Pocki’s Comments (group member since Jan 24, 2016)

Pocki’s comments from the A challenge of relative ease and merriment group.

I haven't really nailed down my choices for some of the easier categories. Like, written by a woman/man could be whatever is left over. I have plenty of both.
I did manage to cover "Before I was born" with The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee, originally released in 1981, six years before I graced this Earth.

So I'm not sure exactly what I have left of the sort of middle difficulty ones. I know YA and fantastical are covered, and non-fiction and micro history is more than half of all the books I've read this year. Contemporary is probably going to be my trickiest one tbh. And historical fiction will probably have to be a conscious choice since I will tend toward fantastical historical rather than pure history. I recently read all four books in the series Memoirs by Lady Trent (written by Marie Brennan). They have an air of historical fiction but they are very much fantastical. So if you need something for that category I can't recommend them enough! There are dragons! And science!

Oh and for award winning to answer E up there, I am thinking I'll go with Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. I started listening to the audiobook on my last day of commuting so can just as well continue. And when I looked at my screen I saw that the cover proudly boasted that the book had won the Pulitzer. I was originally thinking of just reading some more genre-specific award winning book, but why not go with one of the biggest awards out there? There are so SO many tiny awards out there. Just clicking any somewhat well liked book here on Goodreads will get you some awards they've won. But hey, challenge yourself! Go for some big awards! And I suppose if you find yourself really struggling there is always our very own Goodreads Choice Awards.

Actually, when I was looking at the winners for 2015 I found this:
https://www.goodreads.com/award
That's a list of literary awards. You can pick one that sounds fun and then a book from their list of winners and tadaa!
If I don't finish Guns, Germs, and Steel I'll probably just pick something from the Hugo Awards or the Nebula Awards. Both are scifi/fantasy ones. Actually, a book I'm considering for the "recommended by someone you know" slot has won both the Hugo and the Nebula.

Okay you guys. It's been a few months. How's everyone doing so far?

I listened to all her available audiobooks. They are all excellent, and have good narrators. So yeah, definitely think it's worth giving a go to see if it might keep you from drifting away!

I have fallen asleep a couple of times (I mean, you're always tired on a commute because it's either morning or after a long workday) but generally it isn't too bad. May I recommend any of Mary Roach's books? They're quite funny while being informative. And each chapter is about something new, so it's kind of short form but also not. Oh, and biographies by funny people who're narrating themselves! That tends to make it feel less formal first of all, and a bit more engaging. Actually I think that any first person narrative (especially non-fiction written in first person) works best as audiobooks. Cause it's like someone is talking to you about their experiences, and then you will listen. It's rude not to and that's probably ingrained pretty deep. If it's just a third person fictional narrative you'll drift cause who cares?

Oh man, yeah. It's scary thinking about all the things you don't actually know.

Almost all of my reading right now is in the form of audiobooks. I have a four hour commute each weekday so it's easy to get through books that way. On Friday I should have finished my first biography of the year I think (too bad that isn't a category haha). And then move back to science maybe. Or maybe one of the few fiction audiobooks I have lined up. It's just easier to listen to non fiction for some reason, and you learn so much! I really should update the group shelf with some of the good non fiction and micro histories I've read lately...

I can't believe it either! :P It seems so... obvious.
And that is probably the reason I almost never read it: I want pure escapism if I read fiction.

I think the way I'm choosing book for this challenge at the moment is pretty much just "whatever happens happens". I read book and then I see where they fit. My problem right now is that I seem to be firmly stuck in non-fiction (and often micro history). But that'll pass eventually.

As with all genres I feel that Contemporary is slightly fuzzy. It's not super well defined and you can probably fit a bunch of different books in there. I have a feeling I'll end up reading a contemporary romance or something and put it in there. I personally think of the genre as realistic fiction set in modern times (although I suppose it would technically be considered contemporary if it was written in 1544 and about the mid 16th century?) When I made the list for the challenge, when it was mostly one for myself and before I thought that it'd might be fun to drag others into it haha, I put it there to force myself out of the fantastical umbrella I usually find myself reading under.

I'm like Laura I suppose. If I listen to an audiobook I pick whatever edition is the first/automatic when i search for the book. I like to have audiobooks count as pages. I mean I spend even more time on them than I probably would when reading with my eyes.
I usually have an ebook version of it too where I can check the page count for where I'm at, and I use that for adding progress (since I usually read on my iPad I need to do some math anyway and mark whatever page is appropriate compared to the correct page number)

I log graphic novels and manga, but not single issue comics (which makes Star Wars Shattered Empire annoying cause I have read the single issues that are included in the collection, except for an old comic they threw in as an extra, and I don't feel like buying the collection just for that). But then again, I also log picture books for children!

I think that could probably count as a microhistory yeah.

I'm currently on a Mary Roach spree and I highly recommend all her books (even if I've only read first three listed down there so far). So if one is about a subject you think seems relatively interesting, I say go for it! Personally I wouldn't count them as microhistories as they're a bit too wide in their scope, but absolutely excellent non-fiction!


She's releasing another one later this year about the military and I'll most likely end up reading that one too

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. After a while you kinda learn to read the covers somehow. I mostly use it to gauge the genre and "atmosphere". Of course there are always exceptions, but it mostly works for me.

I agree with Sophie: it's so much about the cover and title! Which I think might be why non-fiction appeals to me so much right now. The titles are always so enticing.

Goodreads seems to be involved a lot of the time. I see what my friends read and sometimes that looks interesting. Or I click a book and I see what else is related to that. Or find a list. Or I feel like I want to read more about death and I find books almost by accident related to some book I've read or heard of. I follow a few authors on Twitter and sometimes they post about booklists they've been included in and I find books there. And sometimes I look for a book for a friend and I find books for myself (like Sofie hadn't heard of cozy mysteries before and I tried to find her one about knitting, which I've never bene interested in. And I found one that mixed cozy mystery with witches AND knitting and thought it sounded like they crammed everything in there at once and I got curious. And then I read it in one single day) Basically it's a mess and I always have way more books that I can read.

@Cathrin: is it Pox Americana? I know I saw that on the microhistory list. Which reminds me that I kinda want to read Pox, which is rather about syphilis. But I think I had a hard time finding a good copy when I did need it for a school project.

@Sofie: there are so many about food! Or why not join me in reading one about murder and the world fair?

I thought it might be good to have a topic for the trickier categories where you can ask for recommendation based on what you like. Feel free to add new topics yourselves too! You don't have to stick to the ones I make.

Non-fiction and microhistories/social histories of one thing seems to be a tricky one for a lot of you. Personally it's one of the easiest ones, and as such I thought I'd open up this topic for those of you who don't read much non-fiction. Tell us your interests and what kind of non-fiction you might want to try and the other group members might be able to suggest some titles!

If you haven't noticed I have added "social history of one thing" to the microhistory category. That is cause the genre of microhistory seems to have gotten an additional meaning the last few years. As a research subject it deals with very narrow parameters like one family or one specific event, but lately it seems to have gotten the additional meaning of the (social) history of one specific thing (which is how I came in contact with it too). That could be a commodity (like salt, coffee, or spices), a disease (like cancer or smallpox), a concept (I once picked up a book on virginity), etc. And to be technical, since most of those are histories on a grander scale - spanning centuries and continents, they kinda are macrohistories. But the "micro" has come to refer to the object itself fitting in a very narrow frame (a book about only potatoes is pretty specific after all), rather than narrow time and space. I personally like to think of this new meaning and relatively new genre as books which could have almost one word titles like the classic "Salt", with the subtitle often being something like "the history of how X changed the world" (see what I mean by actually a grand scale?).

Anyways, same goes for this tricky category: tell us what you like and we'll see what we can find!

Welcome Pernilla! :D
Contemporary fiction is indeed a bit scary for me too. But I think I can throw in a gay romance or something maybe. Cause I mean, categories can overlap. It can be a contemporary romance or contemporary YA etc.
As for microhistories... yeah it is a tricky subject as I think you saw in the Questions topic, but you like craft and fashion history. There must be a microhistory about some aspect of that!

@Laura: Exactly! I just look at it as another aspect of "micro". It's about one single thing, rather than a snapshot or whatever. My next book will be Stiff actually. I started reading it a few years back but never got past two chapters for some reason. School most likely (and when your focus is on dead things already... yeah), but I have the audiobook now too so I'll make that my transport/dishes/crafting book of choice for a little while.

@Pernilla: Exactly! But you can change it around later if you suddenly find yourself stuck for one category but used a suitable book for an easier on already.

Okay, I need to make an addition regarding microhistories!
In another topic I linked this list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... and I just went back to see if I have read any of them already (not to count for the challenge as it's for 2016, but just out of curiosity) and I read the comments. It seems like "microhistory" as a term is a very narrow historical study (as the word suggests) when applied to research and such. But the last few years people seem to have start to use it as a literary category that is more akin to "a social history of just one thing" which kinda works against the narrow spatiality and time frame of proper microhistory. And tbh, these literary microhistories can often be MACROhistories. I'll just add "the social history of just one thing" to the list as they did to the title of the Listopia list. I think the mistake the Listopia user made a few years ago might've generated a change of the meaning of the word when used as a literary sub genre! Cause I've seen microhistories used in this way on other sites too.

Oh that sounds delightful Katharine! I am starting to appreciate cozy mysteries, especially when the cozy factor is related to baking.

I know right? I want to read ALL the microhistories. I found this seed one as an audiobook kind of by accident and thought why not. It is very uh, nerdy. Seeds is a very particular subject. Lots of natural science stuff going on. But it is quite nice to listen to I must say. I only have about half an hour left I think so I'll finish it tonight or tomorrow.

Cathrin wrote: "If you're talking about Jonas Hassen Khemiri, DO read it. "

Ah no. I am talking about a couple of books for younger readers by Jacob Wegelius which received the August prize for children and youth litterature. So rather prestigious.