I read the running man by stephen king in like 5 hours. I couldnt put that s*** down it was fire 🙏🙏
damn OP you beat me to it, was gonna make a "your year in books" thread about how many you read, your top 5, what you want to read more/less of, etc.
my favorites this year:
edit: the ones in bold are books that got recommended in this section so shout out to y'all for the recommendations
fiction
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
non-fiction
Go Ahead In the Rain by Hanif Abdurraqib
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
Washington Bullets by Vijay Prashad
I reread the secret history and the goldfinch once a year and they only get better with every reread
I reread the secret history and the goldfinch once a year and they only get better with every reread
really wanna see a film/TV adaptation that does The Secret History justice
gonna read The Goldfinch for the first time very soon
really wanna see a film/TV adaptation that does The Secret History justice
gonna read The Goldfinch for the first time very soon
The goldfinch is just as good imo
Film adoption would be dope as long as they don’t butcher it like they did with the goldfinch movie
I thought the play with time and ambitious cast of characters was unique- tho I didn’t actually care for many of the relationships tbh. Maybe that was the a big drawback for me. I want to say that both sisters were in relationships that I didn’t care much for, but that’s not necessarily the authors fault.
Maybe I just didn’t like her prose style. I usually find reasons to love long novels because of the investment but this one left me lukewarm. I COULD read one of her other texts, but this reading experience dropped them down the list. There are other African novels & novelists I’d like to read too. Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Zimbabwean novel Nervous Conditions was another one from the past year that I enjoyed- though less than this (I’d give Adichie’s text a 7/10 for reference, meaning it was disappointing but still good)
Whatever floats ur boat if i were u id re read it sometime in the future. Theres literally so much more happening. Since ur unsure of why u dont like it, a reread would help. Its an amazing, shocking piece of work
Whatever floats ur boat if i were u id re read it sometime in the future. Theres literally so much more happening. Since ur unsure of why u dont like it, a reread would help. Its an amazing, shocking piece of work
Can you note some of the threads that stuck out for you? Or are there any I missed below? I don’t think they necessarily passed me by..
the various subthemes I’m recalling are middle/upper class activism, nationalism vs patriotism (and if there’s a distinction to be made there), ethnic tribalism and nation-making in “post-colonia” Africa most interesting thread, gender hierarchy, and of course the privilege of narrative (with one of the partners who is trying to write about the war- also interesting but I remember getting more disinvested from his character as chapters progressed).
I don’t think the novel is lacking for themes but I’d be more likely to try Americanah or something by her than reread
Notes of a Native Son
Manufacturing Consent
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
I finally read some James Baldwin after runnin SRS to death again and seein his quotes posted around my city last year. Incredible essays and anecdotes. Came away from it feeling like the quotes from him I saw didn't really communicate the impact of a lot of what he had to say. Really impressive stuff.
Stoner
A Clash Of Kings
A Game Of Thrones
Notes From The Underground
The Death Of Ivan Ilyic
White Nights
damn I read so much I cant even remember, I always been terrible with remembering names, titles etc tho
Blood meridian
just started this a little dry so far do I just need to keep going atmosphere of it feels wild tho
really fell in love with joan didion this year
she just passed today </3
easily one of the greatest to ever do it man. highly recommend her stuff, especially if you’re in ny or cali
American Tabloid / Poisoner in Chief
those both sound like my kind of read, gonna add em to my list
those both sound like my kind of read, gonna add em to my list
You won’t be disappointed my man 🤝
What’s the first
Moby D***, and they’re such opposites
Moby D*** shows me what it feels to be human and Blood Meridian shows human behavior to be completely alien and animalistic when observed from a distance
Too many but just off the top
Fiction:
Patricia Lockwood - No One is Talking About This
Flann O Brien - The Third Policeman
Max Porter - Grief is the Thing With Feathers
Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace
Non-Fiction:
Mark Fisher - Postcapitalist Desire: The Final Lectures
Just finished Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, which is about tied w/ my favorites from the earlier post for favorite book I read this year. Nice way to end things
• The Disappearance of Rituals – Byung-Chul Han
• Toward Freedom – Touré Reed
• Season of the New World Order – Randy Cunningham
• Writings – Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet