Ratings out of 10
Books 52 Books In 52 Weeks
- Thread starter Eboue
- Start date
Heyboue I'm up to 3, every page.
Stoner
Child Of God
Pinocchio
Gonna start Under the Skin tonight.
@Eboue
Stoner
Child Of God
Pinocchio
Gonna start Under the Skin tonight.
@Eboue
Homer's Odyssey
Adam Carolla's In 50 years we'll all be chicks
Adam Carolla's In 50 years we'll all be chicks
Finished My Antonia in a day. Loved it.
5 weeks later, scurmy has conquered a book.
- Thirteen Years at the Russian Court - Pierre Gilliard
Starting on Look Homeward, Angel now.
Really struggling to get into this. Long word for word dialogue of a crappy romance novel of a book one of the characters is reading. A half dozen examples of songs sung or hummed by various characters or children.
I hope it gets better quick.
I gave up on Look Homeward, Angel, only the third book ever to receive that honor. I had been getting behind so I read The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. I really enjoyed it until the end where he lost me on some of his broad claims.
The New Jim Crow - Michelle Alexander
Hated it. No rhythm to the style because it constantly had massively long quotations from other authors. Also made a ton of claims that weren't backed up.
Escape From Camp 14 - Blaine Harden
Brutal but short. I enjoyed it.
Hated it. No rhythm to the style because it constantly had massively long quotations from other authors. Also made a ton of claims that weren't backed up.
Escape From Camp 14 - Blaine Harden
Brutal but short. I enjoyed it.
How did you find this scurmy? I've done some work on the Tsar's and the revolution so this book does look like it'd appeal to me.
Oh awesome, thanks scurmy!
Those days are still here, just on other internet platforms.
The shame.
Infinite Jest is going to take me 52 weeks at this rate.
Shoeless Joe - WP Kinsela
Baseball parts were great, Salinger parts were kind of creepy and the stuff about his wife was cringeworthy
7
Battle Cry of Freedom : Volume 1 - James McPherson
Great background on the years leading up to the civil war and the early battles (cuts off at Shiloh)
10
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The opening scene was good and he was able to evoke the setting well but the second half was tediously boring
4
Currently working on Crazy '08 and A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court.
Baseball parts were great, Salinger parts were kind of creepy and the stuff about his wife was cringeworthy
7
Battle Cry of Freedom : Volume 1 - James McPherson
Great background on the years leading up to the civil war and the early battles (cuts off at Shiloh)
10
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The opening scene was good and he was able to evoke the setting well but the second half was tediously boring
4
Currently working on Crazy '08 and A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court.
I'll join in. These are the books I read since July:
1) Death in Venice: 9.
--First Mann book and couldn't put it down, I'll definitely read more of him. I think the book, at least the titular story, is perfect.
2) The Cry For Myth: 6
--Some interesting insight into psychoanalysis and interesting interpretations of some modern books, but left me wanting.
3) No Exit: 7
--Short and savory.
4) Stoner: 9.5
--Great book(and the NYRM edition cover is very pleasing too).
5) Farther Away: 6
--Not impressed, the essays are somewhat intriguing but, ultimately, pretty banal imo.
6) Consider the Lobster: 7
--Massive upgrade on #5, not a good as I remembered it.
7) Interpreter of Maladies: 7
--Simple and tender yet powerful short stories. I might be biased as I'm an immigrant from the Sub-Continent myself.
8) Ariel: N/A
--It's an uncomfortable book
Bonus: Happiness, n+1 anthology: Great collection of articles from n+1 magazine. It was pretty good, Afternoon of the Sex Children is the obvious standout. If anyone's willing to pay postage I'll ship it to them after december.
List:
Hawk in the Rain.
The power of Myth
All the pretty horses.
Jobs(maybe not)
Something by Alice Munro.
Wittgenstein's Mistress--reread
The Unbearable lightness of being--reread.
1) Death in Venice: 9.
--First Mann book and couldn't put it down, I'll definitely read more of him. I think the book, at least the titular story, is perfect.
2) The Cry For Myth: 6
--Some interesting insight into psychoanalysis and interesting interpretations of some modern books, but left me wanting.
3) No Exit: 7
--Short and savory.
4) Stoner: 9.5
--Great book(and the NYRM edition cover is very pleasing too).
5) Farther Away: 6
--Not impressed, the essays are somewhat intriguing but, ultimately, pretty banal imo.
6) Consider the Lobster: 7
--Massive upgrade on #5, not a good as I remembered it.
7) Interpreter of Maladies: 7
--Simple and tender yet powerful short stories. I might be biased as I'm an immigrant from the Sub-Continent myself.
8) Ariel: N/A
--It's an uncomfortable book
Bonus: Happiness, n+1 anthology: Great collection of articles from n+1 magazine. It was pretty good, Afternoon of the Sex Children is the obvious standout. If anyone's willing to pay postage I'll ship it to them after december.
List:
Hawk in the Rain.
The power of Myth
All the pretty horses.
Jobs(maybe not)
Something by Alice Munro.
Wittgenstein's Mistress--reread
The Unbearable lightness of being--reread.
The Road and Dubliners too. I gave up on A portrait of the Artist as a Young man, but I want to reread it.
I took a class with Haidt. He's amazing, but his class was too fecking difficult for a Psyc 101 class. (Or maybe it's what an 101 class should be but standards have deteriorated)
Books in the last few weeks:
Good Omens - Hilarious and poignant, although wish I'd picked it up earlier in life. The movie version was supposed to star Robin Williams and Johnny Depp...would've been interesting.
Soccernomics - I despise football 'geeks', especially geeks who use the term soccer for the effing title to market it better. However, they do raise some decent points such as err, I'll get back and let you know.. Too few and far between for me to really appreciate this stats and tech invasion into sport yet.
The Psychopath Test - Ronson's a dedicated and obsessive writer, no doubt, and he doesn't disappoint with a compelling tale about the evolution of psychiatric studies.
The World According to Garp - Grisly, mangled and raw. This book lays the various contradictions in society and human behaviour bare, and Irving seeks to delight and disgust in equal measure. He succeeds.
Up next:
Infinite Jest
Picture This
Bleeding Edge
Good Omens - Hilarious and poignant, although wish I'd picked it up earlier in life. The movie version was supposed to star Robin Williams and Johnny Depp...would've been interesting.
Soccernomics - I despise football 'geeks', especially geeks who use the term soccer for the effing title to market it better. However, they do raise some decent points such as err, I'll get back and let you know.. Too few and far between for me to really appreciate this stats and tech invasion into sport yet.
The Psychopath Test - Ronson's a dedicated and obsessive writer, no doubt, and he doesn't disappoint with a compelling tale about the evolution of psychiatric studies.
The World According to Garp - Grisly, mangled and raw. This book lays the various contradictions in society and human behaviour bare, and Irving seeks to delight and disgust in equal measure. He succeeds.
Up next:
Infinite Jest
Picture This
Bleeding Edge
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I'm finishing book number 26 at week 20 so that's a good start. OP updated.
That's mental. That's like half a Revan.
have read about 47 books since march this year.Two more are incomplete and currently reading two more.
This is piss easy. I'm starting with Mr Tickle.
I've now read four from Marquez in the past six months. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Love In The Time Of Cholera and No One Writes To The Colonel were excellent but I found Chronicles Of A Death Foretold to be underwhelming. Is there anything else worth reading?
@Scrumpet
@Scrumpet
I read Hundred Years this year, loved it. Which one's his next best?
I think Autumn of the Patriarch is the only other one I've read. Definitely worth a look I'd say, though I can't help but feel much of it was lost on me due to not knowing enough about South American history/politics.
On number of books, he's better. I've read only 36 books during the previous year (34 of them since June).
However, on number of pages it is something different. Only Wheel of Time (15 books) have 12000 pages. I doubt that I've ever read as much as in 2014.
Up to 33 in 26 weeks.
I got given a big coffee table-style book of the Royal Academy's Rubens exhibition tonight. It's over 360 pages but has a lot of pictures. Does that count as one?
@Eboue why did you hate Look Homeward, Angel?
@Eboue and what didn't you like about "The New Jim Crow". I thought it was quite good though I disagreed with the notion that there was so much intent behind it. Anyway, great list.
The lists, man. It was just so damn long and intent on describing every single thing. Just because a character entered a shed doesn't mean we need an exhaustive list of every single tool inside it.
I think it made too many claims that it didn't bother to back up. Like you say, it claimed intent all over the place and I think it didn't do nearly a good enough job of making the case for it and instead expected me to just take it at face value.
I agree when it came to demonstrating intent (which meant a lot to me), she was definitely reaching. There was a good documentary called "The House I Live In" that was along the same lines, detailing the cost of the war on drugs. It swerved from her ideas about intent though, and I think it made good sense.
Anyway, I don't want to go off topic. Good list you've got. I'm back in the old country for a year or so, so I reckoned I'd better refresh my English history (A Short History of England). Good luck with the list. You're right on target.
From the time this thread was open. I'll give my rating as I did it on goodreads (on format X/5).
1) Anthony Ryan - Raven's Shadow #1 - Blood Song - 4/5
2) Anthony Ryan - Raven's Shadow #2 - The Tower Lord - 4/5
3) George RR Martin - The Princess and the Queen (ASOIAF spinoff) - 2/5
4) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #1 - The Eye of the World - 5/5
5) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #2 - The Great Hunt - 4/5
6) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #3 - Dragon Reborn - 4/5
7) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #4 - The Shadow Rising - 4/5
8) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #5 - The Fires of Heaven - 5/5
9) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #6 - Lord of Chaos - 4/5
10) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #7 - A Crown of Swords - 3/5
11) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #8 - The Path of Daggers - 3/5
12) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #9 - Winter's Heart - 2/5
13) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #10 - Crossroads of Twilight - 2/5
14) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #11 - Knife of Dreams - 3/5
15) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #0 - The New Spring - 3/5
16) Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson - The Wheel of Time #12 - The Gathering Storm - 5/5
17) Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson - The Wheel of Time #13 - Towers of Midnight - 3/5
18) Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson - The Wheel of Time #14 - A Memory of Light - 5/5
19) Patrick Rothfuss - The Slow Regard of Silent Things (Kingkiller Chronicles spinoff) - 1/5
20) George RR Martin - The Rogue Prince or a King's Brother (ASOIAF spinoff) - 3/5
21) Joe Abercrombie - Shattered Sea #1 - Half a King - 4/5
22) Mark Lawrence - The Broken Empire #1 - Prince of Thorns - 3/5
23) Mark Lawrence - The Broken Empire #2 - King of Thorns - 2/5
24) Mark Lawrence - The Broken Empire #3 - Emperor of Thorns - 4/5
25) Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana - 4/5
26) Joe Abercrombie - Shattered Sea #2 - Half the World - 3/5
27) Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #1 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - 5/5
28) Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #2 - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - 3/5
29) Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #3 - Life, the Universe and Everything - 2/5
30) Dan Simmons - Hyperion Cantos #1 - Hyperion - 4/5
31) Dan Simmons - Hyperion Cantos #2 - The Fall of Hyperion - 3/5
32) Gleen Cook - The Chronicle of the Black Company #1 - The Black Company - 3/5
33) Gleen Cook - The Chronicle of the Black Company #2 - Shadows Linger - 3/5
34) Gleen Cook - The Chronicle of the Black Company #3 - The White Rose - 4/5
35) Dan Simmons - Hyperion Cantos #5 - Endymion - 2/5
36) Gleen Cook - The Chronicle of the Black Company #4 - Shadow Games - 3/5
Currently reading the fifth book in the Black Company saga, and then planning to read the final book in Hyperion Cantos. Not sure that I'll manage to read 52 until the end of July though.
1) Anthony Ryan - Raven's Shadow #1 - Blood Song - 4/5
2) Anthony Ryan - Raven's Shadow #2 - The Tower Lord - 4/5
3) George RR Martin - The Princess and the Queen (ASOIAF spinoff) - 2/5
4) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #1 - The Eye of the World - 5/5
5) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #2 - The Great Hunt - 4/5
6) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #3 - Dragon Reborn - 4/5
7) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #4 - The Shadow Rising - 4/5
8) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #5 - The Fires of Heaven - 5/5
9) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #6 - Lord of Chaos - 4/5
10) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #7 - A Crown of Swords - 3/5
11) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #8 - The Path of Daggers - 3/5
12) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #9 - Winter's Heart - 2/5
13) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #10 - Crossroads of Twilight - 2/5
14) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #11 - Knife of Dreams - 3/5
15) Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time #0 - The New Spring - 3/5
16) Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson - The Wheel of Time #12 - The Gathering Storm - 5/5
17) Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson - The Wheel of Time #13 - Towers of Midnight - 3/5
18) Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson - The Wheel of Time #14 - A Memory of Light - 5/5
19) Patrick Rothfuss - The Slow Regard of Silent Things (Kingkiller Chronicles spinoff) - 1/5
20) George RR Martin - The Rogue Prince or a King's Brother (ASOIAF spinoff) - 3/5
21) Joe Abercrombie - Shattered Sea #1 - Half a King - 4/5
22) Mark Lawrence - The Broken Empire #1 - Prince of Thorns - 3/5
23) Mark Lawrence - The Broken Empire #2 - King of Thorns - 2/5
24) Mark Lawrence - The Broken Empire #3 - Emperor of Thorns - 4/5
25) Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana - 4/5
26) Joe Abercrombie - Shattered Sea #2 - Half the World - 3/5
27) Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #1 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - 5/5
28) Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #2 - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - 3/5
29) Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #3 - Life, the Universe and Everything - 2/5
30) Dan Simmons - Hyperion Cantos #1 - Hyperion - 4/5
31) Dan Simmons - Hyperion Cantos #2 - The Fall of Hyperion - 3/5
32) Gleen Cook - The Chronicle of the Black Company #1 - The Black Company - 3/5
33) Gleen Cook - The Chronicle of the Black Company #2 - Shadows Linger - 3/5
34) Gleen Cook - The Chronicle of the Black Company #3 - The White Rose - 4/5
35) Dan Simmons - Hyperion Cantos #5 - Endymion - 2/5
36) Gleen Cook - The Chronicle of the Black Company #4 - Shadow Games - 3/5
Currently reading the fifth book in the Black Company saga, and then planning to read the final book in Hyperion Cantos. Not sure that I'll manage to read 52 until the end of July though.
I've read 30 books so far this year... should I go for 90 in 2015? 
Where do you get the time?I've read 30 books so far this year... should I go for 90 in 2015?
That is batshit crazy. Just checked and it seems that I have read only 13 in this year. Pretty poor on comparison to you.I've read 30 books so far this year... should I go for 90 in 2015?
Not sure really... I read pretty quickly, and I guess when I get into a series I just read them constantly until they're done.
Including short stories and novellas it's 40 in total. I read 30 last year, plus a couple of novellas, no idea how I've managed that again in 4 months.
Edit: Just looking at it on Goodreads and apparently I only read one novel in January, so that's 10 novels per month since then.
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I haven't read that one, even the plot synopsis sounds ropey as hell. You're allowed to lay an egg when you're nearly 80!Love in the time of cholera is great. Death of a chronicle foretold and no one writes to the colonel are both shorter. The latter is brilliant once you understand the context behind it