2022 Reading Challenge

I enjoyed this but I think it was an example of the reality not living up to the hype for me. It read almost like a children's parable and the idea that your personal treasure may be right beneath your feet and one shouldn't forget one's roots seemed rather clunky to me.
I'm the first to admit that I'm a very face value reader and having never studied literature it wouldn't surprise me if others pick more out of this book than I did. I'm glad I crossed it off my list finally even if I was somewhat underwhelmed.

I remember hearing so much about The Alchemist, so I finally read it, and was very much underwhelmed, but I'm also the kind of person for whom new agey spirituality does not work, at all. Since I read it in translation (in Spanish), I asked some of my fellow grad students at the time (it was a department of Spanish and Portuguese) if maybe it's a better experience in the original, but I can say none of them were big fans.

But, if it works for someone else, go for it!
 
July ended up being a whole month in translation. I didn't set out with that in mind but mid-way through the second book I decided it would be an interesting way to go. I've been through German, Russian, French, Portuguese, more German, Japanese, Hebrew, Polish and finally, more French. It feels like I've read a lot this month but 3 or 4 of them were fairly short.

Book 32: Siddhartha - Herman Hesse

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Simple prose tells a simple story of a devout man who refuses to follow the flock who yearn the teachings of the Buddha in favour of his own personal quest for enlightenment. A quick and no doubt important read and as a lifelong religious cynic, I enjoyed seeing the titular character find his enlightenment through the love and friendships of less heavenly beings right here on earth.

Book 33: The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

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I loved this. I started it years ago and for the life of me can't remember why I didn't complete it but, I didn't. This time I sailed through it. It's smart, funny as hell, absurd at times, a revelatory (to me) depiction of a place in time, and the magical elements always appeal to this reader. My only critique is more about me than the book but, it contains a large cast of characters all presented with Russian names (obviously), often with alternate, shortened versions and I just struggled at times to keep track of the players. That aside, I managed and would gladly tackle it a second time in the future.

Book 34: At Night All Blood is Black - David Diop

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Another quick one and considering the depth of the characterisation here, the novella didn't feel like it cheated me. A soldier slowly loses his sanity following the loss of his lifelong pal, still barely more than boys, in the Senegalese trenches during WWI. The madness manifests itself with unnatural bravery and barbaric violence that ends with the hands of his victims being removed and kept as trophies. At first these actions win the plaudits of his regiment but eventually, it becomes clear something isn't right and he needs help.
A really good little book that admittedly could be set anywhere and in any war so don't expect too much insight into the Senegalese Tirailleurs.

Book 35: The Alchemist - Paolo Coelho

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I enjoyed this but I think it was an example of the reality not living up to the hype for me. It read almost like a children's parable and the idea that your personal treasure may be right beneath your feet and one shouldn't forget one's roots seemed rather clunky to me.
I'm the first to admit that I'm a very face value reader and having never studied literature it wouldn't surprise me if others pick more out of this book than I did. I'm glad I crossed it off my list finally even if I was somewhat underwhelmed.

Book 36: Beware of Pity - Stefan Zweig

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This one blew me away, I thought it was excellent from start to finish. At ~400pp it's not short and this allows Zweig (famed for his short stories), to tell a really intelligent tale of an Austrian soldier's inner turmoil.
Due to a chance invitation followed by an embarrassing mistake, Lieutenant Hofmiller tries to correct his error by taking pity on a young disabled girl. And that's largely it. But, the way the story develops, the psychology of the protaganist and the way the words and actions of the subordinate characters play on his mind is just a masterclass in writing.

Book 37: Heaven - Mieko Kawakami

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I struggled with this one. The writing was good as it had been in Kawakami's earlier Breasts and Eggs which I read last year. This story about two kids being bullied though, was just too dark for me to enjoy. The depravity and coldness of the perpetrators was near misery porn and as a father with two kids in school, I just found it too relentless.
At times, it seemed we might be in for a Heathers style uprising, (the line, 'greetings and salutations' was even used) but, that proved to be merely my optimism as at every turn, the class bullies just sunk lower.
There was an effort midway through for one of the victims to challenge one of the bullies verbally, trying to express the pain it was causing him. The bully retorted with a juvenile philosophy on how he has as much right to bully as the victim has a right not to be bullied and to expect nothing different because it isn't a perfect world!
I was left wishing the bullies, only children themselves, harm and that left me most uncomfortable of all.

Book 38: A Horse Walks into a Bar - David Grossman

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This was a really great read. A stand-up comic slowly loses the plot on stage as he begins to recount his upbringing culminating in a very personal, childhood loss. It's narrated by an audience member, a friend not seen for 40 years who received a personal invitation to the night and who is subject to his own ghosts.
Grossman balances comedy and tragedy superbly and the stand-up dialogue owes plenty to the greats - Lenny Bruce and George Carlin to name a few. People of my generation may also draw parallels to the remarkable monologues of Eric Bogosian from Oliver Stone's Talk Radio, boiling anger shifting to laugh-out-loud comedy with ease and confidence.

Book 39: Drive You Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk

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What a belter this is! I love a good mystery thriller and when it's tied up in a solid piece of literary fiction, more the better.
Set in a mountainous region of Poland that borders the Czech Republic (even calling the police can result in the mobile phone tower connecting you to the wrong nation's force), an animal loving older woman narrates this tale of the local townsmen suffering untimely deaths. As all the victims seem to be involved in either poaching or hunting, our narrator feels no great loss and is convinced, led by her astrological beliefs and passion for wildlife that it is the animals themselves taking revenge.
The tale plays out with a solid and satisfying revelation and left me wanting to read more from this Nobel and Booker International prize winning writer.

Book 40: The Devil in the Flesh - Raymond Radiguet

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I had a couple of days left in the month so this short book fit the bill nicely. It's a reread of a story I read some 25 years ago and loved.
Radiguet tells the story of a love affair between an 18 year old woman and a 15 year old boy. Full of very adult romance and passion, the affair is frequently tinged with juvenile jealousy, cruelty and carefree infidelity. Like every good romance, it isn't long before tragedy ensues.
Written when only in his late teens, the prose is simple but intelligent and it transpires, may have some basis in truth. Radiguet died shortly after publication when only 20 and one can't help feel that was a tragic loss of talent.
Loved Master & Margarita when I read it. There is a version out there that has an appendix which explains a lot of the cultural references. This is the one I read, and it added a lot.
 
Is anyone else on Storygraph? It's an alternative site for tracking your reading if you don't want to use Goodreads [owned by Amazon; clunky UI].

You can easily export all of your Goodreads data into Storygraph, the book recommendations seem less generic, the reviews allow you to enter more data points ("moods", pace, content warnings, as well as the star rating and free text review), and they show you "similar users". There are also more stats you can play around with about the books that you've read (e.g. a pie chart shows the different "moods" of the books you've read, and you can click on each slice of the pie to go to a list of all of the books that you've read that fall within that "mood"). You can also see breakdowns by pace (fast, medium, or slow), page count (< 300, 300-499, or > 500), fiction v nonfiction, format (print v digital) and a bar chart showing a list of the genres that you've spent the most time with. Finally, there's a little graph with one line showing how many books you read each month and another showing how many pages you read each month, along with your total YTD books and pages read. It sounds like there are even more features if you pay for the premium version $5/month or $50/year.
 
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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I powered through The Slap and moved on to The Investigation by Philippe Claudel and The Eighth Day by John Case.

The latter two were pretty quick reads. Throughout The Eighth Day I kept telling the main character to do one thing and he'd do the complete opposite and get into more trouble every single time. Unbelievable 🤦🏻‍♂️. The Investigation was pretty wild and I don't think the author even knows the truth about what happened to the Investigator. Good stuff all around.

I'm not sure what's next, but I've got a handful of books set aside including another by Tsiolkas. I'm not sure their style is for me, so we'll find out.

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Book 20: The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe
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There we have it: book four of The Book of the New Sun, and the completion of my reread. I mentioned in my review of book 2 that there were many events and characters I didn't process on my first read, and book 4 revolves around a lot of mysteries and characters paying off. So unless you knew that the guy in the first chapter of book one is also that guy in the second book, and that he's totally in disguise but he's there in book 3, you might not even process the significance him showing up in book 4 with an armload of answers. This was a really rewarding experience, and not for everybody, but if you like weird genre shit or puzzling literature, this is for you.
 
Book 23

Borders by Thomas King & Natasha Donovan
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I sat down to read the first few pages of this and didn't get back up until I'd read the whole thing. It's not a particularly long read, which helped, but it's very engrossing. I have yet to find anything Thomas King has written that I don't love, and this adaptation of one of his short stories into a "juvenile" graphic novel with Métis artist Natasha Donovan is top-tier Thomas for sure. While it'll be categorized for younger readers anywhere you look for it, this is one I feel everybody should pick up and read sometime—a superb examination of the farcical nature of national borders and their alienation from Indigenous perspectives. Highly recommended.
 
Book 12: The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton

A great book to finish the evening before traveling, this was an engaging look at travel from a light philosophical perspective. I really enjoyed it and some of the takeaways of finding beauty in the minute will stick with me. Highly recommended if you like traveling and want to understand why you do.
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Book 20: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001)

There are 3 specific books that I read once a year and this is one of them. It happens to be one of my favourite books as well. Bourdain has arguably achieved legendary status and I'm sure his untimely passing has amplified this. This book was the first non-fiction that he authored and was quite controversial at the time of release for revealing a lot of the trade secrets that chefs wouldn't want you to know. It's much more than that though, it's an autobiography that maps Bourdain's life with food and the cooking industry at its core. It's really hard to put down, despite the fact that I have read it cover to cover several times now and know what's coming before I get to it!

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Book 20: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001)

There are 3 specific books that I read once a year and this is one of them. It happens to be one of my favourite books as well. Bourdain has arguably achieved legendary status and I'm sure his untimely passing has amplified this. This book was the first non-fiction that he authored and was quite controversial at the time of release for revealing a lot of the trade secrets that chefs wouldn't want you to know. It's much more than that though, it's an autobiography that maps Bourdain's life with food and the cooking industry at its core. It's really hard to put down, despite the fact that I have read it cover to cover several times now and know what's coming before I get to it!

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I've had at least two bosses in kitchens through the years that read this once a year as well. I finally read it for the first (and, currently, only) time just before my son was born five years ago. It's an absolutely riveting read! I could certainly see myself reading it again.
 
I've had at least two bosses in kitchens through the years that read this once a year as well. I finally read it for the first (and, currently, only) time just before my son was born five years ago. It's an absolutely riveting read! I could certainly see myself reading it again.
Ah amazing, glad to hear from someone else thats read it!

I would also recommend his 'A Cook's Tour' book. Its shorter than Kitchen Confidential and I have only read it once, but it was an enjoyable read.
 
Whoops, I disappeared there for a while. I haven't been reading as much as I'd like but I have finished a few books since I posted last.

Book 28 - Bad Blood - John Carreyrou
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(I just realized the cover picture I found is in French, lol).

This is a nonfiction book about Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes. I think this whole story is very interesting and the book is well-written. My only issue was that I already watched the show they made so this didn't really add anything. But if you like reading about shady startups and scams, I'd recommend it.

Book 29 - God I Feel Modern Tonight - Catherine Cohen
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So this was a very "millennial girl in the city" poetry collection... which is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. I enjoyed this, but if your mileage may vary.

Book 30 - The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000's - Andy Greene
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I read this as an audiobook and it was great fun. My favorite part was learning that some of the famous plot points were based off things that actually happened to some of the writers. (which makes sense when you think about it but some of the things on that show are so zany they seem like they couldn't have really happened).

Book 31 - The Dreamers - Karen Thompson Walker
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I found this one for $5 at a used bookstore so I thought I'd check it out. It's kind of partway between a pandemic novel and magical realism where a bunch of people in a small college town start getting sick with a mysterious illness that makes them fall asleep and not wake up. It's interesting to look at books about pandemics that were written before 2020 and see how people react to things like masks and quarantines. There's also some intro-level philosophy debates. I enjoyed this one but it's not my favorite pandemic book I've read.

"Book" 32 - Heracles' Bow - Madeline Miller
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I'm not sure if I should really count this one, but it was a quick short story which I believe goes alone with Song of Achilles. This was probably my least favorite of Madeline Miller's writing, though it was very well-written and had a bit of a different vibe to most of her work.

Book 33 - Beneath the Sugar Sky - Seanan McGuire
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This is the third book in a YA series about children who find their way into fantasy worlds (think Narnia) and then have to come back to earth. The series jumps around a little as the one before this one can be read as a standalone (and is probably the best of the ones I've read so far). This one is probably my least favorite of the ones I've read so far but these are quick and fun to read when you're a little burned out on Dickens.

Sorry for the long post! I am about to finish up a few other things and I'm still trucking on Nicholas Nickelby but it's taking me a while.
 
Book 21: Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami (Vintage, 2003)

I found this on a book swap shelf in Dublin, Ireland a few weeks ago and got around to reading it this week. As with all of the Murakami books that I have read so far, it's incredibly easy to pick up and dig into. For the most part, it's a straight-ahead novel about a man that's floating through life, the various characters that he encounters, and the relationships he builds. However, in what seems to be Murakami's trademark there is also some out-there fantasy thrown in for good measure. Funnily enough, I was going to comment how it almost seemed like a sequel and it turns out it is actually the final book in a 3-part series, although apparently there is only a very loose connection between the 3.

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Book 24

The Feather Room by Anis Mojgani

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I was pretty stoked to stumble upon this at my local library. For a long time it was the only one of Anis's books I didn't have but I recently learned he put one out a couple of years ago that I missed too. Anis is one of my favourite poets to come up out of the American poetry slam scene. His voice is a sweet song and his pen carries magnificent doses of love wrapped in delicious magic realism to the pages of his books. I think Over The Anvil, We Stretch is still my favourite but he doesn't have a bad book in him, so it's really hard to go wrong. Unless you hate poetry. Then maybe his book aren't for you!
 
I have stalled a bit on War and Peace. I feel like I've been between pages 500 and 700 for a month. Part of it is that I haven't given a few hours towards reading in a couple weekends, and this doesn't flow very well when just reading 4 pages before heading out somewhere. I won't quit though!
 
Book 20: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001)

There are 3 specific books that I read once a year and this is one of them. It happens to be one of my favourite books as well. Bourdain has arguably achieved legendary status and I'm sure his untimely passing has amplified this. This book was the first non-fiction that he authored and was quite controversial at the time of release for revealing a lot of the trade secrets that chefs wouldn't want you to know. It's much more than that though, it's an autobiography that maps Bourdain's life with food and the cooking industry at its core. It's really hard to put down, despite the fact that I have read it cover to cover several times now and know what's coming before I get to it!

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I remember listening to the audiobook of this, narrated by AB himself. All the more powerful in his own voice.
 
Book 20: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001)

There are 3 specific books that I read once a year and this is one of them. It happens to be one of my favourite books as well. Bourdain has arguably achieved legendary status and I'm sure his untimely passing has amplified this. This book was the first non-fiction that he authored and was quite controversial at the time of release for revealing a lot of the trade secrets that chefs wouldn't want you to know. It's much more than that though, it's an autobiography that maps Bourdain's life with food and the cooking industry at its core. It's really hard to put down, despite the fact that I have read it cover to cover several times now and know what's coming before I get to it!

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Love this book and miss him so much😔
 
Once I finish this beast I'm reading, this thread has given me great ideas for what I want to read next: The Lebowski Book, Kitchen Confidential, and The Wire book. I'll probably purchase all three of those and decide which one is next once I'm ready. They will all provide the change of pace I'll need after War and Peace.

I am really enjoying W&P by the way; it hasn't been boring, just dense and difficult at times. Anna Karenina was an easier read...and man I loved that book.
 
Book 21: Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
I was real excited to snag this one from the library; I read Circe a couple years ago and found it a transcendent read. Song of Achilles, though very good, suffered a bit from standing in its successor's excellent shadow. Miller's prose is still top-notch, and she manages to find a human emotional core to a well-told myth.

However, this is where I express my unique and strange distaste for the Iliad and pretty much any story about the Trojan War (save for the Odyssey, though I'd argue that's more sequel). There are just so many dang people, and all of them are described as though equally noteworthy, and my eyes glaze over as it just washes over me. I just never connected with the idea of a giant, long-lasting war. I think Miller depicts that stagnation well, but Song unfortunately was fighting uphill against my disinterest. That's not to say it's a bad book; it just didn't cut as close to the bone as Circe did for me.

Book 21.5: The Dead Girls Class Trip: Selected Stories by Anna Seghers
I started this collection that's been chilling on my shelf for a good year or so. Seghers is very good, and I enjoyed the writing. However, the first story, Jan Must Die, concerning a young boy who is slowly dying of a mysterious illness and his parents' ambivalent reactions towards losing the one person keeping their also-ambivalent relationship together, really brought me low. Combined with some family drama going on in the background and an emotional viewing of the Marcel the Shell movie, I decided to put Ms. Seghers aside for now.

Book 22: The Bohemian Girl by Willa Cather
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My wife recommended this early 20th-century collection of stories in reaction to my glumness at the Seghers-Marcel-familydrama pileup, and it was a pretty good pick. It's not the sunniest storytelling, but Cather focuses on individuals on some side of the class/rural-urban divide and the ways all people strive for self-expression and belonging. Nothing's too fantastically told, and you get something of a feeling for different cultural mores at the time. Short and sweet.

Book 23: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
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Scooped this up from the library after seeing praise from @Selaws and @avecigrec (and later @Turbo and @ayayrawn) I wanted something that breezed by, and holy moly was this eminently readable. Once @ranbalam gets through it we should start a dang book club.

What's there to say that hasn't been said? I'm still something of a Bourdain neophyte; I have a bad habit of sleeping on certain artists/figures until they're taken from us too early (see also: Elliot Smith), and only started watching his shows after he passed. I'm also a passable home cook, but haven't explored the professional cooking world in as much depth as my spouse, who occasionally pushes Top Chef seasons on me. So the context of seeing how this book maybe tore the lid off a few preconceptions from nearly a quarter-century ago was interesting; at one point Bourdain extols the secret beauties of using shallots in home cooking, and I definitely can see how the shallot has become more ubiquitous over time.

Great book, you can hear his voice so clearly in the writing. Made me (sort of) miss my stint in the food service industry and the pirate-crew camaraderie you'll find back-of-house.
 
Book 23: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
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Scooped this up from the library after seeing praise from @Selaws and @avecigrec (and later @Turbo and @ayayrawn) I wanted something that breezed by, and holy moly was this eminently readable. Once @ranbalam gets through it we should start a dang book club.

What's there to say that hasn't been said? I'm still something of a Bourdain neophyte; I have a bad habit of sleeping on certain artists/figures until they're taken from us too early (see also: Elliot Smith), and only started watching his shows after he passed. I'm also a passable home cook, but haven't explored the professional cooking world in as much depth as my spouse, who occasionally pushes Top Chef seasons on me. So the context of seeing how this book maybe tore the lid off a few preconceptions from nearly a quarter-century ago was interesting; at one point Bourdain extols the secret beauties of using shallots in home cooking, and I definitely can see how the shallot has become more ubiquitous over time.

Great book, you can hear his voice so clearly in the writing. Made me (sort of) miss my stint in the food service industry and the pirate-crew camaraderie you'll find back-of-house.
Really glad you liked it, I never get tired of chatting about Bourdain!
 
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