Svenna's 2026 Buffet! > Likes and Comments

I’ve been hearing about these challenges for a few years and finally decided it was time to join the group and try for myself. Yay! Lots of amazing challenges and I’m looking forward to getting into them… and to adding to my TBR lists by stealing from everyone else’s buffets. Still adding and tweaking my plan, but thought I would post what I have so far.

Planning to do:
Challenge #1 - New & Old TBR
Challenge #2 - Members Choice
Challenge #3 - New Authors
Challenge #4 - Short Story
Challenge #5 - Decade/Century
Challenge #7 - Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete
Challenge #8 - Travel the World One Book at a Time
Challenge #9 - Rereading
Challenge #11 - Future Classics

May do (later or accidentally):
Challenge #6 - Group Reads, Buddy Reads, Moderators Run Amok
Challenge #10 - Most Popular Goodreads Books Listed by Year
Challenge #13 - Old and New Linked Categories
Challenge #14 - Genre Locked? Neglecting Your Favorite Author?
Challenge #15 - Award Winners
Challenge #18 - A-Z Author
Challenge #19 - A-Z Title
Challenge #20 - No Challenge Here. A Place to List Your 2026 Impulse Reads

Challenge #1 - Old & New TBR Challenge

Taking on this challenge to start working through the enormous collection of books that have been sitting on my shelves collecting dust for well over a decade (with a couple of exceptions for newer books or too-long-borrowed books I’ve been meaning to give back to friends).

1914 and earlier:
1. Candide (Voltaire, trans. Lowell Bair), 1759
2. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë), 1847
3. Fathers and Sons (Ivan Turgenev), 1862

1915-2006/New School:
1. Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Wolff), 1925
2. Hot Water (P.G. Wodehouse), 1932
3. Ape and Essence (Aldous Huxley), 1948

Six Bookshelf Dust Collectors:
✅ 1. Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse), 1927 ⭐️⭐️
2. The Sound of the Mountain (Yasunari Kawabata), 1954
✅ 3. Season of Migration to the North (Tayeb Salih), 1966 ⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4
4. Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys), 1966
5. Autonomous (Annalee Newitz), 2017
6. Less (Andrew Sean Greer), 2017

Alternates:
1. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez), 1967
2. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (Tom Robbins), 1976
3. Anil's Ghost (Michael Ondaatje), 2000

Challenge #2 - Members Choice Challenge

Most of these will happen organically. Filling in just those that need pre-planning.

1. 18th Century or Older – Candide (Voltaire, trans. Lowell Bair), 1759 -or-
The Tempest (William Shakespeare), 1623
2. 19th Century -
✅ 3. 20th Century - Season of Migration to the North (Tayeb Salih), 1966 ⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4
4. 21st Century -
5. A book of interest from another diner's buffet –
(some possibilities)
Wobbley: Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Madeleine Thien)
Wobbley: Time and Again (Clifford D. Simak)
Jeri: The City of Mist (Carlos Ruiz Zafón)
Teri-K: Eugene Onegin (Alexander Pushkin)
Teri-K: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (S.A. Chakraborty)
Teri-K: The Sound of Waves (Yukio Mishima)
Katy: Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert A. Heinlein)
Katy: The Lighthouse at the End of the World (Jules Verne)
Sara: One Foot in Eden (Ron Rash)
Sara: The Watch that Ends the Night (Hugh MacLennan)
Sara: A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles)
...

✅ 6. Members Choice Genre - Classic Sci-Fi: Way Station (Clifford D. Simak, 1963) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
✅ 7. Members Choice Genre - Classic Fantasy: The King of Elfland's Daughter (Lord Dunsany, 1924) ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
✅ 8. Members Choice Genre - Hard-Boiled Detective: The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett) ⭐️⭐️
9. Members Choice Genre -

Some Genre Choices-
Fiction - Science Fiction. Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Suspense, Young Adult, Poetry, Plays, Romance, etc.
Nonfiction - History, Biography, Memoir, Politics, Religion, Science, Philosophy, Sports, Travel, Self Help, etc.

✅ DONE Challenge #3 - Expand Your Horizon with New Authors

This will happen without pre-planning

1. ✅ Clifford D. Simak (Way Station, 1963)
2. ✅ Tayeb Salih (Season of Migration to the North, 1966)
3. ✅ Lord Dunsany (The King of Elfland’s Daughter, 1924)
4. ✅ Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Timequake, 1997)

Challenge #4 - Short Story Challenge

Short Stories are an uncommon form for me, so I’ve opted mostly to find a bunch of different collections that I didn’t know about before that I can pick freely from. Maybe I’ll read one or two stories from several collections or maybe I’ll fall in love with one collection and read everything from it. I’ll gladly take advice/suggestions about these!

Possibilities: Individual Stories
1. Sonny's Blues (James Baldwin)
2. The Call of Cthulu (H.P. Lovecraft)
3. The Most Dangerous Game (Richard Connell)

Possibilities: Compilations
1. Tenth of December (George Saunders)
2. The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl (Roald Dahl)
3. I Sing the Body Electric! & Other Stories -or- R is for Rocket (Ray Bradbury)
4. Exhalation (Ted Chiang)
5. Partners in Crime (Agatha Christie)
6. Homesick for Another World (Ottessa Moshfegh)
7. Sabrina & Corina (Kali Fajardo-Anstine)
8. First Person Singular: Stories (Haruki Murakami)
9. Are You Enjoying? (Mira Sethi)
10. What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours (Helen Oyeyemi)
11. A Universe of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology (Dhonielle Clayton, ed.)
12. Unaccustomed Earth -or- Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)
13. Dear Life (Alice Munro)
14. A Phoenix First Must Burn (Patrice Caldwell, ed)
15. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Raymond Carver)
16. Winnie-the-Pooh (A.A. Milne)

Stories I read in 2026:
1. Kew Gardens (Virginia Wolff, 1919) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

2-11: stories from Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. "In Which We Are Introduced to Winnie the Pooh and Some Bees and the Stories Begin"
3. "In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets into a Tight Place"
4. "In Which Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a Woozle"
5. "In Which Eeyore Loses a Tail and Pooh Finds One"
6. "In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump"
7. "In Which Eeyore has a Birthday and Gets Two Presents"
8. "In Which Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest and Piglet Has a Bath"
9. "In Which Christopher Robin Leads an Expotition to the North Pole"
10. "In Which Piglet Is Entirely Surrounded by Water"
11. "In Which Christopher Robin Gives Pooh a Party and We Say Goodbye"

12. The Rocket Man by Ray Bradbury ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
…
16.

Challenge #5 - Decade/Century Challenge

I will do either one or both of these challenges. For each, I have (at least) two options, and where I can, one of those options is a book currently on my physical bookshelves and the other is something that is new to me (or at least something I don’t own).

5a: The Decade Challenge – 1923–1932
1923: Emily of New Moon (L.M. Montgomery) -or-
The Prophet (Kahlil Gibran)
1924: A Passage to India (E.M. Forster) -or-
✅ The King of Elfland's Daughter (Lord Dunsany) ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 -or-
The Most Dangerous Game (Richard Connell)
1925: Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Wolff) -or-
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
1926: The Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemmingway) -or-
✅ Winne-the-Pooh (A.A. Milne) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ -or-
Lud-in-the-Mist (Hope Mirrlees)
1927: ✅ Steppenwolf (Herman Hesse) ⭐️⭐️ -or-
Death Comes for the Archbishop (Willa Cather)
1928: Millions of Cats (Wanda Gág) -or-
The Call of Cthulu (H.P. Lovecraft)
1929: ✅ Southern Mail (Antoine de Saint Exupéry) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ -or-
Letters to a Young Poet (Rainer Maria Rilke)
1930: ✅ The Maltese Falcon (Dashiel Hammett) ⭐️⭐️1/2 -or-
Murder at the Vicarage (Agatha Christie)
1931: The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck) -or-
Black No More (George Schuyler)
1932: Hot Water (P.G. Wodehouse) -or-
Greenbanks (Dorothy Whipple)

Or... i'm accidentally reading lots of books from the 1960s, so i may go this route instead. We'll see...

5b: The Century Challenge – 1920s–2010s or 1930s–2020s (i'll decide later)

1910s:✅ The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
1920s:✅ Southern Mail (Antoine de Saint Exupéry), 1929 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ -or-
Death Comes for the Archbishop (Willa Cather), 1927
1930s: Hot Water (P.G. Wodehouse), 1932 -or-
✅ The Maltese Falcon (Dashiel Hammett), 1930 ⭐️⭐️1/2
1940s: Ape and Essence (Aldous Huxley), 1948 -or-
I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith), 1948
1950s: The Sound of the Mountain (Yasunari Kawabata), 1954 -or-
I, Robot (Isaac Asimov), 1950 -or-
Sonny's Blues (James Baldwin), 1957 -or-
✅ The Rocket Man (Ray Bradbury), 1951 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
1960s: ✅ Season of Migration to the North (Tayeb Salih), 1966 ⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4 -or-
✅Way Station (Clifford D. Simak), 1963 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 -or-
A Covenant With Death (Stephen Becker), 1964 -or-
I Sing the Body Electric! (Ray Bradbury), 1969
1970s: Briefing for a Descent Into Hell (Doris Lessing), 1971 -or-
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (John le Carré), 1974 -or-
Tau Zero (Poul Anderson), 1970
1980s: Neuromancer (William Gibson), 1984 -or-
Matilda (Roald Dahl) 1988 -or-
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History (Art Spiegelman), 1986
1990s: The Blue Flower (Penelope Fitzgerald), 1995 -or-
✅ Timequake (Kurt Vonnegut Jr.), 1997 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
2000s: Anil's Ghost (Michael Ondaatje), 2000 -or-
On Beauty (Zadie Smith), 2005 -or-
The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafón), 2001
2010s: Less (Andrew Sean Greer), 2017 -or-
Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Madeleine Thien), 2016
2020s: Piranesi (Susanna Clarke), 2020
The Everlasting (Alix E. Harrow), 2025

Challenge 6 - Group Reads, Buddy Reads, or Moderators Run Amok

Read 10 books/stories from this year’s poll winners, the Buddy Read Requests, or the new Moderators Run Amok

I might do this one, depending the books chosen and the timing of them. Here are some currently listed that I’m potentially interested in:

✅ The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany (January)
✅ This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart (February)
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (March)
I Sing the Body Electric! by Ray Bradbury (March)
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (March)
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (April)
My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart (April 15)
The Spectator Bird (Wallace Stegner) (May)


Books I read in 2026:

1. The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany (Buddy Read, January) ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
2. Kew Gardens by Virginia Wolff (Group Reads Short Story, January) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
3. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart (Buddy Read, February) ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
4. Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (Buddy Read, February) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
…
10.

✅ DONE Challenge #7- Series Books – Start, Continue, Complete

I’ve finished the 2 for the challenge but will likely read more.

I’m listing a few series I’ve started and then a too-big list of ones I’m considering starting. Would love others’ thoughts on these!

Possibilities to Continue/Complete:

1. The Lost Metal (Brandon Sanderson). Mistborn: The Wax & Wayne Series, Book 4
2. At the Feet of the Sun (Victoria Goddard). Lays of the Hearth-Fire, Book 2
3. Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome (John Scalzi). Lock In series, Book 3

Possibilities to Start

1. The Last Wish (Andrej Sapkowski). The Witcher series, Book 1
2. A Memory Called Empire (Arkady Martine). Teixcalaan, Book 1
3. The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafón). The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Book 1
4. The Fifth Season (N.K. Jemison). The Broken Earth, Book 1
5. Parable of the Sower (Octavia E. Butler). Earthseed, Book 1
6. Yotsuba&!, Vol. 1 (Kiyohiko Azuma). Yotsuba&!, Book 1
7. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (John le Carré). The Karla Trilogy, Book 1
8. A Princess of Mars (Edgar Rice Burroughs). The Martian Series, Book 1
9. The Lightning Thief (Rick Riordan). Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1
10. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson). Millennium, Book 1
11. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card). Ender’s Saga, Book 1
12. Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer). Artemis Fowl, Book 1
13. The Color of Magic (Terry Pratchett). Discworld, Book 1
14. Emily of New Moon (L.M. Montgomery). Emily, Book 1

Ones I read in 2026:
1. Start: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. The Empyrean, Book 1 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. Continue: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. The Empyrean, Book 2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

✅ DONE Challenge #8 - Travel the World One Book at a Time

Select 5 books, by 5 different authors, from 5 different countries, other than your own.

Book Title - Author/Country - Book Setting

(This will likely happen without pre-planning)

1. ✅ Season of Migration to the North — Tayeb Salih, Sudan — Sudan and England
2. ✅ Southern Mail — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, France — France and parts of North Africa
3. ✅ The King of Elfland's Daughter — Lord Dunsany, Ireland — fantastical England-esque place and magical Elfland
4. ✅ Timequake — Kurt Vonnegut Jr., US — US
5. ✅ The Secret Garden — Frances Hodgson Burnett, England — England and India

✅ DONE Challenge #9 - Re-reading

Possibilities:
1. Tigana (Guy Gavriel Kay)
2. The Ten Thousand Doors of January (Alix E. Harrow)
3. The Martian (Andy Weir)
4. ✅ The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
5. ✅ The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
…

Ones I reread in 2026:
1. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Challenge #10 – Most Popular Goodreads Books Listed by Year

I might do this later

Challenge #11 - Future Classics

Possible Future Classics (that i've read)
1. The Martian (Andy Weir)
2. The Ten Thousand Doors of January (Alix E. Harrow)
3. Americanah (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)

Possible Future Classics (that i haven't read)
1. Piranesi (Susanna Clarke)
2. Less (Andrew Sean Greer)
3. The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafón)
4. On Beauty (Zadie Smith)
5. The Everlasting (Alix E. Harrow)

Book i read in 2026
1.

Challenge #12– Fiction/Non-Fiction

I probably won't do this one... but might.

Challenge #13 - Old and New Linked Categories

I might do this one later.

Challenge #14 - Break Your Reading Rut

Part A-Are you Genre Locked?
Part B-Are you Neglecting a Favorite Author?

I might do one or both of these later.

Challenge #15 - Award Winners

I might do this later

Challenge #16 Terry's Book Chain

I probably won't do this one.

Challenge #17 - The Year You Were Born and 100 Years Earlier

I probably won't do this one.

Challenge #18 - A-Z Author Challenge

If i do this one, it will be accidentally getting close and then finding something for the last few letters late in the year.

A
B - Frances Hodgson Burnett (The Secret Garden)
C
D - Lord Dunsany (The King of Elfland's Daughter)
E
F
G
H - Hermann Hesse (Steppenwolf)
I
J
K
L
M - A.A. Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh)
N
O
P
*Q
R
S - Clifford D. Simak (Way Station)
T
U
V - Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Timequake)
W - Virginia Woolf (Kew Gardens)
*X
*Y - Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing)
*Z

Challenge #19 - A-Z Title Challenge

If i do this one, it will be accidentally getting close and then finding something for the last few letters late in the year.

A
B
C
D
E
F - Fourth Wing (Rebecca Yarros) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
G
H
I - Iron Flame (Rebecca Yarros) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
J
K - The King of Elfland's Daughter (Lord Dunsany) ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
L - The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
M - The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett) ⭐️⭐️
N
O
P
*Q
R - This Rough Magic (Mary Stewart) ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
S - Season of Migration to the North (Tayeb Salih) ⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4
T - Timequake (Kurt Vonnegut Jr.) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
U
V
W - Way Station (Clifford D. Simak) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
*X
*Y
*Z

Challenge #20? No, Just a Place to List Your 2026 Impulse Reads

I might do this one.

TBR inspired by other diners’ 2026 reviews:

The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry (from Teri-K)
Maurice by E.M. Forster (from KeenReader)
Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr (series from Bob)
The Miracles of Santo Fico by D.L. Smith (from KeenReader)
The Warden by Anthony Trollope (series from Terris)
The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst (from Teri-K)
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (suggested by Wobbley)
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter translated by Donald Keene (from Wobbley)
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (suggested by Wobbley)
Chaim Potok — The Chosen (from Wobbley) or My Name Is Asher Lev (from Sara)
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (from Kathleen)
Random Harvest by James Hilton (suggested by Wobbley)
All Systems Red by Martha Wells (from Teri-K)
Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer (from Teri-K)
The House with the Mezzanine by Anton Chekhov (trans. Pevear and Volokhonsky) (from Teri-K)
So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell (from Wobbley)
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (from Wobbley)
The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje (from Wobbley and others)
Tau Zero by Poul Anderson (from Wobbley)
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing and Bella Fleace Gives a Party from Mr Loveday's Little Outing & Other Early Stories (to see if i like Evelyn Waugh) (from Teri-K)
One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash (from Sara)

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Welcome to the group and to the buffet, Svenna! You have so many amazing books in your challenges. Personal favourites include Season of Migration to the North, A Covenant with Death, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Sonny's Blues, and many more. I hope you'll have time to join us for the buddy reads of the Mary Stewarts and the Bradbury -- just a small plug for the ones I'm participating in :). The buddy reads are a lot of fun. Happy reading!

Welcome to the buffet! You won't regret picking up a plate and digging in, I guarantee. :)

You have so many wonderful books and authors on your list, I can't even remember most of them. Tigana, Agatha Christie, Mary Stewart, Milne, Dunsany, Cather, Wodehouse... Lots of great reading. And remember, you can change anything except Task 1, as time goes on. So, if you're a mood reader like me, you can enjoy the planning and then read whatever you feel like as the year goes on.

Again, welcome. I look forward to following your progress and seeing what books you end up loving.

Wobbley wrote: "Welcome to the group and to the buffet, Svenna! You have so many amazing books in your challenges. Personal favourites include Season of Migration to the North, A Covenant with Death, Do Not Say We..."

Thanks Wobbley! I'm excited to get into it. Thanks for the recommendations; and your buffet looks amazing too! I will definitely keep my eye out for the buddy reads. I think i accidentally wanted to do all of the ones in March, which isn't ideal, but hopefully i can find the time. I've been in book clubs before but it's been many years since i read a book together with other people, so i'm looking forward to doing it again.

Teri-K wrote: "Welcome to the buffet! You won't regret picking up a plate and digging in, I guarantee. :)

You have so many wonderful books and authors on your list, I can't even remember most of them. Tigana, A..."

Hi Teri-K. Thanks so much. Several of the authors you mention from my list are actually new to me, so i'm super excited to try them out! And that's great to know about making changes. I am definitely a mood reader and i enjoy planning, so i feel like this is the best of all worlds! Looking forward to seeing your progress too (and i will almost certainly do some stealing from your buffet).

Welcome aboard! You do have some great choices already, and some I need to explore. I might be starting my 2027 list already!

Sara wrote: "Welcome aboard! You do have some great choices already, and some I need to explore. I might be starting my 2027 list already!"

Thanks so much Sara! Ha, yeah, it's a problem, the ever-expanding list! I've already found a few in your buffet that i want to read, and i'm sure there will be more. Looking forward to seeing what you think of them.

Welcome! I see quite a few overlapping interests actually! My memory is not so good to remember them all for one comment, but The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo is one on both our lists. I also have Percy Jackson there but am on book 2 of the series. Oh speaking of series, i didnt realize The Girl... Tattoo was part of a series! I heard of it long ago but never kept up, apparently. Hehe
Enjoy!

April wrote: "Welcome! I see quite a few overlapping interests actually! My memory is not so good to remember them all for one comment, but The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo is one on both our lists. I also have P..."

Thanks April. You have so many good books on your buffet too… especially in the awards category—I want to read so many of those! (And I highly recommend The 10,000 Doors of January). Can’t wait to hear how things go.

Svenna wrote: "April wrote: "Welcome! I see quite a few overlapping interests actually! My memory is not so good to remember them all for one comment, but The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo is one on both our lists...."

Oh yes, i have heard from another that that was a good book! Unfortunately, it will probably have to wait. I am actually still working on cutting back my plan a bit more to be realistic. Haha! I definitely have gotten lots of ideas for future reading in those awards lists, books from authors i enjoy or have heard good things about that i hadnt known of the titles. Hopefully i will get to read some of those good ones soon though!

April wrote: "Svenna wrote: "April wrote: "Welcome! I see quite a few overlapping interests actually! My memory is not so good to remember them all for one comment, but The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo is one on ..."

Oh man I know exactly what you mean about needing to cut back the plan — it is so easy to overindulge! Looking forward to seeing what books you end up with and hearing what you think of them. And definitely read 10000 doors when you get a chance. The beauty of books is that they’re always waiting for us when we’re ready for them.

That's a fabulous list. I'll be joining in on the Galapagos and
Our Mutual Friend buddy reads. See you there!

Klowey wrote: "That's a fabulous list. I'll be joining in on the Galapagos and
Our Mutual Friend buddy reads. See you there!"

Thanks Klowey! I’m excited about it. I just took a peek at your list and it looks amazing too. Many things to steal from it. Looking forward to seeing you in the buddy reads.

Finished my first couple of books for my challenge buffet:

Way Station by Clifford D Simak (1963) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

This was my first Simak and I really loved it. The story of a sometimes lonely man whose job it is to man a way station for alien travelers passing through earth on their way somewhere else, who doesn’t age as long as he stays inside the way station, and who has spent a century socializing with and learning from the travelers passing through. I really like the premise and found the execution and smaller concepts within it to be super creative. But what I loved most about it was its gentleness. There are some moments of action and conflict, to be sure (various people of earth suspect him in different ways, there’s a challenge from some of the alien planets, and things generally go awry) but by and large this is a story about quiet friendships and learning from difference, and it’s peppered with beautiful writing on the senselessness of war, what it means to be human but also to have humanity, and what we could learn from one another if we allowed ourselves to, without ever feeling heavy-handed. A gem of a book and a really successful first book for my challenge! A couple of small tastes:

“It had been in that moment that he had realized the insanity of war, the futile gesture that in time became all but meaningless, the unreasoning rage that must be nursed long beyond the memory of the incident that had caused the rage, the sheer illogic that one man, by death of misery, might prove a right or uphold a principle. Somewhere, he thought, on the long backtrack of history, the human race had accepted an insanity for a principle and had persisted in it until today that insanity-turned-principle stood ready to wipe out, if not the race itself, at least all of those things, both material and immaterial, that had been fashioned as symbols of humanity through many hard-won centuries.”

“There was almost a fairy quality to this place, he thought. The far look and the clear air and the feeling of detachment that touched almost on greatness of the spirit. As if this were a special place, one of those special places that each man must seek out for himself, and count himself as lucky if he ever found it, for there were those who sought and never found it. And worst of all, there were even those who never hunted for it.”

Southern Mail by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1929) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The first novel by the author who became most famous for Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), a book I have loved since elementary school. Like his 1931 book Vol de nuit (Night Flight), which I also loved, this one centers on a pilot flying the dangerous mail roots from Europe to Africa in the 1920s. The novel bounces between his experience doing that job, a failed affair with a married woman in Paris, and some younger memories, and moves un-linearly between various different points in his life and tenses as well as narrator perspectives (with the protagonist in the third person and an unnamed first person narrator—a longtime friend). The writing is often philosophical and it’s beautiful, like much of his writing, but I found the jumping between perspectives, timelines, and storylines somewhat jarring, and while I think I was supposed to find the affair tragic, I found I had no feelings about it whatsoever and that it was somewhat tiresome and overwrought without much depth for me. There were parts of the reading that I really loved, and especially just his use of language, which is often exquisite (despite my reading him in translation for the first time here — I usually read his books in French) but this one didn’t do it for me overall.


What’s interesting to me is that in some ways these two books I randomly chose to start with parallel each other. A single male protagonist, somewhat separated from the world, encountering people and experiences outside the bounds of what most other people do, but fleetingly, and feeling lonely and alone because of it. From Southern Mail:

“… after so long an absence it is not easy to feel at home again; one has the feeling of being one too many”

And while I enjoyed the writing of both, I definitely preferred the overall experience of Way Station.

You have a great list of books to tackle this year! Someday, probably not this year, I will read Stranger in a Strange Land. I will be interested in what you think of it.

Sorry Southern Mail wasn't up to the author's usual standard. But YES: You've described exactly what I loved about Way Station. It's such a wonderful book, and so little known I think -- I only ran across it because of people in this group reading it over the last couple of years. A terrific start to your Buffet challenges!

You are off to a grand start. I have Way Station on my definite list for this year. Nice to see you are another who really enjoyed it. Wobbley convinced me it is one I cannot miss.

Terry wrote: "You have a great list of books to tackle this year! Someday, probably not this year, I will read Stranger in a Strange Land. I will be interested in what you think of it."

Thanks Terry. Yeah, I’m really looking forward to digging into this list. So glad I joined the group! Not totally sure if I’ll get to Stranger in a Strange Land this year—since it’s my first time doing these challenges I’m trying not to overwhelm myself with too many longer books, to set myself up to succeed—but it’s been on my mental list for quite a while. I’ll certainly post about it if I read it, and I look forward to reading your comments about it when you get around to it too. Good luck with your own challenges.

Wobbley wrote: "Sorry Southern Mail wasn't up to the author's usual standard. But YES: You've described exactly what I loved about Way Station. It's such a wonderful book, and so little known I think -- I only ran..."

Yes! I had never heard of either the book or the author before joining this group, which seems like a surprise considering how good it is—AND that it won the Hugo. So glad I read it. It IS absolutely wonderful.

Sara wrote: "You are off to a grand start. I have Way Station on my definite list for this year. Nice to see you are another who really enjoyed it. Wobbley convinced me it is one I cannot miss."

Thanks, Sara. It feels good to have read a couple of books in the first few days of January and especially to have found one that I enjoyed so much. Looking forward to reading your thoughts once you’ve read Way Station too. I hope you love it.

What’s interesting to me is that in some ways these two books I randomly chose to start with parallel each other.y first Simak and I really loved it. The story of a sometimes..."

I'm definitely putting Way Station on my TBR! I missed Wobbley talking about it, but you've piqued my interest a lot. And I, too, love it when two random books dialogue with each other. Those unexpected connections make reading so much more meaningful - and fun, too. Like finding buried treasure you weren't even searching for. :)

Teri-K wrote: "And I, too, love it when two random books dialogue with each other. Those unexpected connections make reading so much more meaningful..."

What a perfect way to put it, Teri-K! It is like finding buried treasure you weren’t searching for – having a richer experience of one book or character by seeing it reflected through another. The beauty of reading: it is always experienced as an ever evolving dialogue for us. Glad you’ve decided to put Way Station on your TBR. Looking forward to hearing what you think of it.

I’ve been down with a bad cold which has given me an excuse to get lots of reading done under a cozy blanket on the couch. Two more from my buffet:

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (1966) ⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4

I have so many conflicted thoughts and feelings about this book. I devoured it in 24 hours and in some ways I really liked it. The writing is gorgeous. Rich and sumptuous and compelling (and therefore expertly translated from what I could tell). Narrated by a young Sudanese man returning to his village from school in England, the book slowly unravels his present-day story and inner thoughts and tensions simultaneously/intertwined with a story-within-a-story of another older such man now living in the village: Mustafa. The latter has a dark past that we (and the narrator) learn about in a very oblique and piecemeal way throughout. The book explores themes of colonialism/post-colonialism, the tension of cross-cultural interaction, and the aftermaths of both (including examining racial exoticization/fetishization and questions of identity) while simultaneously touching beautifully and gently on home and family and centering 1960s village life on the Nile through its own lenses. (Others have drawn parallels to Heart of Darkness and to Othello, but I hadn’t read either recently enough to make the connections while reading). So there were lots of things to like about this book, but I found it in many ways to be a fundamentally uncomfortable and sometimes disorienting book, not because of the themes (although there were moments of somewhat disturbing violence, racism, and misogyny), but because of the oblique, seemingly unreliable ways in which the stories were laid out and the fact that and I’m not entirely sure I actually liked or rooted for most of the characters (and I definitely longed for female characters that were more than one dimensional caricatures – we only got one or maybe two of those). In some ways I felt that the narrator was losing his grip on sanity or reality as the two stories unfolded, and a little bit I felt the same thing happening to me as I read. There’s a sense of surreality and displacement throughout, almost certainly deliberately, but I never knew how to feel as I was reading it. I shift moment to moment in my feelings about it still now. A few tastes of the writing, beautiful while also sometimes leaning into that surreality:

“Was it likely that what had happened to Mustafa Sa’eed could have happened to me? He had said that he was a lie, so was I also a lie? I am from here – is not this reality enough? I too had lived with them. But I had lived with them superficially, neither loving nor hating them. I used to treasure within me the image of this little village, seeing it wherever I went with the eye of my imagination […] Sooner or later they will leave our country, just as many people throughout history left many countries. The railways, ships, hospitals, factories and schools will be ours and we’ll speak their language without either a sense of guilt or a sense of gratitude. Once again we shall be as we were – ordinary people – and if we are lies we shall be lies of our own making..”

"I lingered by the door as I savoured that agreeable sensation which precedes the moment of meeting my grandfather whenever I return from a journey: a sensation of pure astonishment that that ancient being is still in actual existence upon the earth's surface. When I embrace him I breathe in his unique smell which is a combination of the smell of the large mausoleum in the cemetery and the smell of an infant child. And that thin tranquil voice sets up a bridge between me and the anxious moment that has not yet been formed, and between the moments the events of which have been assimilated and have passed on, have become bricks in an edifice with perspectives and dimensions. By the standards of the European industrial world we are poor peasants, but when I embrace my grandfather I experience a sense of richness as though I am a note in the heartbeats of the very universe."

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I decided to give myself a little Antoine de Saint-Exupéry palette cleanser after not loving Southern Mail as much as I was hoping to. I get something new out of this beautiful, deceptively simple little book every time I read it. As an eight or nine year-old, it was a simple adventure story where the child was the hero: the tale of a little boy from another planet who loved a rose but left her to explore the galaxy, discovering improbable places with adults who were silly and a fox who was wise, narrated by a pilot stranded in the Sahara as he tries to fix his plane before running out of water. As an adult, I see more and more each time how it is a book about what we do prioritize and what we should, and a subtle satire on the at times ridiculous preoccupations, prejudices, and misspent time of people in the modern world. The writing is in turn playful, poignant, incisive, funny, happy, and bittersweet, and it is often poetic. A few choice examples among far too many:

“Goodbye,” said the fox. “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.“

[in conversation with a businessman who claims he owns all the stars and spends his whole life counting them] “If I owned a flower, I could pluck that flower and take it with me. But you cannot pluck the stars from heaven…” “No but I can put them in the bank.” “Whatever does that mean?“ “That means that I write the number of my stars on a little paper. And then I put this paper in a drawer and lock it with a key.” “And that is all?” “That is enough,” said the businessman.

“I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.”

“I did not know what to say to him. I felt awkward and blundering. I did not know how I could reach him, where I could overtake him and go on hand-in-hand with him once more. It is such a secret place, the land of tears.“

I smiled lots, I definitely cried, and I just enjoyed rereading this book so much. I love it more each time I open it.

I agree with a lot of what you say about Season of Migration to the North. But I didn't find anything disorienting about it -- I really love that book. You're so right about the language. Plus, it's great to have one of your Challenge 1 books done only a week into January!

Re: The Little Prince: It's so wonderful to reread a favourite and find it's still just as much of a favourite as you remembered.

Wobbley wrote: "I agree with a lot of what you say about Season of Migration to the North. But I didn't find anything disorienting about it -- I really love that book. You're so right about the language. Plus, it'..."

Funny that different people can have such different reactions to the same book. I kept waffling between “this book is amazingly written” and “I have no idea what’s happening to me.” And yes, super nice to have something from Challenge 1 checked off – that’s the one I’m feeling most intimidated by. And to reread an old favorite and love it even more (never a guarantee, especially for a book I discovered so young).

Beautiful reviews!