2024 Reading Challenge

I need to read more Leonard as well.

33 1/3 books are weird. Best advice I can give is go into each one with no expectations and you will probably enjoy them more. My fave was In On the Killtaker which inspired me to read them after @Thackeraye picked Fugazi for N&G AOTM. I’ve been reading them in order of release (will break that soon for the Manics). Joy Division was the last one I read. The only one I’ve disliked was ABBA as the author basically kept apologizing for liking the band and then chose Gold to discuss their entire discography instead of you know, picking an album. It was like he was trying to convince people that ABBA was worthwhile. Most people who are going to read the book either agree with you or are going to accept the conceit. It made me think less of the writer and the band.
 
Lee Newman said:
My wife wants us to have a couples book club quarterly….
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fwiw I've been in a book club with some friends/couples for quite a while now. It can be fun and rewarding or a total slog, but we've calibrated it to be pretty low-key and enjoyable. I remember we really had to button it down after people kept joining just to assign everyone to read some book they loved, then never really come back.
 
Bull Shannon said:
fwiw I've been in a book club with some friends/couples for quite a while now. It can be fun and rewarding or a total slog, but we've calibrated it to be pretty low-key and enjoyable. I remember we really had to button it down after people kept joining just to assign everyone to read some book they loved, then never really come back.
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I mean just me and her… lol.
 
I read a daft amount - usually a book a fortnight or quicker.

Last year, I finally read the last Pratchett book, but re-read the series before that. I also read quite a few cooking realted books, inspired by the list that someone pulled out of office and home shots in The Bear

This year, I'm currently splitting my time between John Scalzi / Head On and Marcus Aurelius / Meditations, and before this I read the three Gentleman Bastard books .

No idea what's next ...
 
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Book #2 of 2024: Quantum Criminals by Alex Pappademas and Joan Lemay

As far as music books go, I loved the innovative approach of telling the history of the band using the characters of their songs. Lots of cool tangents and it was never a dull read. If you like Steely Dan, I’d highly recommend it.
 
wmeugene said:
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Book #2 of 2024: Quantum Criminals by Alex Pappademas and Joan Lemay

As far as music books go, I loved the innovative approach of telling the history of the band using the characters of their songs. Lots of cool tangents and it was never a dull read. If you like Steely Dan, I’d highly recommend it.
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I liked this one quite a bit too. A really fun read...and nice artwork.
 
wmeugene said:
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Book #2 of 2024: Quantum Criminals by Alex Pappademas and Joan Lemay

As far as music books go, I loved the innovative approach of telling the history of the band using the characters of their songs. Lots of cool tangents and it was never a dull read. If you like Steely Dan, I’d highly recommend it.
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DE4F8C7E-DCF0-49A3-B378-726755D5B2F8.jpegI thought I had posted Book #1, but I hadn’t done so.

Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara

Excellent book with lots of applicable lessons for anyone who works with the public.
 
Book 2

Time Come – Selected Prose by Linton Kwesi Johnson
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Given the material within comes from a variety of sources and spans 45 years, there is a decent bit of overlap and repetition throughout the collection, but still an insightful look at the world through LKJ's eyes. I learned a good amount about Reggae, Caribbean literature and Black London history thanks to these selections. Not essential reading, but enjoyable enough!
 
Book 3

Naked – The Confessions of a Normal Woman by Éloïse Marseille
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A nice breezy warts-and-all sexual awakening and coming of age graphic memoir written and drawn by a woman born on my sixteenth birthday. She really puts everything on the table here: good, bad and ugly. Very enjoyable and at times hilarious read.
 
Book 4

In The Pines – 5 Murder Ballads by Erik Kriek
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Another random library pick-up; another breezy read interlude. Inspired by a couple trad tunes and more recent murder Ballads by Steve Earle, Gillian Welch and Nick Cave, Kriek has created 5 short graphic stories using those tunes as a starting point. Not direct translations or adaptations but "inspired by"s. Kriek's art is atmospherically fantastic for exploring the genre at hand. Well worth checking out.
 
I finished Kafka on the Shore yesterday afternoon. I think I had about 140 pages to go when I picked it up in the morning, and every time I figured I'd motivate and clean the kitchen or do something around the house, I'd pick it back up and read more, then of course I hit the point where I had to finish it. I thought it was fantastic, although at around the halfway point I wasn't sure I was going to feel that way.

I've only read three of Murakami's novels so far and enjoyed them all, my rankings are:
Wind Up Bird Chronicle
Kafka on the Shore
Norwegian Wood

Not sure what I'll pick up next for my second book of the year.
 
Book 3 - Educated - Tara Westover
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This was... a lot. I had heard this was good but I didn't expect there to be so much abuse and gaslighting. It was definitely impactful and inspiring but I need a palate cleanser now...
 
avecigrec said:
I feel like my wife had a nearly identical response to this one.
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It probably doesn't help that I grew up around very religious people (baptists, not mormon). My sister and I went to public school and had a relatively non-toxic upbringing (though I'm not religious anymore), but I knew a lot of anti-intellectual, homeschool families that had some similar opinions about family dynamics/control/the government.
 
Does anyone have some good recommendations on books about the Civil War? This book on the Alamo and the events that led up to the war with Mexico has me interested in more of the background on the lead up to the Civil War.
 
wmeugene said:
A ton. What are you precisely looking for?
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The buildup to the Civil War. That's a great part about the Alamo book. It's not just the stock Texas hero myth I was given in 7th grade Texas History class of "fighting against the oppression and overtaxation of Mexico and the dictator Santa Anna". It really dives into all the little things that started the Texas revolt and exposed the fear of losing slavery under further Mexican rule in a time when Texas was exporting a ton of cotton.
 
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