Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite (I just started but I’m already sucked in)

A Screaming Life - Kim Thayil
The Sword of Shannara - Terry Brooks
Soul - Andrey Platonov

Thayil is one of my favorite guitarists and goes pretty under the radar, so I was very interested to hear what he had to say about his time in Soundgarden. Lot of cool info, including an offer to join Elton John post Soundgarden.

The Sword of Shannara was a good fantasy novel.

Every Goosebumps book I've read is good because it quickly presents a central fantasy concept (cursed clock makes time go backwards) a central character concept (bullied kid in a dysfunctional family) and then gives the reader a plot that makes sense and has a lot of action, with a few twists.

This is a military history of the Battle of Arnhem, the bloodest part of one of World War II's biggest airborne battles. The larger battle was the subject of the famous book "A Bridge Too Far" by Cornelius Ryan, who has a similar first name to the author of this book. This book is a military history that goes into some detail about specific troop movements and the like, but sometimes skips the larger context, probably because it assumes the reader already knows those things. I liked reading it, but it might not be the best place to start for understanding the war in Western Europe.

Continuing the Young Avengers, this was a solid entrance in the "Snappy Dialog" era of comics, and had some interesting plots and characterization.

I can't help but find the parallel it had with my own father's journey of dealing with lung cancer and ultimately passing away. It brought comfort, and it also brought up memories that tugged at my heart. 100/100

How many times has "Transformers" been rebooted, by different comics companies? I like what they did here, making it a bit less cartoonish while not making it too grim and gritty. They also managed to keep the iconic art but make it more interesting.

Kurt Busiek can do no wrong, as far as I am concerned, and each one of these collections I read makes me want to know more about AstroCity. He manages to expand the mythology and present his own ideas, all while keeping the retro and nostalgia vibe of the superhero comics we grew up with.

This is the other side of the last Ace Double I read, and it was a standard, but well-written story. I call this type of science-fiction "Blue Collar Sci-Fi", about working people on dusty, rocky planets or moons, or space freighters. In this one a space navy officer gets caught up in intrigue that is acknowledged, in the story, to be a type of space noir. A good read. Not a lost classic or something, but a good read.