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2014 Reading Self-Challenge


Inigima

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I think 30 books, 15 less than last year, is a reasonable goal. This year, I won't have as much time to read as the last, hopefully.



I'm at 3/30 now: Dust (which was alright), Reaper's Gale (which was a lot better than expected) and a book about The Clash (which didn't meet my expectations).


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I'm just at 1,5/40 which doesn't look good, but my problem is that I've been reading only 500+ pages books recently and I can only read in bed, before going to sleep. And during weekdays I'm usually so exhausted, that I pass out after 15 minutes. Waking up at 6 every day is taking its toll.



Biter, I'd really like to hear what you think of Auto da Fe, it was one of the most powerful reads for me.


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Hey Inigima, can you change my name in the OP from 'An Old Name' to 'The Great Ruiner'?



This has been one of the best reading month for me with 17 books (admittedly, some of them are short 200-300 pages.) I am currently reading Consider Phlebas from the Culture series by Iain Banks, I'll probably finish it before the end of the month.



Anyway, I don't expect to keep this up, I'll go on to read one book a week from now on since I am back to work again.


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yo, ini :cheers: this is DP (dornish prince)...I'm having some issues with my old account right now but I'd love to play again. I'd like to set my goal at 50 and I've read the night of the owls batman serial which I'm going to count because of length so that should be...



1/50. I'm still not sold on the writer/scott Snyder is his name, I think but this particular storyline belongs on the big screen. IMO, he hit all the right notes for a fantastic yarn. artist/greg capullo has always been a fave of mine. if you like batman, and aren't to continuity dependent (being in the new 52 and all), I say go for it.


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5/60 so far



Gymnadenia by Sigrid Undset: Ok written, but I didn't really feel it had very much to say.



Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt: took a while to get into. Didn't really like McCourt's narrative voice, but an interesting look into what poverty looked like (and felt like) not too many years ago.



Hunger (Sult) by Knut Hamsun: powerful novel. While I couldn't relate too much to the narrator, it was a gripping tale - and an well-sketched person we met. Enjoyed it.



Last of the Vikings (Den siste viking) by Johan Bojer: Fascinating book about the life of the poor fishermen participating in the Lofoten fishing (seasonal) around the turn of the last century. Bojer doesn't have Undset's or Hamsun's gift of painting emotions or persons, but he does manage to make his charachters believable, and he's good at describing the landscape.



The Air War by Adrian Tchaikovsky: Okay. Not my favourite Tchaikovsky. Still, not the worst either. I just felt the ending was telegraphed from just about page one.

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5 books this month, so I'm at 5/52 to start. 2 by women, so that's good.



Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick. Nonfiction about living in North Korea. If you are interested in the Hermit Kingdom, this is a really good book. Things in North Korea in the 90s went from bad to unfathomably bad after the collapse of the Soviet Union and then a few bad crop years. One young woman was a doctor, but was still starving and fled into China. The first farmhouse she came to had rice and meat out in a bowl, both luxuries that she had not seen for years in NK. She was confused as to why this food was out, but then she realized it was dog food. Dogs in China eat better than doctors in North Korea.



Armor and Blood by Dennis Showalter. History on the Battle of Kursk. Good balance between the Soviet and German perspectives. I tore through this book really quickly for a history, so it must have been pretty readable.



The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham. A solid conclusion to what has been a very satisfying and unusual fantasy series. I think the contrast between Abercrombie subverting fantasy tropes and Abraham avoiding them alltogether is pretty interesting. For example, I'm not sure how many mentions of the word sword appear in the Long Price Quartet, but my guess would be less than ten, and possibly zero.



MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood. The conclusion of the MaddAddam trilogy. I liked the trilogy pretty well, Atwood is a very good author. Oryx and Crake (book 1) was still the best entry though, the others seemed almost like an extended footnote of that book. Interesting enough, but not nearly as compelling.



EDIT: I left off the fifth book that I just forgot about. Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. Interesting to read a pulp novel from the 50s, but there isn't a whole lot here for modern audiences other than an interesting look at 50s sci-fi. The casual sexism was kinda funny (often there would be a conversation involving two men and one/two women, but the women essentially never speak).


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