2025 Reading Challenge discussion

PERSONAL CHALLENGE
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Books: 33/30
Pages: 10343/10,000

1. Sandman Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman (156 pages - 1/6)
2. Foundation by Isaac Asimov (244 pages - 1/10)
3. A Stained White Radiance by James Lee Burke (305 pages - 1/17)
4. The Crime At Black Dudley by Margery Allingham (145 pages - 1/17)
5. after the quake by Haruki Murakami (147 pages - 2/3)
6. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (340 pages - 2/21)
7. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (374 pages - 3/6)
8. Sackett's Land by Louis L'Amour (185 pages - 3/11)
9. Saga 1 by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples (160 pages - 3/14)
10. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (552 pages - 3/28)
11. Unbroken A World War II Story of Survival Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (406 pages - 4/8) ****
12. The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (501 pages - 4/27) ****
13. Saga 2 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (144 pages - 5/14) ****
14. Saga 3 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (144 pages - 5/17) ****
15. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (296 pages - 5/22) *****
16. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (335 pages - 6/4) ***1/2
17. Chocolat by Joanne Harris (306 pages - 6/13) ****1/2
18. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (771 pages - 7/12) *****
19. Saga #4 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (152 pages - 7/26) ***1/2
20. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro (317 pages - 7/26) ***1/2
21. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (476 pages - 8/22) ****
22. Shortcomings by Andrian Tomine (108 pages - 8/29) ****
23. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (229 pages - 8/31) ****
24. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (531 pages - 9/29) ****
25. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (278 pages - 10/3) *****
26. The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (206 pages - 10/6) ****
27. Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham (256 pages - 10/18)****
28. Dark of the Moon by John Sandford (418 pages - 10/28) ****
29. Buried Prey by John Sandford (328 pages - 11/7) ****
30. Malice Domestic by Mollie Hardwick (214 pages - 11/19) ***1/2
31. The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi (338 pages - 11/29) ****
32. Survivor in Death by J. D. Robb (378 pages - 12/11) **1/2
33. Trunk Music by Michael Connelly (502 pages - 12/22) ***1/2

Star wrote: "Looks like some good challenges Joe. Good luck with your challenges in 2015!"

Thank you. I'm ready to get started!

Sandman Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman (156 pages - 1/6) ***

The stories are a bit abstract paired with some rather abstract art. Sandman Endless Nights is interesting and the genre is fascinating, but I'm gonna need more practice.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov (244 pages - 1/10) ***

As I was reading I kept thinking this feels like a collection of disconnected, barely related short stories. I didn't realize until late in the book, that that is in fact what Foundations is.

This book is another example of why I'm not the biggest fan of dystopian sci-fi. Thin characters, drab landscape along with brilliant philosophical and psychological observations.

A Stained White Radiance by James Lee Burke (305 pages - 1/17) *****

I love this author.

The Crime At Black Dudley by Margery Allingham (145 pages - 1/17) ****

3.5 stars. Well developed characters although the story dragged a bit. I believe this was Allingham's first book and, if my math is correct, it was published when she was 25 years old. So I'm rounding up! Great career opener.

after the quake by Haruki Murakami (147 pages - 2/3) ****

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (340 pages - 2/21) *****

This guy breaks all the rules of writing and it is very effective. Diaz gets to say all of the things about Dominican dictators that couldn't be said under the brutal rule of Rafael Trujillo. The nonlinear storytelling of Oscar Wao's family history was great.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (374 pages - 3/6) ***1/2

I'd never heard of gaming fiction so I picked up the first one mentioned on the Favorite Genre Challenge (I'm certainly getting more variety so far this year than the end of last year). This was a fun book although reading long virtual reality fight scenes is only slightly better than watching CGI transformers duke it out on the screen.

Sackett's Land by Louis L'Amour (185 pages - 3/11) ****

In 1599, Barnabas Sackett, a low born Brit, has no chance to exceed his position until he washes up on the shore of America. And the encroachment begins... L'Amour is good. His characters are the best version of a human.

Saga 1 by Brian Vaughan (48 pages - 3/14) ***1/2

I wouldn't normally count a 48 pager on my book shelf, but graphic novel is an important departure for me and one I would never have found without Goodreads and members of this group.

This is a fascinating genre and I'm sorry I didn't start earlier in life, but I'm still trying to decipher my experience. I don't know that I will become a big consumer of graphic novels, but Saga #1 certainly left me wanting more.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (552 pages - 3/28) ****

Unbroken A World War II Story of Survival Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (406 pages - 4/8) ****


Fun Notes: My last two books (The Book Thief set in Nazi Germany and Unbroken from the perspective of an American Olympian) referred prominently to the 1936 Olympics and mentioned distance runner Glenn Cunningham. I love it when that happens especially when it is completely unplanned, unexpected and unrelated. Perhaps that speaks to the variety of reading I am getting from my participation in this group!

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (501 pages - 4/27) ****
I knew nothing about this book when I picked it up from the library (four months late for the January Group Read. Oh well... its never too late to read a book) so I feel that anything I say now would have been a spoiler before.

Faber sure has his religion down. When a character feels vulnerable, he knows just the scripture to use to club them over the head courtesy of the former master manipulator turned clueless innocent, Pastor Peter Leigh. I thought Peter's self doubt and internal torture over the right words to say was well played. The resulting email thread where Peter and Bea talk past each other (view spoiler)[to the point that they lose each other (hide spoiler)]was the correct result. And quite realistic. Email is a horrible communication mode and this allowed Faber to put a lot of honesty into his characters and situations. There is some obvious personal experience here with religion and clumsy communication.

I felt like Faber was working in several layers in flipped scenarios that I was just a little too lazy to appreciate. I suspect there is underlying thread that disillusion and dissolution is endemic to the human superiority complex.

(view spoiler)[
1. Peter going away, but Bea the one who leaves
2. Missionary Father Peter being ministered to by his parishioners
3. The Oasans having an intuition or level of perception into the inner working of humans and a capacity for understanding that the humans can not comprehend.
4. Suggestions of imperialism and exploitation of Oasis that are never confirmed
5. The possibility that humans contribute to end of planet earth
6. Preparations on Oasis to receive the "very elect", hand picked by USIC. Is this the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21? (Oh, oh... that would not be biblical).
(hide spoiler)]

I was watching to see if Faber had an agenda for or against religion and, coming from a bumbling religious background myself, I was entertained. If Faber had an agenda, I thought he did a good job just telling the story. If you are a religious person, the message is not watered down. Which means if you are not a religious person, there is plenty of places you can roll your eyes in ridicule, but you can't really fault Father Peter for his stupid innocence (although that was a little strange given his less than innocent history).

That was an abrupt ending after so much time developing the plot(s) and characters. I sometimes wonder how an artist knows their work is complete. I tend to appreciate their decision and I was okay resolving some loose threads for myself. It sounds like Faber had some challenges in life that required the project to wrap up which I accept.

In the end I lingered on a strong 3.5 stars, but I felt there was enough extra and unique to push me up to 4.

Fun Notes: This is the second book in the last five I have read where authors, quite distant from Oregon, have minor characters placed in rural Oregon locations.

Ready Player One: Wallowa Mountains
BoSNT: Bend

Did you like Foundation? I really liked it when I read it years ago. I think I was on a big Asimov binge for several years. And all of his books kind of run together in my mind. I've read a lot of other books since then and I'm not sure if I would still like his books or not.

Unfortunately I'm not the biggest fan of sci-fi, which says to me that I need to read more of it! I specifically intend to read the rest of the Foundation Series.

I don't really enjoy reading dystopia. I feel like sci-fi authors are very focused on politics, economics and spirituality, which I love, and actively intent to develop drab, hostile landscapes which challenge my slow reading pace.

When I was reading Foundation, I felt like it had several barely connected stories. After reading it, I looked it up and found that, in fact, it is a series of short stories that were originally published in a magazine. There was very little character development with thin connections between stories. Everything felt enclosed, the plot is enclosed in conversations that occurred in enclosed conference rooms. It seemed like, this being Asimov's early work, he was portraying his thoughts about controlling people through the politics of religion and economics (I love that part!) rather than telling a story. I didn't make any connection to people or places. Really, I guess I could say I like Foundation without completely enjoying it. Similarly, Dune Messiah was a book that I loved but didn't enjoy. I give it a whole hearted 5 stars because it is mind blowing brilliant, but it was a frustrating, chaotic read!

You have some interesting variety on your read list! It looks like I could get some sci-fi suggestions from you.

You might want to read Heinlein perhaps the moon is a harsh mistress or starship troopers. I think both have political aspects. Douglas Adams hitchhikers guide ... Series are very funny. Another one to check out is Hyperion by Dan Simmons. This borrows story format from the Canterbury Tales with a short told from each member of the group. There are connections between the stories and the whole thing is very thought out.

Jumping in on your conversation! I read Forward the Foundation before realizing that most people suggest reading the original Foundation trilogy before the prequels. I liked it, even though it seemed like it could use some editing and general tightening up. I'm planning on reading Foundation soon.

I'm a big fan of science fiction, but there are so many sci-fi classics that I haven't read. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Hyperion are also on my list. I'd be up for a buddy read if you want to read those (or others) at some point.

One thing I haven't read is anything by HG Wells or Jules Verne. They seem to be the founders of science fiction so they might be interesting to read.

I read The Time Machine/The Invisible Man earlier this year and they were both fairly interesting. The Invisible Man reminded me of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Time Machine was way more of a social commentary on Marxism than it was a science fiction book. I haven't read any Jules Verne yet.

There is going to be a buddy read of Doomsday Book by Connie Willis in June. That's one I haven't read. It's been on my self for years waiting to be read.