Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Lots of good books in your list!
I experienced the same burnout with Piers Anthony in high school. I read a lot of him as a teen and then suddenly I had had enough. I reread The Phase series while back and really enjoyed them.

Did I see Winds of Winter? haha. I put it in my list as a book I meant to read in 2016! :)

MJ wrote: "I reread The Phase series while back and really enjoyed them. "

Oh that is interesting. I own 5 of those but only made it through the first two, which I did enjoy. The third, Juxtaposition, really dragged and I never got to the later books. But, like Chthon, I've been meaning to since I own them already.

Really hoping George comes through for me this year...

(43. A book with a chilling atmosphere)

Sometimes it is rather hard to know how well a book fits a prompt before reading it, but I had suspected that Cujo would work well here and damn was it ever chilling.

I suspected that this would be much more than simply a tale of a mother and child threatened by a rabid dog, given King's normal style. And was right, I think it's more of a case study on depression than a straight up thriller. This was so dark that I had to take breaks from it (thus why it took more than a week to read, even though it was quite engaging). Luckily, I am also reading Shōgun simultaneously.

Also a bit of a surprise was that this book is actually a sequel to The Dead Zone. It's fortunate that I read them both in the same year and that I read The Dead Zone first.

(23. A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list)

I bumped both of my choices for week 23, On the Road and The Great Gatsby, in favor of Roald Dhal's The Witches due to it's win (actually: 3 way tie for a win) of the April Book of the Month.

It was an easy read, given that it is a Children's book, but it didn't particularly impress me. I expect a bit more from Dhal and thought that this would be one of his stronger books since it made the BBC "Big Read" list.

Still, I wouldn't mind being able to say that I had read all of Dhal's work and thereby gain an opinion of which are the best. So far, this is the weakest of the four that I have read.

(5. An historical fiction)

Shōgun is one of those books that I've been meaning to read forever, and it's the length that made me procrastinate so long. It was one of the books that I chose for this year before we even had prompts, and then I was simply looking for a prompt to put it into (not all of those books made the list).

It really should have been a favorite of mine, and I had very high expectations. But while the author did do an incredible amount of research into the culture of Japan, he still falls short and gets a few things wrong (I think he chose to get them wrong) and worse: the story goes nowhere... for 1000 pages.

(22. A book by an author you haven't read before)

This was the very first book that I chose for the 2017 reading plan and the very first prompt that was revealed.

I am a member of the Goodreads reading group The Sword and Laser. And over there, one of the leaders, Veronica Belmont, coined the phrase 'lemmed' to refer to when you choose to not finish a book (more commonly called DNF over here). Since then, I have been using that term liberally and even have a shelf dedicated to it, for the books that I DNF.

But I felt that I should have an opinion of the author if I am so often maligning him. So, it was time to read one of his books, and Solaris was an easy pick since it made the Amazon Top 100 SciFi and Fantasy books list (another of my reading goals).

And I loved it.

This really could have been a five star read, falling just short on a few points. The book is really more about the planet Solaris itself than the g-formations, but I found myself drawn into the story of the latter and rather bored with the descriptions of the former, when they go on too long. There is a 'show not tell' issue in the book, with some massive info dumps. But I do appreciate how those were written as though actual science (hard sci-fi). I am more disappointed that we did not get to see and learn more about the g-formations. We get a bit of development for one (not enough) and almost none for the other three.

(30. A book from Goodreads Top 100 YA Books)

Finally finished Red Rising. I just couldn't force myself to read it. This and Shōgun have absolutely killed my momentum this year.

What a horrible little book. Incredibly shallow, predictable, and trite. Its worst offense is the writing style. This would be the perfect example of how not to write when explaining show vs. tell. The whole book reads like a stereotypical frat boy is spoiling the newest action movie to you while you wait for class to start.

A few times I got flat out mad at the author for spoiling what was going to happen only to step back and realize that this IS the book!

The good news is: I've manage to trim my list down by cutting Golden Son, Morning Star, and Tai-Pan.

J wrote: "(30. A book from Goodreads Top 100 YA Books)

Finally finished Red Rising. I just couldn't force myself to read it. This and Shōgun have absolutely killed my momentum ..."

I struggled with Red Rising as well. I don't quite understand the appeal. lol I'm happy I'm not alone in this!

(37. A book you choose randomly)

What a great read that was rather outside my comfort zone. I bought A Case of Need way back in 1995, while in middle school. At the time, I was on a bit of a Michael Crichton kick and was trying to collect all of his books when I was a bit surprised by two new books releasing: this one and Disclosure. But then, after bogging down in both Congo and Sphere, I never got around to those later books.

Flash forward to now, and I've been picking up a few extra hours in a per diem position at Swedish Medical Center. I thought it would be fun to read a book from the perspective of a doctor and written by a doctor - and boy did this not disappoint.

It's a pretty standard procedural, not unlike a police procedural (like Rising Sun) but with a doctor doing the investigating. As one of Crichton's earliest books, it isn't wholly ground breaking or original.

But the selling point, for me, is the insight into what it is to be a doctor (in the 1960's). Crichton is good at explaining the culture and the standard procedures of the time.

The other big strength of the book is one that I did not know going in, but is not a spoiler as it is established right from the beginning. This is a book about ABORTION. Written most of a decade before that procedure was made legal in these United States, the book takes a look at the pros and cons of a very much illegal medical procedure which was nonetheless being practiced at the time.

(32. A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle))

How this book got to be on my list is a bit of an interesting story. I had chosen How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu for this topic, and then later I saw it on sale and bought it.

Only to realize that I hadn't bought that book at all, I bought this one, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, and had somehow conflated the two. So I decided to put both on the list as options for this week's topic.

Then The Sword and Laser chose the Becky Chambers book for their May book of the month, so I decided to join them with that read.

I really liked this one a lot. I was enjoying it from the start but there was a point where I was dead set on giving it 5 stars. It's a character story that looks at a very diverse space ship crew, with the plot as wholly secondary. But then the ending had one point that didn't work for me, knocking it back down to a four.

(45. A book with a one-word title)

I'm a bit disappointed in Ubik, which seems like an odd statement as I really did enjoy it. But the thing is, I had such huge expectations going in. So many people have listed this as the very best of Philip K. Dick and I thought it would be even better than the ones that I have read (not many really).

But I would put it behind both Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and The Man in the High Castle. This was really good, but not quite equaling the hype.

(52. A book set in a fictional location)

I read the first book in Brandon Sanderson's second Mistborn Trilogy back in 2014, and I really enjoyed it. But Shadows of Self never did end up making the cut for the 2016 year and now I needed to read it to get to my Goodread Choice award pick, The Bands of Mourning, which is book 3 of the trilogy (with book 4 expected next year).

This book was just as much fun as the first. The pacing and depth of these remind me a lot of a good Hollywood film. Lots of action and humor, fun characters, fast paced but nothing real deep and occasional cliched or predictable plot elements.

A light, fun, fast read. I'm looking forward to the next book (when my number comes up on the library wait list).

(36. A Hugo Award winner or nominee)

I had two potential choices for this topic in The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi and Slan by A.E. van Vogt. They both looked very interesting, but I was in the mood for a golden era scifi so I went with the latter.

One of the reasons that I wanted to read this is because it is referenced with a character named after it in one of my favorite Manga series, Berserk, Vol. 1 (as is Ubik).

But unfortunately, I didn't like it. Very pulpy, this is a good example of a book with a great idea and very poor execution. Although, if you like Red Rising then I might just recommend this book to you as they had the same 'flaws'.

(13. A book recommended by one of your favorite authors)

Originally, I had Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation listed here, which was recommended by Lois McMaster Bujold, I found a recommendation
by author Douglas Adams therein for a book by P.G. Wodehouse.

One cannot go wrong with Wodehouse. And this book, Young Men in Spats is pretty standard Wodehouse fare. It's a short story collection, so there is inevitably variation in quality between pieces. But I liked the framing narrative used which takes a regular locale in Wodehouse's books, The Drone's Club, and that allows a lot of characters to cross over from his other series.

Bonus: the first appearance of Uncle Fred.

This book is the 26th that I have completed for the challenge. It's all downhill coasting from here...

(10. A dual-timeline novel)

Blackout and it's immediate sequel, All Clear, were on my plan for 2017 well before we had the topics - I just had to find them places to fit in. Both the topics that I slotted them into were ones that I had voted for with just such a purpose in mind.

I liked this book a lot. It was one of those that is a bit slow in the first half, but where the build up pays off toward the end. Connie Willis's Doomsday Book was like that. So now I'm riding high on the big finish and ready to start the next. Though, I'm a bit concerned that the diptych will be like Hyperion with a strong first book setting up a lot of questions and expectations and then the concluding volume failing to deliver.

Perhaps I'm too much of a pessimist.

(1. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016)

This book was a pretty big disappointment for me. So much so that I think I'll take a break from Brandon Sanderson for a bit. The Bands of Mourning is the sixth book of the Mystborn series and the third in the second subseries, which features a wild west setting + superpowers.

What I like about this series is that it takes what's great about the superhero genre and puts it into a slightly more realistic world with real rules and limitations to the powers... until this book. I think it's likely the shark jumping moment for the series. The limits were what made the series so good, pull them out and you're headed down the same slippery slope that comic books constantly face.

And yet, this book still almost pulled a 3 star rating, until I remembered that I knocked Snuff down for some of the same major plot flaws. This book is comparable in quality to Snuff and therefore a 2 star.

(11. A category from another challenge)

I always saw this week's topic as a 'Reader's Choice', but the original plan saw me trying to use it to fill out a series. Shadows of Self was here before I moved it to the fictional location prompt and that move left it wide open for anything.

I'm glad I chose more Wodehouse as it is nice to read something fun that you know you're going to enjoy. The Code of the Woosters is Plum at his prime. I was amazed at his ability to weave a lot of plot lines together making an exciting and fast paced read. The only fault I'd say is that he didn't really stick the ending. As complicated as the book was, I expected a very complicated and well executed ending while this one worked, it seemed too simple for the major work it was concluding.

(46. A time travel book)

The concluding part of Connie Willis' dyptic, All Clear was one of the first books I scheduled for the year and I rolled right into it after the solid finish for Blackout. I'd put these books on par with Doomsday Book. They are slow, at times, but it pays off in the end.

J wrote: "(32. A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle))

I loved The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet too, finished it not long ago for the same prompt as you. (that even rhymes :) )
What didn't you like at the end? (You could put spoiler tags on the answer)

(view spoiler)[Well, I didn't like that Lovey died. But I didn't mark the book down for that one. I was totally shipping her and Jenks. :)

My issue is with Corbin's decision to force the cure on Ohan. The author set up a pretty solid conundrum which forced us, the readers, to question our morals. But then she blundered it with a plot convenience.

It's not in Corbin's character to act as he did and then the book brushes off the act explaining that Ohan is okay with it after the fact - that changes nothing. What Corbin did was to force a cure on Ohan without their consent and post-action consent cannot undo that.

But this elicits a bigger problem with the book (and note: I liked the book so much that I only knocked 1 star for this issue). Corbin is the only character to not undergo an arc. He's an asshole at the beginning, an asshole in the middle, and a bigger asshole at the end.

As with Chamber's other characters, Corbin is a great construct, he reminds me of people I know and maybe a bit of myself. But what would have made this book absolutely perfect would have been if we got to know him a bit better and understood why he's an asshole. Instead, he seems to exist just to give the other characters conflict. (hide spoiler)]

Thanks for the explanation. It seems valid. (view spoiler)[What Corbin did with Ohan was a bit off for me too, out of character (hide spoiler)] Nevertheless, I was enchanted by the book and gave it 5 stars.

^That's why I'm so burned up about this one minor flaw. If it happened in a good book, I'd chuck it off. But this book was so damned good. It's a flaw on an otherwise perfect outing.

It's a bit like watching a beautiful, difficult, and well executed ice skating routine only for a minor fall to occur during the landing of the final spin. I want to go back in time, be her editor, and suggest that this be fixed before the book is released so it can be perfect.

But then, the 4 star rating just means she has room to blow me away in a future outing.

I really like Lem, not sure why "lemmed" would be a phrase... I guess because the translation of Solaris is not very good. I read The Cyberiad in Hungarian translation and I was blown away by the creativity of language. The English translation is pretty good but not quite as good - nevertheless I recommend it if you want to read more Lem. It is very funny and creative, reminds me of Pratchett. If Pratchett wrote sci-fi, it would have been The Cyberiad.

^I am interested in reading more Lem, so thanks for the rec.

I looked it up and it turns out that the book is question was Memoirs Found in a Bathtub. A good translation is everything (second only to knowing the original language).

(49. A book from someone else's bookshelf)

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch was one of the books that I had slated for 2017 even before we had any topics, as my obligatory Terry Pratchett book. This topic was one of the earliest ones, so I slated it in immediately, remembering that my friend and co-worker Jessica had it on her bookshelf at work.

Later, I thought I might add alternates and move this to another week (like the two author topic). I decided to like at the Goodreads bookshelves of my friends to find more inspiration and again found Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch as a favorite of my friend Phil.

So it was set.

I will admit a bit of disappointment in the book. It was very solid and quite funny. But given the hype, I expected the best of Pratchett and the best of Gaiman on display. But while it is quite good, its hardly their best (such a high bar). So, if you've read this and loved it, you're in for a treat when you explore more from these authors.

J wrote: "^I am interested in reading more Lem, so thanks for the rec.

I looked it up and it turns out that the book is question was Memoirs Found in a Bathtub. A good translation is everythin..."
This seems like a good read to me. I guess I just relate to some good Eastern European satire...:)

I did like Good Omens but I agree that it is not the best from either authors. I have my clear preference for Pratchett, as I enjoy his humor and Neilman in large amounts tends to creep me out, but I recognize that Neilman is way better at spinning a story. It is a good cooperation, but it could have been better.

(A past suggestion that didn't win)

I had initially intended to use this topic to fulfill one of my own suggestions from last year, which didn't win. But instead, I ended up making it a wild card thereby allowing me to read whatever I wanted to read.

So, my topic is: 'A book written or set in the United Kingdom, including all of Ireland. (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland.)' - since that meant I could read more Wodehouse.

Joy in the Morning, the eighth book in the Jeeves series, is pretty comparable to the previous entry in the series. That is a lot of solid humor, which comes from the trouble that Bertie gets himself into, and a few concurrent story lines. But where it falls short is again the ending.

One would expect that all those stories would come crashing together by the end and suddenly pull out a clever resolution as a result of their interactions and effects on each other. But instead, things just end as if to say: 'Ah 272 pages, just what I was aiming for. Time for a spot of tea.'

I love the books you've picked for your plan, specially the P.G. Wodehouse and Agatha Christie references! Both of them are among my favorite authors. The Code of the Woosters is the first Wodehouse i ever read and immediately loved, another favourite is Thank You, Jeeves. I am planning on reading another Wodehouse this year, The Small Bachelor, set in America.

I read One Hundred Years of Solitude for my magical realism novel this year, cant wait to read Love in the Time of Cholera now :)

(31. A book from a sub-genre of your favorite genre)

Oof. That was a bad one. I had to grab some Octavia E. Butler to cleanse my pallet. At points it was almost enjoyably bad, like watching a train wreck. To get through it, I tried to force the suspension of disbelief but each time I did, Greg Bear would up the ante.

Ultimately, I think this book is a solid example of everything that is wrong with Sci-fi as a genre. Rather than looking at modern advancement of science and the predicting what the future will be like due to the effect of this technology, we get the opposite.

Authors start with the story they want to tell (usually a classic) and then use modern technology as the excuse for why it occurred. Blood Music is medley of all Sci-fi's classics as covered by Mr. Bear. It starts out as Frankenstein, takes a dip into John Carpenter's The Fly, tries out The Stand for a bit, does Fantastic Voyage, then Childhood's End and ends on 2001: A Space Odyssey.

@Tia. I'm looking forward to One Hundred Years of Solitude though I'm leaning toward Beloved for my magical realism book.

I can't get enough of Wodehouse or Christie. I've been looking for excuses to fit more of their books in (and Wodehouse wasn't in the original plan at all).

I've noticed that Wodehouse managed to get a few of his books published as Penguin Modern classics...

I've noticed that Wodehouse managed to get a few of his books published as Penguin Modern classics..."

Really? That's wonderful! I still need a book for that prompt :)

Funny story about that. I was looking through the topics I had yet to accomplish and thought to myself: 'too bad P.G. Wodehouse doesn't have a Penguin Modern Classic.' And then I thought, 'why wouldn't he?'. So, I googled it.

While I didn't find a complete list, the following Wodehouse classics were published by Penguin as Modern Classics:

Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best
The Mating Season
Heavy Weather
The Code of the Woosters
Love Among the Chickens
Summer Lightning

J wrote: "Funny story about that. I was looking through the topics I had yet to accomplish and thought to myself: 'too bad P.G. Wodehouse doesn't have a Penguin Modern Classic.' And then I thought, 'why woul..."

How wonderful! Thank you for the list. I think i re-read The Code of the Woosters for this prompt.

(14. A book with a strong female character)

I've been eager to read another book by Octavia E. Butler ever since I read Kindred last September. I don't actually recall why Parable of the Sower made my 2017 list, but I think it might have been due to it being part of a rather short series, where most of her books are in longer series.

I do know why I waited this long into the year to actually read it. I wanted to buy a copy and read that, but couldn't justify the expense... until I got an Amazon Gift Card for my birthday.

This book was amazing, not surprising considering the author. But what's rather impressive is how well it predicted the future. Had I read this when it came out, in 1993, I might have enjoyed it but I wouldn't have thought much of the predicted future. But today, in 2017, it's scarily accurate, This takes place in the mid-2020's and it is so scarily close to what might very well be that I'm taking notes to be ready. Plus, my daughter will be close to the age of the protagonist in the years that this occurs.

That's doubly scary.

(24. A book written by at least two authors)

The third book that I've read this year toward my goal of reading all books that I own (physically). This one was given to me by a good friend about a year ago. I'm not really sure why she gave it to me, except that we both have a love of reading Sci-Fi. I assume that she thought I'd like it, but unfortunately, I did not and would be surprised to find out that she had.

This book, Variable Star, was terrible. It was written by Spider Robinson based on an outline written by Robert A. Heinlein which was incomplete. So really, it's a Spider Robinson book and not a Heinlein book. That concerns me a bit because I've never read a book by Robinson (before this) and probably won't after this.

This book makes just about every mistake a writer could make. The protagonist acts completely unreasonably to scenarios that he's placed into. Then he misrepresents what occurred but the book and everyone else in it is sympathetic toward him.

It has boring info dump stretches that read like a high school report. There's a deus ex machina, once the author realizes that the story cannot finish in the intended run time given the slow pace it has maintained. And then finally, it decides to shoehorn in a villain out of no where, randomly pointing to a secondary character declaring him the villain and having everyone just accept this as fact without any evidence.

I cannot even express to you how many times I told the protagonist to go F himself, aloud, while forcing my way through.

The one positive thing I can say is that the author understood his saxophones pretty well. It could have used some info on the set-up (mouthpiece, reed, and ligature) but there was nothing wrong with the information given. A baritone Yanagisawa is indeed a beautiful instrument.

(21. A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read)

After forcing myself to finish a book that I hated, for week 24 (above), I decided I needed a palette cleanser. I decided to fall back on Octavia E. Butler as a trusted author and went with Parable of the Talents since it is the continuation of my week 14 pick.

I didn't like this book quite as well as the first, though they both have the same, very interesting world. I found myself a bit more interested in the new storyline that followed Lauren's daughter over the original storyline of Lauren building up Earthseed. But it is nice to have conclusions from the plots of the first book.

This book had a ton of great quotes and many points that hit home for me. It's amazing that an author, writing in the mid-nineties could identify and predict many of the problems that we are having today. And also frightening to see what she predicts for the near future.

(9. A book in the middle of your To Be Read list)

I started reading The Sympathizer after losing my Kindle with only a few chapters left to read of Parable of the Talents. How this book came to be my pick for the TBR topic is somewhat interesting. I liked the idea of killing off a book from my TBR and had chosen The City and the Stars for this topic, on the original plan, because I had a copy on my Kindle. But then, for Christmas, my mother bought this book due to its subject and it having won the Nobel Prize and I noticed that it was also in the middle of my TBR, adjacent to the Arthur C. Clarke book.

It's a solid read which I would recommend to anyone who likes literary fiction. I would almost certainly use this book if I were teaching a course on Vietnam, the Vietnamese/American war. or the immigration experience. It fairly brilliantly captures the truth with regard to that conflict, from the perspective of the Vietnamese people. And it does so from all sides (well, all Vietnamese sides.)

But the one thing that kept it from getting a full 5 star marks from me is that I felt that it pulled a few punches. Especially when it came to the big reveal of the protagonists deepest darkest secret that he couldn't even admit to himself. I have read a few of the books which the author cited as influence and the influence of those non-fiction books is definitely apparent.

But I think the truth is, ultimately, much better than the fictional version. In the not too distant future, this book will certainly be made into an Oscar nominated (if not winning) motion picture which will then be able to open up the message to a wider audience besides those who read and those who read non-fiction. And that's probably the greatest thing this book can do.

If you like to read and want to understand a culture distinct from your own: here is a great read. But if you can handle some non-fiction: I would point you toward When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace and A Viet Cong Memoir.

(33. A magical realism novel)

I was pretty stoked to see the week 34 topic: A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere make it into the 2017 challenge and knew right away that I would choose a book from South America for it. I did read a few books that took place in Africa in 2016 and Australia seemed too easy. But I couldn't think of any books that I'd ever read for South America and that seemed like an error in need of rectification. So, I chose One Hundred Years of Solitude for that topic. It's one of those books that everyone speaks highly of and I felt that I really should have read.

Only problem is: it doesn't take place in the southern hemisphere.

Now, I don't like to research my books too much before starting them - I'm afraid of spoilers. But South America is a big continent with most of it in the southern hemisphere. So I assumed my odds were good that at least part of the book takes place there and besides that Gabriel García Márquez is from South America, so now there are two chances to land on the right side of the equator.

But no. Both Garcia Marquez' birthplace and the book locale are the very northern side of Columbia. Finding a new topic for the book wasn't hard. According to the back of the book, it's the Magical Realism novel that kick started the genre, so I moved it to that week instead. The real issue is that it bumped my second Gabriel García Márquez novel planned from that week, Love in the Time of Cholera, which also does not take place in the Southern Hemisphere (would have been cool to just swap them). And I really, really want to read another book by him about now, after how well I received Cien años

None of Gabriel García Márquez's books take place in the southern hemisphere, as far as I can tell.

But I found a new book for the Southern Hemisphere AND I finally found a place for my boy Kurt Vonnegut Jr..

I'm so glad you liked One Hundred Years of Solitude. It's one of my all time favourites. I've read it twice, once in my twenties, and the second time maybe 20 years later, and it didn't disappoint.

Have you read many of his other books, Anna? This one really, really leaves me with a desire to read more and while I was initially tempted by Love in the Time of Cholera, because it is the other well known work. I've been leaning toward The Autumn of the Patriarch because of the section in Cien años de soledad relating to government.

I've read many of his books. I can't recall not liking anything I've read by him. I liked Love in the Time of Cholera, as well as the Chronicle of a Death Foretold. I haven't read The Autumn of the Patriarch, if you decide on that one, I'll be interested in what you think of it. Well, I'll be interested in your opinion of any of them. :)

(48. A banned book)

Naked Lunch is one of those books that I've been meaning to read for quite a while... and boy am I sorry I did. If you ever feel the desire to find out what the hype is about: i'd advise strongly against it. But if you are a bit curious and not easily deterred, then try reading any point in the book at random. Where doesn't matter at all, there is no plot and the author freely admits this. If you don't like what you see, put it down and move on. It's all like that. If you do like it, then you can have it and I wish you the best.

Moving on, though, I'd like to rant a bit at the predilection for extended editions of popular works. Sure, I've seen some great ones and been enticed to buy quite a few. But rather than being exclusive to instances where something can be added, they are forced upon everything.

Back to Naked Lunch. One of the addenda onto the book, in fact the bit introducing all the additions. is a letter from author William S. Burroughs explaining why this work does not need an extended edition and why it should stay the way it is.

How meta is that?

(44. A recommendation from "What Should I Read Next")

Generally speaking, I like to limit myself to one Dick a year. But it would seem that 2017 is a two Dick year. In making my plan, I knew that I should slot in a work by Philip K. Dick and I needed up listing two just to keep the options open. Bother were alternative picks for their topics.

But when Naked Lunch became my banned book pick, it made Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said my only option left on the original list for week 44, and I wasn't averse to that.

This is the fifth book that I've read by Philip K. Dick and its my second favorite, after Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. I love the unpredictability his stories, since I tend to be the type of reader that figures out what is going to happen way too early in a book and that's probably impossible to do with a Dick.

(34. A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere)

When building the original 2017 list, I tried hard to fit books by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. but succeeded in only finding a place for one. And that book was cut when I realized that it didn't actually fit the topic. So imagine my elation when I realized that he did have a book for this topic.

I think I've finally accepted that Vonnegut is my new favorite author. Of the 6 books that I've read of his, 4 have gotten full marks. That's better than even Douglas Adams has fared. Galápagos, my pick for the week 34 book, is that fourth 'perfect' book.

Mr. Vonnegut takes a fairly out there premise, that the large brain found in humans is a evolutionarily detrimental trait that will be selected against, and sells it.

(50. A Penguin Modern Classic)

There was a time when I would scoff at the easy prompts. I hated to see them win in the polls and I wasn't too keen on filling them. 'A challenge should be a challenge,' I would say.

But I think I am beginning to appreciate them more. Reading lots of classics, well written or lengthy, is fine and all but once in a while you need a fun book to keep up the good reading mood.

This prompt isn't particularly easy, but it is one that tends toward classics. Originally, I had slated The Pit: A Story of Chicago here, which is a book I've owned for a while and by an author I am quite fond of. But I felt that what I needed about now was a light, fun read and I knew that P.G. Wodehouse was up to the task. Luckily, he also has a few Penguin classics.

I chose Summer Lightning because it both qualified for the prompt and filled a year that I've not yet read a book from, 1929, which was also the year my house was built.

(12. A book based on a myth)

I was surprised what a fast read The Penelopiad was, not only because it is short, but also it is a very smooth, well paced one. I'd recommend this to anyone who has fallen behind in their 52.

As much as I enjoyed the book, I am also disappointed. It was such a cool and well thought out idea, that Margaret Atwood could have done so much more with it. Especially considering how talented an author she is. I was tempted to drop it all the way to 3 star, but it still manages to make some great points that make it so much more than just a cool idea short story. Plus, I think the chorus added that extra level to it. It's nice to see poetry well used.

I'm planning on reading this for the same prompt, but have been putting it off for some reason. Probably thought it wasn't an easy read. I'm upping it now. :)

^I've been doing the same thing with Oryx and Crake. Perhaps Margaret Atwood is intimidating.

(A really long book (600+ pages))

I chose Skeleton Crew as mong book because it was available as an audiobook and I thought it would work well in that format. As a short story collection, most of the tales could be completed in just the time needed to drive to and from work in one day. But I ended up both listening to and reading it. Some stories worked better in one format or the other. So ultimately, I think this was a good way to go.

As with most short story collections, it was hit or miss. "Gramma" is by far the best story in the collection and for worst. I would likely say "The Jaunt".

(25. A book about a famous historical figure)

I'm fairly disappointed in Chaka, espeially since I had to buy it to read it (my library doesn't have a copy). Though I do think it was worth reading. Like Shōgun, my week 5 book, this is based on some very interesting history. But also like that one, it alters the events of the past and does so in a way that makes the story less good.

In a way, it is more forgivable here. Thomas Mofolo had to consider his target audience and was publishing through the church missionaries in his area. So, it's not surprising that the was forced to fit into classic Eurpopean story telling and with a Christian sensibility. It's just damned unfortunate, The writer is quite good and he does manage to maintain many African elements, but between the adjusted to fit plot and the bad historical accuracy, I just can't rank it very highly.

Ironically, he went through all the trouble to fit the story to something that could be published in England and they still didn't publish it. He submitted this in 1909 and it wasn't published until 1925. Unfortunately for me, I read it to qualify for the year 1931, which was when it was translated and not when it was first published. I didn't actually need 1925. It did give me South Africa for the Around the World Challenge, though.