Keith’s Comments (group member since Jan 25, 2022)

Keith’s comments from the This or That Reading Challenge group.

For this month's selection I chose This: A book about an oceanic voyage, for which I read Migrations: A Novel by Charlotte McConaghy. The story takes place in the not-too-distant future, and features a passionate individual on a ship-bound voyage from Greenland to Antarctica to follow what could well be the final migration of the remaining Arctic terns. I really enjoyed this book. The writing was beautiful, and interspersed flashbacks revealed that there was much more to the story than initially met the eye, and there were some potent themes of loss in its various forms. 4 1/2 stars.

For this month I chose This: Read a gothic horror, for which I read The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, which is considered the first ever gothic horror novel, written in 1764. From what I read about it this work is considered highly influential on the genre, establishing many of the familiar elements including secret passageways, trapdoors, painting that move, etc. Unfortunately the writing did suffer from age, and contained many overly verbose dialogues which got so repetitive at times that even the characters would remark on it ("please, will you just get to the point, you're exhausting my patience!"). Still, it did have some fun spooky qualities and a couple of surprise deaths. Since it was the first and written in 1764, I'm willing to grade on a curve and score it a '3'. Decent if you're curious about the origins of the genre, but not a great work in and of itself.

For this challenge I chose That: Read a book that has over 500 pages in it, and read Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (569 pages). It's a multi-generational story of a family both in the late 19th century untamed West, as well as the remnants of that family in the 1970s. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1972.

And I didn't like it. 😆 While some of the stories of frontier life were interesting, the 1970s protagonist didn't seem to do a good job of learning lessons despite all the historical studying. I gave it 2.5 stars.

For this month I went with This: A book with June in its title, and read The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young. It's a fantasy novel, where the titular character get caught up in complications related to alternate timelines and the periodic situation where they can be crossed.

I liked the concept and some of the creative choices the author made. However I was put off by the writing, where I felt that we had long bouts of repetitive hang-wringing, followed by long bouts of exposition to try and explain what had actually happened. If the storytelling and pacing were better, I would have enjoyed this more. 3 stars.

For this challenge I chose This: A novel set in or around a theatre, for which I read The Somnambulist: A Novel by Jonathan Barnes. It's a fantasy novel about an aging magician named Moon, still performing, but without the passion from earlier in their career. Moon gets involved in a murder investigation, and using the keen observational skills honed from years on stage, proceeds to try and unravel the mystery. Being a fantasy novel though, there is actual magic happening, and the murder mystery is anything but normal. I generally enjoyed it. The story took some creative turns, although I felt there were some potential missed opportunities. 3 3/4 stars.

For this month I chose This: A manga, graphic novel or book that inspired an anime, for which I read One Piece by Eiichiro Oda, which was adapted into one of the longest running (over 1,100 episodes since 1999) and most popular anime series in Japan. I had seen maybe 2 dozen episodes of the anime previously, but had not read the source manga before. It's about a pirate crew made up of misfits searching for an epic treasure, with some fantasy / fantastical elements to it.

I had quit watching the anime series because while sometimes cute and funny, it didn't have much in it to hold me, other than a general theme of friendship. Maybe if I'd grown up with it that would have been different. And I had the same feeling after reading the manga. Entertaining enough, but feels a bit lightweight. 3 1/2 stars.

I did also complete a This book where the house is the most important part of it, and read The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas. It was a classic gothic haunted house story set in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. I enjoyed in particular the portrayal of the main protagonist who finds themselves questioning their sanity as the strange happenings occur, and the element of witchcraft accepted within the community to help combat these mysterious forces. I gave it 3 3/4 stars.

For this month's challenge I chose That: A novel set in a steampunk or cyberpunk timeline, and read The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, which - while not the 1st ever steampunk - is largely credited for popularizing the sub-genre. This was my first steampunk read. The writing was good, and it was generally interesting how the authors depicted the alternate history that was going on. However I did feel it dragged in parts, and many of the situations unfortunately had strong colonialism overtones without irony. I gave it 3 1/4 stars.

For this month's challenge I chose This: An alternate history novel, and read The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, which takes place in an alternative 1985. There's a lot going on in this book, but the main hook is a technology that's been invented that allows people to enter books and change them (the title refers to Jane Eyre which is the target of a criminal mastermind). It was creatively put together, had Hitcherhiker's Guide to the Galaxy type of humor, and I loved the tie in with Jane Eyre (and other literary works), although sometimes the tone swung to dark really fast which to me made it a bit uneven. Overall enjoyed, and gave it 3 1/2 stars.

For this challenge I chose That: A book translated from an Asian country (Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Chinese) into English, and read Bright by Duanwad Pimwana, translated from Thai by Mui Poopoksakul. This was a collection of short stories focused primarily around a young Thai boy growing up in a small, impoverished area. Some of the stories were hard-hitting and some were humorous, but overall they were very engaging and insightful into these characters' lives. I very much enjoyed it. 4 1/4 stars.

Hi Mandy. For topic suggestions like these I typically start with GoodReads lists, which you can find under Browse-->Lists, and search there. So for example if you searched "Sweden" in Lists, it has results that include "Genre: Cultural > Sweden", which lists books that have been tagged as "Sweden", as well as a list "Best Scandinavian and Nordic Literature". A search for Asian provides a link to GoodReads' Asian Literature page (https://www.goodreads.com/genres/asia...) with lots to review.

If you're looking for specific recommendations, I can throw out a few I've read in these categories that I liked:
- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (Sweden)
- The Murder of Halland by Pia Juul (Denmark)
- A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (Norway)
- Paradise of the Blind by Dương Thu Hương (Vietnamese)
- The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa (Japanese)
- The Naked Tree by Park Wan-so (Korean)
- The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin (Chinese)

If none of those appeal to you, let me know the types of books you like and I might be able to make more tailored suggestions. Hope that helps!

As both a gamer and a nerd, I loved this book. Very creatively done, and hit all the geeky buttons. 😂 I thought the sequel was pretty good (although not as good), and same with the film adaptation.

I loved Circe, and I also highly recommend Miller's other novel The Song of Achilles if you haven't read it yet.

Forgot to log my read for this month. For this month's challenge I chose This: A magical realism book, and read The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. Here as the title infers there are people who try to literally find and return random, mostly trivial lost items (but ones that have some significance to their owners) to the people who originally lost them. The author incorporated magical elements into the finders' abilities to assist this quest. I thought it was a creative concept, pretty well executed - although I found it a bit predictable. 3.5 out of 5.

For this month's challenge, I chose THAT: A book from a shelf of someone you know, and read Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac which is on my friend Cari's TBR shelf. I've read Balzac before, and do like the author's writing style. However in this novel, while generally the story and characters were interesting - particularly the titular Bette who was quite devious - unfortunately I was disappointed with a lot of repetition by the author in this one. Overall give it a 3.0 out of 5.

I love Martha Wells murderbot series. I actually just finished the 8th and newest release earlier today. Becky Chambers Wayfarer series is another I have really enjoyed.

For this month's challenge I chose THIS: An "Own Voice" novel, and read Ammonite by Nicola Griffith. It's a speculative fiction / scifi novel where a planet where humans had colonized a millennia ago is re-discovered, and is found to have a virus on it that kills all men, leaving only women. The investigative team visits to try and determine how an all-female planet has continued to prosper for generations.

I really enjoyed this one, in large part because instead of scifi space battles and aliens this story focused on people surviving, and the relationships formed to overcome obstacles. While there were some tension points, by and large this was more character driven with some thought-provoking themes. 4 1/14 stars.

Karen wrote: "I have been working on many challenges and just entering them into my Journal. I worked my way through either this or that for every month, I then found myself working through this AND that for eve..."

Absolutely loved Born a Crime. In my opinion it was an incredible blend of shock, laughter, and poignancy.

Karen wrote: "I have been working on many challenges and just entering them into my Journal. I worked my way through either this or that for every month, I then found myself working through this AND that for eve..."

I really enjoyed Night Circus, and also read and loved Morgenstern's newest The Starless Sea.

Karen wrote: "I have been working on many challenges and just entering them into my Journal. I worked my way through either this or that for every month, I then found myself working through this AND that for eve..."

Who is the author of Echo? I'm not familiar with it.