What books did you read in 2023?

[joemul]

I’ve just finished the first two books of The Kingkiller Chronicles. I thought they were absolutely superb - so rich in their language, world-building and lore. 
 

I was genuinely left flummoxed when I went to buy the final book only to find that it still hadn’t been released. Absolutely gutted. 

[Jamie John]

4. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath (1963)

 

 

I'm teaching Ariel at the moment, so thought I'd better re-read this. And, yep, it's pretty bloody bleak, all right, as you might expect, and really quite sad, now that I have a better understanding of the context. Who knew, eh?

 

I'm not sure if it's something I'd jump to recommend, unless you're looking to gain more of an insight into Plath or the place and period in which she was living. Being a semi-autobiographical rumination on depression, alienation and suicide, it's not really a page-turner. Still, it's interesting, and obviously necessary reading if you're studying her poetry.

[Vimster]

6. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney - weirdly I bought this paperback after seeing it mentioned in an old episode of CSI. No plot really, just follows a young underachiever in New York. Wouldn't normally be bothered by this sort of thing but found it strangely engaging.

 

Spoiler

1. Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

2. Apocalypse On The Set by Matt Taylor

3. Paul MacCartney The Biography by Philip Norman

4. Close To The Bone by Stuart Macbride

5. Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion by Gary Webb

6. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

 

[Vimster]

7. Absolute Pandemonium by Brian Blessed - hugely entertaining autobiography. Had to go for the audio book, naturally, and Brian doesn't disappoint, with many cries of "Gordon's alive!" for good measure.

 

Spoiler

1. Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

2. Apocalypse On The Set by Matt Taylor

3. Paul MacCartney The Biography by Philip Norman

4. Close To The Bone by Stuart Macbride

5. Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion by Gary Webb

6. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

7. Absolute Pandemonium by Brian Blessed

 

[Spleen]

19. Boule De Suif (short story) by Guy De Maupassant. 9
A book about class primarily.
Set in France in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian war the story follows 10 characters escaping together. Most are upper class but the one who assists the most is a prostitute who is essentially betrayed by the others. Despite its brevity it does not lack depth, its characters are well written and their hypocrisy and snobbery towards the prostitute are shocking.

20. Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. 9
A book about the origins.
It's Star Wars but featuring one of its greatest characters. I love the old Timothy Zahn books which have more been relegated to non-canon legends novels. This one is actually canon and brilliant. Charting the rise of Thrawn all the way to Grand Admiral rank I just love everything about him, he comes across as I brilliant man who has been superbly written by Zahn.

21. Bel Ami by Guy De Mauspassant. 9
A book about love.
Set in Paris in the late 1800s but containing everything we see today like sleazy journalists, corrupt politicians, sex, money and power.
George is never happy in life it seems, having risen from nothing he is always trying to do better. Whether that's in his love life (he 'loves' so many women), job, house or money he is always looking for more.
Wonderfully written and a great cast of characters.

 

I started reading The Extinction Trials by A.G. Riddle as I liked his other book, and it was free on Kindle Unlimited. Oh my it's shit. I've given up now, I managed 50%. It's an easy read but everything else is poor; story, characters, writing, etc.

 

Spoiler

1.  The Girl With All The Gifts. MR Carey. 9
2. The Silent Patient. Alex Michaelides. 8
3. The Holiday. TM Logan. 5
4. Artemis. Andy Weir. 8
5. How To Kill Your Family. Bella Mackie. 8

6. We Begin at the End. Chris Whitaker. 10

7. All The Wicked Girls. Chris Whitaker. 8
8. The Midwife of Auschwitz. Anna Stuart. 9
9. Don't Go Back. Mark West. 8
10. The Remains of the Day. Kazuo Ishiguro. 10
11. The Catch. TM Logan. 7
12. Light of the Jedi. Charles Soule. 8
13. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Gabrielle Zevin. 10
14. Station Eleven. Emily St. John Mandel. 10

15. Lost in Time. A.G. Riddle. 9

16. Empire of the Ants. Bernard Werber. 10

17. Tall Oaks. Chris Whitaker. 9

18. Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 9

 

[Iain]

8. Permafrost - Alastair Reynolds

Novella involving time travel in order to help prevent an ecological apocalypse. I'd have liked the ideas to be expanded a bit more to a full length novel, and the ending felt a bit rushed, but definitely worth a read. As it's a novella I finished it in one day so an easy quick read.

 

9. South: The Story of Shackleton's 1914-1917 Expedition - Sir Ernest Shackleton

Story of the failed Antarctic expedition by the man who led it. While this sounds like an ideal was to learn about it, Shackleton is no story teller. While you will learn a lot about what happened there it very much reads as a report rather than a book so it can get quite tedious going through it. I'm sure there are better books telling this story.

 

10. The Martian - Andy Weir

Saw the movie years ago but only getting round to reading it now. Really enjoyable read, most of the scientific concepts are easily explained so you don't have to be a scientist to follow along. Definitely recommended. 

[Stopharage]

11. Billy No-Mates: How I Realised Men Have a Friendship Problem by Max Dickins

The writer is a comedian who is struggling to think of anyone he could ask to be his best man for his impending wedding. Gets him thinking about how his male friendships have largely evaporated and wonders why this is the case and what he can do to rectify this. Its a mixture of personal quest, academic investigation and sociological analysis that makes for an engaging read. It's not perfect and there are a few parts that drag but overall its well worth a read for anyone who has questioned the erosion of their old friendships and helps to make you realise that this is a fairly common male problem (and I'm sure female too).4/5

 

12. Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton

Sci-fi novel, soon to be a Bong Joon Ho film starring Robert Pattinson and Toni Colette. Humanity has branched out across the galaxy for a number of reasons and for each colonising group they tend to have one 'expendable' -  a human that can be replicated upon dying. They are then used for dangerous repairs, treacherous missions. The book concerns Mickey 7, the 7th iteration of one such expendable. There's the odd bit of science in there (discussion on anti-matter) but this is no hard sci-fi tome. It rattles along at a. decent enough pace and whilst the writing isn't top tier the plot and characterisation is solid. It's not the kind of book I'd reread but would definitely watch the cinematic version 4/5

 

Spoiler

1. Expected Goals by Rory Smith

2. The Every by Dave Eggers

3. The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers

4. Rogues by Patrick Madden Keefe

5. Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me - Various, including Stephen Colbert

6. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

7. Maybe I Don’t Belong Here by David Harewood

8. Exit Stage Left: The Curious Afterlife of Pop Stars by Nick Duerden

9. The Game by Micah Richards

10. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

11. Billy No-Mates: How I Realised Men Have a Friendship Problem by Max Dickins

12. Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton

 

 

Currently reading:

Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon

 

Scheduled for this year:

Good Pop Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis

Dead In The Water by Matthew Campbell & Kit Chellel

The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland

A Ladder In The Sky by John Boyne

The Game by Micah Richards

Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Exhalation By Ted Chiang

The Devil And The Dark Water by Stuart Turton

Empire Of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

The Ministry Of The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Puckoon by Spike Milligan

One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky

There Is No Antimetics Division by qntm

The Miracle Pill by Peter Walker

All About Me by Mel Brooks

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

In The Garden Of The Beasts by Erik Larson

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

Sea Of Tranquility by Emily St Mandel

Nothing But The Truth by The Secret Barrister

The Fourth Turning by William Strauss & Neil Howe

Managing Expectations by Minnie Driver

Meantime by Frankie Boyle

How To Be Perfect by Michael Schur

Lost Connections by Johann Hari

Chasing The Scream by Johann Hari

The Little Friend by Donna Tarrt

 

[Chthonic Boom]

7. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

 

After the mammoth effort it took to get through Midnight's Children, I thought I'd go for something a bit easier going. I chose... poorly. Western, set in the 1840s, following a nameless character ("the kid") as he falls in with a bad crowd roaming across Mexico murdering basically anyone they come across. I'm pretty sure this is the bleakest book I've ever read; it's just an unremitting tale of people being horrifically violent to eachother. There's very little in the way of motivation - none of the characters display any sort of interiority, and in fact it feels pointedly disinterested in exploring why any of the characters are doing what they do. I guess that the impersonal nature of the violence is the point - the Judge's monologues dig into this, and it's a reflection of the savage nature of life in the time it's set in. But as a reader I just found it heavy going and came away wishing I had picked up something different. I know there are a few dedicated CMcC fans here (I picked it up because I'd seen some recommendations on here) so feel free to tell me why I'm completely wrong!

 

 

8. Finna by Nino Cipri

 

This was the palate cleanser I was looking for - an extremely lightweight novel about an ex-couple who work at a knock-off Ikea-clone, who have to try to rescue a customer who's fallen into an alternate dimension by hopping through different alternative realities. The main characters are of diverse sexuality and gender identity, and it does get a bit snarky with its gender politics at times, but it was a nice change in perspective reading something which isn't about/targeted at me. Thought the general dimension-hopping conceit was a fun idea, but it never really followed through doing anything unexpected with the concept or its characters.

 

 

Read in 2023:
 

Spoiler

1. The Mirror and the Light by Hillary Mantel

2. The End of the World is Just the Beginning by Peter Zeihan

3. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

4. Babel by R. F. Kuang
5. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin

6. Midnight's Children by Salmon Rushdie

7. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

8. Finna by Nino Cipri

 

[Boothjan]

Spoiler

1. A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin - 9/10

2. Reckless by Chrissie Hynde - 6/10

3. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil by Drew Karpyshyn - 9.5/10

4. The Game: Player. Pundit. Fan by Micah Richards - 7/10

 

5. Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars by David Hepworth

 

This is a very good read, brilliantly written and full of interesting anecdotes and information on a plethora of music legends.  Each chapter features a specific artist for each year between Little Richard in 1955 and Nirvana in 1994, and there are sections on greats such as Elvis, Buddy Holly, The Stones, Dylan, The Beatles, Guns n Roses, Elton John, Bowie etc etc.

 

There was so much I did not know about artists I've loved since I was a kid - the only downside is that each chapter is really only a snippet and it made me want to read more about pretty much every band/artist!  

 

I particularly liked Hepworth's theory on what makes a rock star and why that term just isn't applicable in the modern age - well written and difficult to disagree with.

 

Great stuff - well worth a look.

 

8.5/10

 

In addition - there's a quite BRILLIANT Spotify playlist to accompany this book.  At the end of every chapter, Hepworth includes a list of the best songs/albums of each year.  Some patient and kind soul has taken it upon themselves to make a playlist based on these suggestions.  It's as good as a history of popular music as I've seen, so here's a link

 

 

[Vimster]

8. 50 Years Of Carry On by Richard Webber - As you'd imagine this is a look back at 50 years of the Carry On film series which started in 1958. The author is generally upbeat about them, the worst he could say was they were cheap and a bit ropey, he doesn't try and make a cultural analysis. Some interesting info.

 

Spoiler

1. Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

2. Apocalypse On The Set by Matt Taylor

3. Paul MacCartney The Biography by Philip Norman

4. Close To The Bone by Stuart Macbride

5. Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion by Gary Webb

6. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

7. Absolute Pandemonium by Brian Blessed

8. 50 Years Of Carry On by Richard Webber

 

[Spleen]

22. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel. 9
A book about a Ponzi scheme and never standing still.
Great characters, interesting story and very well written. A couple of very minor things tie into Station Eleven, which I thought was great. It follows a wide range of people all interconnected through Jonathan Allaitis and his Ponzi scheme. An absolute bargain for the 99p I paid. 

 

 

Spoiler

1.  The Girl With All The Gifts. MR Carey. 9
2. The Silent Patient. Alex Michaelides. 8
3. The Holiday. TM Logan. 5
4. Artemis. Andy Weir. 8
5. How To Kill Your Family. Bella Mackie. 8

6. We Begin at the End. Chris Whitaker. 10

7. All The Wicked Girls. Chris Whitaker. 8
8. The Midwife of Auschwitz. Anna Stuart. 9
9. Don't Go Back. Mark West. 8
10. The Remains of the Day. Kazuo Ishiguro. 10
11. The Catch. TM Logan. 7
12. Light of the Jedi. Charles Soule. 8
13. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Gabrielle Zevin. 10
14. Station Eleven. Emily St. John Mandel. 10

15. Lost in Time. A.G. Riddle. 9

16. Empire of the Ants. Bernard Werber. 10

17. Tall Oaks. Chris Whitaker. 9

18. Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 9

19. Boule De Suif (short story) by Guy De Maupassant. 9
20. Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. 9
21. Bel Ami by Guy De Mauspassant. 9

 

 

[Stopharage]

13. Don't Laugh, It Will Only Encourage Her by Daisy May Cooper

That there lady out of This Country with her autobiography. She's pretty open and fairly course throughout and there are undoubtably some amusing and interesting stories in there. I found that I got a bit bore half way through so put it down from 3 months and only went back to it when someone posted about it on here. Her rise to stardom is only really covered in the last couple of chapters and there isn't much about This Country other than that. On the audiobook version there's a really good additional chapter which is a Q&A between her and her dad which is a worthwhile addition. It was entertaining enough and it's clear she worked hard for her success but I found the book a bit hit and miss. 3/5

 

Spoiler

1. Expected Goals by Rory Smith

2. The Every by Dave Eggers

3. The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers

4. Rogues by Patrick Madden Keefe

5. Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me - Various, including Stephen Colbert

6. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

7. Maybe I Don’t Belong Here by David Harewood

8. Exit Stage Left: The Curious Afterlife of Pop Stars by Nick Duerden

9. The Game by Micah Richards

10. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

11. Billy No-Mates: How I Realised Men Have a Friendship Problem by Max Dickins

12. Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton

13. Don't Laugh, It Will Only Encourage Her by Daisy May Cooper

 

Currently reading:

Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon

 

Scheduled for this year:

Good Pop Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis

Dead In The Water by Matthew Campbell & Kit Chellel

The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland

A Ladder In The Sky by John Boyne

Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Exhalation By Ted Chiang

The Devil And The Dark Water by Stuart Turton

Empire Of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

The Ministry Of The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Puckoon by Spike Milligan

One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky

There Is No Antimetics Division by qntm

The Miracle Pill by Peter Walker

All About Me by Mel Brooks

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

In The Garden Of The Beasts by Erik Larson

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

Sea Of Tranquility by Emily St Mandel

Nothing But The Truth by The Secret Barrister

The Fourth Turning by William Strauss & Neil Howe

Managing Expectations by Minnie Driver

Meantime by Frankie Boyle

How To Be Perfect by Michael Schur

Lost Connections by Johann Hari

Chasing The Scream by Johann Hari

The Little Friend by Donna Tarrt

 

[little che]

14.  The Singers gun by Emily st John Mandel. 

An earlier book (her second). Lacks the big themes and imagination of her more recent novels but it still possess her beautiful writing and is very compelling. 

It's the story of Anton who is waiting on the island of Lischia to complete a mysterious exchange of goods for his cousin with whom he was formerly in the crime business with.  It's also the story of Elena who has been caught living in New York on a false passport and her desperate attempts not to be deported back to the far north of Canada. 

 

Recommended, it was a novel about waiting and change and I really enjoyed it. 

[ZOK]

On 20/03/2023 at 08:32, Spleen said:

19. Boule De Suif (short story) by Guy De Maupassant. 9
A book about class primarily.
Set in France in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian war the story follows 10 characters escaping together. Most are upper class but the one who assists the most is a prostitute who is essentially betrayed by the others. Despite its brevity it does not lack depth, its characters are well written and their hypocrisy and snobbery towards the prostitute are shocking.

20. Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. 9
A book about the origins.
It's Star Wars but featuring one of its greatest characters. I love the old Timothy Zahn books which have more been relegated to non-canon legends novels. This one is actually canon and brilliant. Charting the rise of Thrawn all the way to Grand Admiral rank I just love everything about him, he comes across as I brilliant man who has been superbly written by Zahn.

21. Bel Ami by Guy De Mauspassant. 9
A book about love.
Set in Paris in the late 1800s but containing everything we see today like sleazy journalists, corrupt politicians, sex, money and power.
George is never happy in life it seems, having risen from nothing he is always trying to do better. Whether that's in his love life (he 'loves' so many women), job, house or money he is always looking for more.
Wonderfully written and a great cast of characters.

 

I started reading The Extinction Trials by A.G. Riddle as I liked his other book, and it was free on Kindle Unlimited. Oh my it's shit. I've given up now, I managed 50%. It's an easy read but everything else is poor; story, characters, writing, etc.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

1.  The Girl With All The Gifts. MR Carey. 9
2. The Silent Patient. Alex Michaelides. 8
3. The Holiday. TM Logan. 5
4. Artemis. Andy Weir. 8
5. How To Kill Your Family. Bella Mackie. 8

6. We Begin at the End. Chris Whitaker. 10

7. All The Wicked Girls. Chris Whitaker. 8
8. The Midwife of Auschwitz. Anna Stuart. 9
9. Don't Go Back. Mark West. 8
10. The Remains of the Day. Kazuo Ishiguro. 10
11. The Catch. TM Logan. 7
12. Light of the Jedi. Charles Soule. 8
13. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Gabrielle Zevin. 10
14. Station Eleven. Emily St. John Mandel. 10

15. Lost in Time. A.G. Riddle. 9

16. Empire of the Ants. Bernard Werber. 10

17. Tall Oaks. Chris Whitaker. 9

18. Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 9

 

I love Bel Ami! I’ve never read Boule De Suif, I’ll have to look it up.

[ZOK]

On 23/03/2023 at 05:00, Chthonic Boom said:

7. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

 

After the mammoth effort it took to get through Midnight's Children, I thought I'd go for something a bit easier going. I chose... poorly. Western, set in the 1840s, following a nameless character ("the kid") as he falls in with a bad crowd roaming across Mexico murdering basically anyone they come across. I'm pretty sure this is the bleakest book I've ever read; it's just an unremitting tale of people being horrifically violent to eachother. There's very little in the way of motivation - none of the characters display any sort of interiority, and in fact it feels pointedly disinterested in exploring why any of the characters are doing what they do. I guess that the impersonal nature of the violence is the point - the Judge's monologues dig into this, and it's a reflection of the savage nature of life in the time it's set in. But as a reader I just found it heavy going and came away wishing I had picked up something different. I know there are a few dedicated CMcC fans here (I picked it up because I'd seen some recommendations on here) so feel free to tell me why I'm completely wrong!

 

 

8. Finna by Nino Cipri

 

This was the palate cleanser I was looking for - an extremely lightweight novel about an ex-couple who work at a knock-off Ikea-clone, who have to try to rescue a customer who's fallen into an alternate dimension by hopping through different alternative realities. The main characters are of diverse sexuality and gender identity, and it does get a bit snarky with its gender politics at times, but it was a nice change in perspective reading something which isn't about/targeted at me. Thought the general dimension-hopping conceit was a fun idea, but it never really followed through doing anything unexpected with the concept or its characters.

 

 

Read in 2023:
 

  Hide contents

1. The Mirror and the Light by Hillary Mantel

2. The End of the World is Just the Beginning by Peter Zeihan

3. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

4. Babel by R. F. Kuang
5. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin

6. Midnight's Children by Salmon Rushdie

7. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

8. Finna by Nino Cipri

 

It’s an interesting one, Blood Meridian. I don’t find it as bleak as you, but I think if you want to unlock the secret as to the inhumanity on display it comes in a very brief scene towards the end, where the main character (can’t remember his name, it’s been ages since I read it) meets someone who was involved in the buffalo trade and who talks about how they all but wiped them out.
 

Effectively the members of the company (and others) are treating native humanity in the same way they treated buffalo, completely expendable in the face of capitalism and its drivers towards the survival of the individual.

 

That’s a very slight read on it anyway, I’m sure there are many other views but that bit always struck me as one of the most significant moments in the book.

 

Regarding CMC, I much prefer The Border Trilogy as stories, they are very beautiful and certainly more uplifting…as you will get from him, anyway. Or read Child of God, that one’s a hoot! 

[Spleen]

44 minutes ago, ZOK said:

I love Bel Ami! I’ve never read Boule De Suif, I’ll have to look it up.

 

Yeah, it's very good. 

I've also read another short story by him called False Gems that was great too. 

 

I've got a collection of short stories by him, I think there are hundreds!

[Miner Willy]

Yep, completely with @ZOK: I loved the Border Trilogy.

[Spleen]

23. Vox by Christina Dalcher. 7
A book about oppression.
Set in a dystopian America were women are treated as extreme second class citizens able to only speak a 100 words a day.
Reminded me of The Handmaid's Tale, but not nearly aa impressive as that title.

The characters were fine and the writing style was ok and everything was wrapped up at the end. Possibly too easily.

 

 

Spoiler

1.  The Girl With All The Gifts. MR Carey. 9
2. The Silent Patient. Alex Michaelides. 8
3. The Holiday. TM Logan. 5
4. Artemis. Andy Weir. 8
5. How To Kill Your Family. Bella Mackie. 8

6. We Begin at the End. Chris Whitaker. 10

7. All The Wicked Girls. Chris Whitaker. 8
8. The Midwife of Auschwitz. Anna Stuart. 9
9. Don't Go Back. Mark West. 8
10. The Remains of the Day. Kazuo Ishiguro. 10
11. The Catch. TM Logan. 7
12. Light of the Jedi. Charles Soule. 8
13. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Gabrielle Zevin. 10
14. Station Eleven. Emily St. John Mandel. 10

15. Lost in Time. A.G. Riddle. 9

16. Empire of the Ants. Bernard Werber. 10

17. Tall Oaks. Chris Whitaker. 9

18. Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 9

19. Boule De Suif (short story) by Guy De Maupassant. 9
20. Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. 9
21. Bel Ami by Guy De Mauspassant. 9

22. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel. 9

 

[QuackQuack]

6. Journey Under the Midnight Sun - Keigo Higashino

 

A big old 600 page crime thriller set over 20+ years in Osaka/Tokyo. The story zips around following two main characters and the unfortunate things that happen to those near them. I really enjoyed it once I realised it wasn’t really the murder mystery it is advertised as.

 

It does have a bit of detail about 70s and 90s events in Japan so it may be a bit clunky to those uninformed about those times. 

[Stopharage]

14. Dead In The Water by Matthew Campbell & Kit Chellel

This was an excellent read. Very well researched throughout and a tale of corruption amongst the shipping industry. In parts infuriating because of the outright fraud and criminal behaviour and also uplifting because of the tenacity of investigators and victims. Rattled along at a fair old rate and is one of those factual books which actually does read like a thriller. I’ve just read the later half of the book in one go. 

 

It’s a great insight into an industry which our capitalist society depends on and just highlights how lawless it is. Favourite book of the year so far. 5/5. 

 

Spoiler

1. Expected Goals by Rory Smith

2. The Every by Dave Eggers

3. The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers

4. Rogues by Patrick Madden Keefe

5. Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me - Various, including Stephen Colbert

6. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

7. Maybe I Don’t Belong Here by David Harewood

8. Exit Stage Left: The Curious Afterlife of Pop Stars by Nick Duerden

9. The Game by Micah Richards

10. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

11. Billy No-Mates: How I Realised Men Have a Friendship Problem by Max Dickins

12. Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton

13. Don't Laugh, It Will Only Encourage Her by Daisy May Cooper

14. Dead In The Water by Matthew Campbell & Kit Chellel

 

Currently reading:

Lost Connections by Johann Hari

 

Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon

Scheduled for this year:

Good Pop Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis

The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland

A Ladder In The Sky by John Boyne

Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Exhalation By Ted Chiang

The Devil And The Dark Water by Stuart Turton

Empire Of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

The Ministry Of The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Puckoon by Spike Milligan

One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky

There Is No Antimetics Division by qntm

The Miracle Pill by Peter Walker

All About Me by Mel Brooks

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

In The Garden Of The Beasts by Erik Larson

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

Sea Of Tranquility by Emily St Mandel

Nothing But The Truth by The Secret Barrister

The Fourth Turning by William Strauss & Neil Howe

Managing Expectations by Minnie Driver

Meantime by Frankie Boyle

How To Be Perfect by Michael Schur

Chasing The Scream by Johann Hari

The Little Friend by Donna Tarrt

 

[Miner Willy]

I actually just finished that a couple of weeks back and also thought it was excellent.

[Fitzcarraldo]

March

 

09. The Years (Annie Ernaux)

An autobiography of Ernaux's life from the '40s to present day — told in fragmented, stream of consciousness prose. I liked the way she used notable world events in the 20th century as a backdrop or scene-dressing to detail her struggle as a woman. I'm happy to admit I'm probably not smart enough for this. A thorough understanding of 20th century French history might have helped.

 

10. All the Pretty Horses (Cormac McCarthy)

There's just something about McCarthy's writing style that's right up my street. I love the way he does dialogue — McCarthy's able to create characters that feel more real in just a series of short exchanges than most authors manage in whole chapters. He leaves a lot to the imagination, so it feels that what he's leaving out is as important as what he's saying. I was deeply affected by a character death for this reason. A stunning novel.

 

11. Absalom, Absalom! (William Faulkner)

About as far away from the prose of the above novels as you can get! Tells the story of a slave owner in the south during the Civil War from multiple perspectives. Each new perspective either shapes the man's life in more detail or confuses things, as characters interpret events differently. The fun is in untangling the long sentences and seeing the picture becoming clearer as you go. One of the hardest novels I've ever read, but rewarding.

 

12. Still Life (Louise Penny)

Standard whodunnit and the novel equivalent of daytime television. Louise Penny's writing style is slightly annoying. It's hard to explain exactly what it is that bothers me, but it might be the attempt at wit and humour. The jokes and banter between characters is quite poor and none of it lands. Inspector Gamache is a fun protagonist, but he has little to work with as the other characters are dull. It seems there's a bunch of Inspector Gamache novels, but I'm not sure I'll bother with any of them.

 

Spoiler

01. Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)

02. Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Gabriel García Márquez)

03. Chess (Stefan Zweig)

04. Jazz (Toni Morrison)

05. Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston)

06. Springs of Affection (Maeve Brennan)

07. Last Argument of Kings (Joe Abercrombie)

08. Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)

09. The Years (Annie Ernaux)

10. All the Pretty Horses (Cormac McCarthy)

11. Absalom, Absalom! (William Faulkner)

12. Still Life (Louise Penny)

 

[Spleen]

24. The Outsider by Albert Camus 9

A book about not conforming to the norm.
Albert Camus’ 1942 classic. Set in Algeria and written completely from the point of view of one man, Meursault. This is a man who lives in the now, not worried about was has been or what will happen. Especially now that he's in jail after committing a random act of violence. A great read, his frustration comes across well when he doesn't appear to others to be in anyway empathic or religious.

 

 

Spoiler

1.  The Girl With All The Gifts. MR Carey. 9
2. The Silent Patient. Alex Michaelides. 8
3. The Holiday. TM Logan. 5
4. Artemis. Andy Weir. 8
5. How To Kill Your Family. Bella Mackie. 8

6. We Begin at the End. Chris Whitaker. 10

7. All The Wicked Girls. Chris Whitaker. 8
8. The Midwife of Auschwitz. Anna Stuart. 9
9. Don't Go Back. Mark West. 8
10. The Remains of the Day. Kazuo Ishiguro. 10
11. The Catch. TM Logan. 7
12. Light of the Jedi. Charles Soule. 8
13. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Gabrielle Zevin. 10
14. Station Eleven. Emily St. John Mandel. 10

15. Lost in Time. A.G. Riddle. 9

16. Empire of the Ants. Bernard Werber. 10

17. Tall Oaks. Chris Whitaker. 9

18. Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 9

19. Boule De Suif (short story) by Guy De Maupassant. 9
20. Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. 9
21. Bel Ami by Guy De Mauspassant. 9

22. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel. 9

23. Vox by Christina Dalcher. 7

 

[Miner Willy]

I'm not doing a very good job of updating this thread regularly...

 

10. A Bit of a Stretch by Chris Atkins. Not what I expected - but in a good way. I thought this was really rather good.

11. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. Really great premise and atmosphere in this. I very much wanted some form of explanation for what happened, which I do accept isn't the point of the book, but still.

12. Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis. Not my favourite Lewis book, but still enjoyable enough.

13. Atomic Awakening by James Mahaffey. Read this a while back and can't remember much now, but I did enjoy it at the time.

14. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. I have seen wildly differing views on this, but boringly I sit somewhere in the middle. I thought it was decent enough.

15. The Singer's Gun by Emily St John Mandel. This was on offer so thought I'd pick it up. A good read, but certainly not as great as everything from Station Eleven onwards.

16. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Listened to this on Audible, I think after a recommendation from @ZOK. I thought it was great.

17. Ogres by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Maybe my favourite of his novellas. I rather enjoyed this.

18. Dead in the Water by Matthew Campbell. Excellent true account of maritime conspiracy. Recommended.

19. Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel. I read this a few years back and while I really enjoyed it, I've previously said that I preferred The Glass Hotel. I decided to read it again after recently watching the TV show, and it turns out I was wrong: I loved SE even more this time, and it's now officially my favourite ESJM book. Oh, and watch the TV show: it's magnificent. It actually deviates from the plot in a couple of significant ways that I would actually say improve things overall.

20. Ed by qntm. Enjoyable, but it's not 'There Is No Antimemetics Division'. But like that book, I definitely felt my brain creaking under the pressure of the concepts.

 

Previously:

 

Spoiler

1. My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World's Deadliest Migration Route by Sally Hayden. Well, this is one of the bleakest, most awful things I've ever read. Great, but so depressing and grim.

2. Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney. It was decent enough. Probably I'd say better than Conversations With Friends, but not close to Normal People.

3. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. As good as it is, I didn't really enjoy the first half especially, as it was just so bleak. There was one particular point where a character did something that actually made me shout "no!" out loud - it's really powerful stuff.

4. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. I noticed my favourite sci-fi book was free on Audible. It's still great.

5. The Fault in our Stars by John Green. Two teenagers suffering from cancer find love. Well written, but predictably upsetting.

6. The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State by Nadia Murad. A pretty incredible (true) story. Again, extremely grim reading.

7. The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland. True story of a guy who broke out of Auschwitch to warn the world what was happening there. A fascinating story, but obviously this is another bleak and upsetting topic.

8. The Gunslinger by Stephen King. I read The Stand a couple of years back and absolutely loved it, so been meaning to read the Dark Tower books. To be honest I didn't like this anywhere near as much, and am now not sure about going further with this series.

9. Doughut Economics by Kate Raworth. I know next to nothing about economics, but this was interesting and seemed like a sensible way to think about issues such as redistribution of wealth and climate change.

 

[Spleen]

25 About Truth Freedom and Love by Anton Chekhov. 8

Three short stories which I enjoyed greatly. Timelessly written.

 

26. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. 8

Seems like a mixture of Pacific Rim and The Handmaids Tale. Not bad, not bad at all. The main character seemed a bit annoying at first but  wasn't too bad by the end. A well written novel.

 

 

Spoiler

1.  The Girl With All The Gifts. MR Carey. 9
2. The Silent Patient. Alex Michaelides. 8
3. The Holiday. TM Logan. 5
4. Artemis. Andy Weir. 8
5. How To Kill Your Family. Bella Mackie. 8

6. We Begin at the End. Chris Whitaker. 10

7. All The Wicked Girls. Chris Whitaker. 8
8. The Midwife of Auschwitz. Anna Stuart. 9
9. Don't Go Back. Mark West. 8
10. The Remains of the Day. Kazuo Ishiguro. 10
11. The Catch. TM Logan. 7
12. Light of the Jedi. Charles Soule. 8
13. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Gabrielle Zevin. 10
14. Station Eleven. Emily St. John Mandel. 10

15. Lost in Time. A.G. Riddle. 9

16. Empire of the Ants. Bernard Werber. 10

17. Tall Oaks. Chris Whitaker. 9

18. Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. 9

19. Boule De Suif (short story) by Guy De Maupassant. 9
20. Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. 9
21. Bel Ami by Guy De Mauspassant. 9

22. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel. 9

23. Vox by Christina Dalcher. 7

24. The Outsider by Albert Camus 9

 

[Boothjan]

Spoiler

1. A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin - 9/10

2. Reckless by Chrissie Hynde - 6/10

3. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil by Drew Karpyshyn - 9.5/10

4. The Game: Player. Pundit. Fan by Micah Richards - 7/10

5. Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars by David Hepworth - 8.5/10

6. Star Wars: The High Republic: The Rising Storm by Cavan Scott - 8.5/10

 

7. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

Excellent, bingeable and thoroughly enjoyable - the only issue I had with this is that I saw the TV show before reading this.  I'd definitely recommend doing it the other way around!

 

But anyway - this isn't the Film and TV subforum - book chat.  It takes a good writer to use the interview style format here, and still create a quite brilliant relationship between so many different characters, particularly Daisy Jones herself and the main singer/songwriter of The Six, Billy Dunne.  With countless nods to Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac, the story is as interesting as the strong cast of characters.  Taylor Jenkins Reid also manages to nail the feeling of the West Coast music scene of the 1970's, drink and drug addictions et al, and it's easy to imagine The Six were a real life band, with this being an authorised biography of their heyday.

 

Great stuff.

 

9/10

[Vimster]

9. Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan - really enjoyed this, worked as a cyberpunk Raymond Chandler. Probably should have read it a bit faster as it gets really complicated and I was losing the thread a bit.

 

Spoiler

1. Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

2. Apocalypse On The Set by Matt Taylor

3. Paul MacCartney The Biography by Philip Norman

4. Close To The Bone by Stuart Macbride

5. Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion by Gary Webb

6. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

7. Absolute Pandemonium by Brian Blessed

8. 50 Years Of Carry On by Richard Webber

9. Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

 

[Iain]

11. Conspiracy: A History of Boll*cks Theories, and How Not to Fall for Them - Tom Phillips and Jonn Elledge

A nice history about the start of conspiracy theories and how throwaway theories from years ago can then be manipulated into some of the theories being thrown around today. Liked the writing style of this so will be checking out the authors other books.

12. 11.22.63 - Stephen King

Haven't read any Stephen King in years so got back with this book which I had wanted to read in ages. Brilliant novel about a man who finds a time portal to 1958 and then goes back to try and stop the Kennedy assassination. Lots of interesting information about Lee Harvey Oswald in the early 60s but the main focus is taken with the day to day life of our protagonist living his life. Highly recommended.

13. Learning the World - Ken MacLeod

First contact tale with a twist as this time it is not humans getting visited by aliens. Book is split between the highly advanced race in ships and the planet bound bat like creatures who discover the alien ship in their solar system. I much preferred the stories of the bat race which was a nicely thought out world. Not a bad book by any means but felt a bit underwhelmed. 

14. Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke

A more traditional first contact book as alien space ships visit Earth. A lot of the first contact is done away with quickly and we focus more on how humanity has coped with the alien visitors. It takes an unexpected turn later in the book which I wasn't sure about so felt it ended quite poorly.

[Fitzcarraldo]

April

 

A Murder is Announced (Agatha Christie)

I got about half-way through when I realised I didn't care who did it, or how. I ended up finishing because I was on the train at the time and I didn't have another book. Miss Marple's sort of there and the rest of the cast aren't interesting. There's a certain expectation with these sort of books that it can take a while to get going, but this didn't seem to move until around 2/3s of the way through. Didn't get on with this at all.

 

Hard Rain Falling (Don Carpenter)

This, on the other hand, was amazing. Calling it a crime novel doesn't do it justice. All I'll say is if you aren't chomping at the bit to read it on one go after that prologue, well, then, we're made of different stuff.

 

A Good Man is Hard to Find (Flannery O'Connor)

Pretty much a perfect short story. A family travelling across America is stranded on the side of a road and meet an escaped killer. Very grim and funny.

 

The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros)

Not for me. Or maybe not for the mood I was in when I read it. Each chapter—some half a page long—is a snippet in the life of a young woman growing up as a Mexican-American. It's got that fractured, stream-of-consciousness style that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. When it doesn't, a novel can feel like work, which is what this felt like.

 

Spoiler

01. Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)

02. Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Gabriel García Márquez)

03. Chess (Stefan Zweig)

04. Jazz (Toni Morrison)

05. Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston)

06. Springs of Affection (Maeve Brennan)

07. Last Argument of Kings (Joe Abercrombie)

08. Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)

09. The Years (Annie Ernaux)

10. All the Pretty Horses (Cormac McCarthy)

11. Absalom, Absalom! (William Faulkner)

12. Still Life (Louise Penny)

13. A Murder is Announced (Agatha Christie)

14. Hard Rain Falling (Don Carpenter)

15. A Good Man is Hard to Find (Flannery O'Connor)

16. The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros)

 

[Boothjan]

Spoiler

1. A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin - 9/10

2. Reckless by Chrissie Hynde - 6/10

3. Star Wars: Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil by Drew Karpyshyn - 9.5/10

4. The Game: Player. Pundit. Fan by Micah Richards - 7/10

5. Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars by David Hepworth - 8.5/10

6. Star Wars: The High Republic: The Rising Storm by Cavan Scott - 8.5/10

7. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid - 9/10

 

8. Lioness - My Journey to Glory by Beth Mead

 

I don't normally gravitate towards autobiographies written by someone in their mid-20's, but after the England Women won last year's Euros with Beth Mead winning player of the tournament as well as the Golden Boot, I was intrigued to give this a go.

 

And I'm pleased I did - I'm a massive football fan but I've really not given the women's game enough of my attention.  England's triumphant Euros campaign definitely helped with that, and the journey Mead has taken from playing down the park with a group of boys older than her (and playing them off the aforementioned park) to her struggles with anxiety and homesickness at different stages of her career just made me warm to her even more than I previously did.  

 

She's also a lot more forthright than I expected in this book.  I was most interested in how she battled against sexism throughout her life, but she also touches upon the huge effect her mother's illness had on her (sadly, she passed away from her illness after this book was published) and she also talks about her sexuality and how she's handled the attentions that has brought on her.

 

She's an inspiration - not just to millions of girls who have now seen just what is possible as the women's game grows in popularity, but also to someone like me - because it's simply impossible to read this and not think "wow - fair play to you, you're bloody awesome."

 

8/10