2022 Reading Challenge

Book 32: A Night in Tunisia: Imaginings of Africa in Jazz - Norman C. Weinstein (The Scarecrow Press Inc, 1992)

244 pages.

This was a book that I bought on a recent trip to Copenhagen, at a second-hand book shop where everything was priced at around £3.50 (in the equivalent Danish Kroner). It was a really interesting read that is split into chapters that focus on the work of a single jazz musician and how they were influenced by, and their connections to Africa. These include Archie Shepp, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Sonny Murray, and Yusef Lateef to name a few.

The premise of the book is a good one but it is massively let down in my opinion by the author as he constantly pats himself on the back by stating that this is the first written work to focus on the topic (which isn't true), whilst also constantly mentioning that although he is a white American he still has an authority on the subject because he has read a lot about Africa. Very strange.

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Selaws said:
Book 32: A Night in Tunisia: Imaginings of Africa in Jazz - Norman C. Weinstein (The Scarecrow Press Inc, 1992)

244 pages.

This was a book that I bought on a recent trip to Copenhagen, at a second-hand book shop where everything was priced at around £3.50 (in the equivalent Danish Kroner). It was a really interesting read that is split into chapters that focus on the work of a single jazz musician and how they were influenced by, and their connections to Africa. These include Archie Shepp, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Sonny Murray, and Yusef Lateef to name a few.

The premise of the book is a good one but it is massively let down in my opinion by the author as he constantly pats himself on the back by stating that this is the first written work to focus on the topic (which isn't true), whilst also constantly mentioning that although he is a white American he still has an authority on the subject because he has read a lot about Africa. Very strange.

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Damn, that's too bad. Definitely seems like something with wicked potential!
 
Book #24

This should count too... my daughter is dyslexic so I help her with reading. We went through this together over the last 3 months and just finished this morning. A pretty well constructed intrigue for a middle school book.

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Bull Shannon said:
Book 32: The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
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Cormac McCarthy's last book, The Road, was published in 2006. It was also the first McCarthy I read, in 2007, and I spent the last 15 years combing through nearly every book in his bibliography (I'm still three short with Cities of the Plain, Outer Dark, and Suttree). The Passenger (and its sequel/companion Stella Maris, out in December) has been brewing basically since The Road, and rumors have been swirling about his story of atomic bombs, deep-sea salvage, and a brother-sister romance.

It's hard to describe this book without ruining the experience of reading it, as it doesn't really push itself past its synopsis, plot-wise. Bobby Western is a salvage diver in the early 80s, living a sparse life of working and having discursive discussions with the colorful characters who hang around a divers' bar. He's clearly haunted by his sister's death, as well as his father's legacy as one of the engineers of the atomic bomb.

After exploring a mysterious plane wreck in a river, Bobby comes under scrutiny by unspecified government agencies. This is where the book's sense of anticlimax/antiplot is deepest as the book turns into an inverted No Country for Old Men: as the situation gets more dire, the why of Western's pursuit becomes murkier, and Western himself seems basically unconcerned by the tightening noose. Ultimately, the murky vagaries of the plot lead to a feeling of the past in constant pursuit; it feels more like a thematic feature than a narrative bug. McCarthy is clearly even more focused on death, legacy, and grief; and in typical fashion he concludes that we're all dust, it's all actively crumbling around us, and any motion towards self-preservation is dishonesty with yourself and nature. It's a story intensely focused on grief and grieving; the present is barely worth engaging with, don't even bother divining the future, and the past itself is too painful to fully reckon with.

This is a deeply strange book especially seeing that, for all the grief, there is a lot of humor, wordplay, and puns. McCarthy includes a "yes I'm serious, and don't call me Shirley" joke. The dialogues can be infuriating for McCarthy's lack of punctuation and no "he said/she said" dialogue attribution. Nearly every chapter begins with an italicized conversation between Western's sister and the apparitions brought on by her deteriorating mental health. They're nearly interminable, but clearly crucial to the book's texture and theme of the prison of human consciousness, and as the book ambles towards its conclusion they bleed into the rest of the story in a way that carries thematic heft. I'm half-dreading Stella Maris, a much-slimmer novel which apparently consists entirely of a dialogue between the sister and her therapist.

You're crazy for this one, Mack.
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Book 33: The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia, by Candace Fleming
Bit of a random choice and a palate cleanser. After every fourth book I read, my wife recommends I read something she's just finished, and this was one of those.

I didn't know the most about the Romanov family; history is a topic I was downright terrible at in school, and only as I get older and have landed a better sense of scope and perspective have I really gelled with boning up on it. This was a young-adult-aimed book, but I appreciated that; it was a lot easier to read ~200 pages of simply written information than 600+ pages of densely researched facts firehose.

Book 34: Lake of the Long Sun, by Gene Wolfe
Book 7 of the Solar Cycle, Book 2 of the Long Sun series. I've been enjoying this series pretty well; it's less intricate in its prose but still complex in its plotting and worldbuilding. This one matched Book 2 of New Sun for me, in that the first read felt like a download of revelations that I didn't 100% pick up on.

Book 35: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
This is part 2 of the Monk and Robot series; I think I read the first one earlier this year. I can't tell if there will be more of these, as several outlets imply it's a duology and others frame it as an ongoing series.

I love these two little weirdos and their relationship; it's a book that reminds me a lot of The Tao of Pooh in that it uses a fairly simple and straightforward set of characters to extrapolate gently on philosophical topics. The basic premise across both books is within a utopian, post-technology (I have slight gripes over the author's implication that humanity's shed harmful technology/industry, only to walk things back and reintroduce phones, email, etc) a tea monk (sort of a therapist who makes tea for people and listens to their problems) meets a robot in the woods, the first robot to make human contact in generations. The robot has set out to ask humanity what their needs are. Thus, over the course of the book, the monk explains human behavior to the robot, who is conveniently and charmingly unversed on their complexity.
 
Well, I don't think I'll finish My Struggle Book 6 before the end of the year. But, I did hit my 12+ books for the personal challenge I set.
This volume of Karl Ove is quite a bit different than the books that preceded it. I'm near the middle (of 1200 pages) and it is SO dense.

@Tyr - Did you ever end up getting to or through Book 6?
 
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Imagine an American Idol semi-finalist that ends up in musical theatre and a daytime soap opera. Then imagine that he turns his memoir into a look at modern masculinity. Then imagine he’s Australian and you have this book.

This could have easily been a tell all story - he hooked up with Paris Hilton, then punched a couple of folk that slagged him off about it, amongst other things.

It’s an easy read, and a great primer if you have a male kid moving into their teenage years. I’m not doing it a disservice by saying it’s a great young adult self help book. A good starting point.
 
ayayrawn said:
16. Invisible Child by Andrea Elliott. Won the Pulitzer last year for nonfiction. Infuriating read. This country is beyond fucked. Pretty moved by this family's story though. Great reporting.

17. Babylon's Ashes by James SA Corey. Book 6 of the Expanse. Generally enjoy this series but this was probably my least favorite entry so far. Feels more like an epilogue to the last book than something with a full arc. Poorly paced, and pretty boring for what should have been a climax of the series.

18. Fire & Blood by George RR Martin. Had a blast with this. I was hesitant because I'd heard it was dry, but found it to be a lot of fun. If you're interested in the ASoIaF universe, you should check ot out.

19. Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla by Dan Charnas. Been listening as an Audiobook since June, but just now finished. Absolutely essential for Hip Hop Heads, and actually, every other music fan too. Phenomenal.

Currently reading Nightmares and Dreamscapes as my annual Stephen King read. It's fine. Might pick up a classic if I finish before the month is out.
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20. Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King - This one was fine. Not my favorite of his in terms of short stories. Starts with a few duds, but picks up and i ended up enjoying by the end.

21. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante - Thought this was alright. Pretty prose, but weird sentence structures that stunted my progress. Not sure if I enjoyed enough to read the whole tertralogy.

22. One Piece Vols. 98-100 - What can I say, I'll be reading these til I die.

23. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - appreciated this from a writing and structure standpoint, but not really sure I enjoyed it that much? Kept waiting for it to click a certain way and it didn't. Some really moving and witty passages but lots of slog. May pick up the others, but in no hurry. This took me a while.

24. Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh - The Last of her's I hadn't read and enjoyed it like I have everything else she's done! Love her.

Working on Jenette McCurdy's memoir, I'm Glad My Mom Died, now, which is quite good and easily digestible, something I've needed for a while. May not finish before year's end but I'm happy with my 2022 slate!

Next year I want to get into more classics. Some friends and I are planning on reading Ulysses in January. Exciting and intimidating in equal measure.
 
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Book 41
Mazebook by Jeff Lemire
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I love Jeff Lemire. With the exception of a few titles he wrote for Marvel and DC, I've read everything he's written, and own copies of most of it. The books he writes and draws completely solo are something truly special - The Underwater Welder and Essex County, in particular. Mazebook joins those titles for me as top-tier Jeff Lemire. It's emotional, endearing, clever, well-crafted and just the slightest bit off-kilter and fantastical. Originally released as 5 single issues, Mazebook definitely reads as a damn fine graphic novel (that happens to have 5 chapters) and this collected edition includes a gallery of alternate covers from other illustrators Lemire has worked with and a selection of sketches and notes from Lemire himself. A wonderful read. Highly recommended.
 
avecigrec said:
Book 41
Mazebook by Jeff Lemire
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I love Jeff Lemire. With the exception of a few titles he wrote for Marvel and DC, I've read everything he's written, and own copies of most of it. The books he writes and draws completely solo are something truly special - The Underwater Welder and Essex County, in particular. Mazebook joins those titles for me as top-tier Jeff Lemire. It's emotional, endearing, clever, well-crafted and just the slightest bit off-kilter and fantastical. Originally released as 5 single issues, Mazebook definitely reads as a damn fine graphic novel (that happens to have 5 chapters) and this collected edition includes a gallery of alternate covers from other illustrators Lemire has worked with and a selection of sketches and notes from Lemire himself. A wonderful read. Highly recommended.
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Oooooh, Love Lemire.
 
Lee Newman said:
I’m game!

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Step It Up & Go by David Menconi. It was a survey of popular music in NC. Good, yet fairly academic type read. It was a Christmas book last year that took me forever to read (which is more often the norm these days.)

I picked 22 books. Hoping to get my 33 1/3 reading back up to snuff and figured I’d read a bunch more books while I’m at it. (I’m usually reading about four at a time).

Next up is:
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Which just edged out Questlove’s new book as the one I was most excited about from a rather substantial Book Christmas:
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Ugh, I'm reading Gumption now. I did awful on that pile (I also think there are a few more books in that pile now). good reads says I've read 21 of 22 for the year. I don't see me finishing any of the books I am currently reading before the end of the year.
 
Well, looks like it's going to be 28 this year. I think I was aiming for 24, so I should be ok with that, but I really fell off at the end. I think next year I'll go for 30.

28. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Holy shit. Obviously you don't win the pulitzer by accident, but wow. The only Cormac McCarthy I'd ever read before was Blood Meridian, which is incredible but this hit me in a different way. Maybe the father/son relationship. Maybe the pure simplicity of the story line? I don't know, but this might have been my favorite that I read all year. Highly highly recommended if you haven't read it yet. Next up is The Passenger (also by McCarthy)... but do you ever finish a really really good book and then have trouble motivating to pick up the next one? That's where I'm at rightnow.
 
Not sure where to post this but if anyone is looking for a 2023 challenge already, there’s a group of like 500+ (mostly) instagrammers from around the world that are going to try to read War and Peace next year. There are 361 chapters so the plan is to do one chapter per day and take a day off after each of the four “Books” that the chapters are organized into. There’s a discord server set up already to discuss translations and how to organize the discussion [they are going to have a separate thread for each 7 chapters/week, so it’s easier to find discussion about specific parts of the book without encountering any spoilers or having to scroll through everything] and all that stuff. The hashtag they’re using on instagram is #whiskeyandperseverance. It’s being hosted by Simon Haisell (@footnotes.and.tangents on ig) and it sounds like there is a small team of mods to help keep things organized. Reach out to Simon for the discord link (or I can try to send you one too). I’ve never read war and peace so this seemed like a fun and easy way to tackle it (the chapters are only about 5 pages long, so you’re only reading 30-40 pages per week).
 
Ericj32 said:
Not sure where to post this but if anyone is looking for a 2023 challenge already, there’s a group of like 500+ (mostly) instagrammers from around the world that are going to try to read War and Peace next year. There are 361 chapters so the plan is to do one chapter per day and take a day off after each of the four “Books” that the chapters are organized into. There’s a discord server set up already to discuss translations and how to organize the discussion [they are going to have a separate thread for each 7 chapters/week, so it’s easier to find discussion about specific parts of the book without encountering any spoilers or having to scroll through everything] and all that stuff. The hashtag they’re using on instagram is #whiskeyandperseverance. It’s being hosted by Simon Haisell (@footnotes.and.tangents on ig) and it sounds like there is a small team of mods to help keep things organized. Reach out to Simon for the discord link (or I can try to send you one too). I’ve never read war and peace so this seemed like a fun and easy way to tackle it (the chapters are only about 5 pages long, so you’re only reading 30-40 pages per week).
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@ranbalam and I read this year, so hit us up for tips, and be sure to discuss in the thread!
 
I finally hit my goal for the year! I read a lot more last year but I've been a lot busier than I expected to be and had a lot of life stuff going on recently... Still, hitting 52 is way better than I was doing a few years ago.

48. Lilian Boxfish Takes a Walk - Kathleen Rooney - 4.5/5 I enjoyed this quite a bit. Just following an old woman taking a walk around NYC on New Years Eve and reminiscing about her life.
49. The Tsar of Love and Techno - Anthony Marra - 4/5. I liked this one too, a bunch of interconnected short stories about a town in Siberia. I really liked the writing style and how certain elements of each story show up again later.
50. Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur - 3.5/5. I know people criticize Rupi Kaur's poetry for being kind of basic, but I enjoy her work. I think this is her best collection.
51. The Guineveres - Sarah Domet - 2/5. This one bored me. It's a historical fiction novel about 4 girls with the same name growing up in a convent during (I think) WWII. I listened to this one on audio at around 2x speed and it took me 3 renewals from the library to finish it.
52. The Lesser Bohemians - Eimar McBride - 3/5. I have mixed opinions on this one. I was interested in this because I tend to think books about people in art schools are interesting. The writing style is weird but I found it pretty easy to get into, but then I was not expecting the story to go in certain directions. I didn't know anything about this one beforehand but if you are sensitive to certain topics I would probably not go into this one blind.

I've also since started
The Paper Menagerie - Ken Liu
Hotel Iris - Yoko Ogawa

Maybe I'll manage to finish one more next week before New Years!
 
Books #25 and #26

The Dan Brown has been sitting around on my shelf for years. A gift at some point. Finally decided to give it a go. First time reading one of his books. It was... interesting. The information about Dante, Florence, Venice and Turkey was superb. Reads really easily. Also had a vague recollection of knowing this story so I must have seen the film... the fact that it wasn't any more memorable than that kinds of checks out with my feeling about the novel's storyline. It was meh. Too much running around and escaping shit rather than concentrating on the more interesting historical puzzles.

The Stephen King was pretty neat though. King doing a a novel for Hard Case Crime takes him out of his usual elements and you can tell he enjoys the genre a lot. The story feels more like an extended short story than a novel and makes for an interesting commentary on the notion of mystery in general.

Let's see if I can squeak in #27 before the end of the week. Goal of 2/month was met though.

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