Lea’s Comments (group member since Jan 04, 2017)

Lea’s comments from the 2022 ONTD Reading Challenge group.

This month's theme is "I just wanna tell you that some people have war in their countries"

Let’s read a book about war - it could be a memoir, a nonfiction book or a (fiction) novel about a real war. Please, no fictional wars (such as Game of Thrones).

Here is the ONTD post: https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com...

Tell us what you picked and whether you enjoyed it! From this month on, we won't have the wrap-up anymore, so we'll just use this topic for everything.

Emily wrote: "I was looking through the humor tag on libby and nothing is really catching me except stuff that's on hold for like 6 months. Would to all the boys I've loved? count? I really can't think of anything."

not sure, is it considered a rom-com?

This month, let’s have a bit of a laugh: our task is to read a comic novel.

Please remember that a comic novel is not a "comic book". It's a humourous novel. It may be a part of a genre, such as fantasy or sci-fi or romance, as long as is also markedly humourous. Memoirs and books of essays by comedians DO NOT COUNT.

Sorry for the delay this month, everyone, Rachel will put the post up today.

In the meantime, here are some helpful links in case you haven't a book planned for the month yet:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

https://bookriot.com/2017/08/11/best-...

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/5...

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/b...

https://www.powells.com/post/required...

Welcome, Maggie! We hope you'll enjoy the challenge!

Going over the past months of the challenge to see what I missed, and saw that I never updated what I read for June: Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett. It's a teen romance about best friends. Not my favourite by Bennett but pretty good for YA.

Tried and failed to read Catch-22, which I thought was just awful.

So: what I ended up reading for this month was Svetlana Alexievitch's Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster. Which was the basis for HBO's Chernobyl miniseries.

Excellent book, and excellent adaptation of it as well.

I tried to read Catch-22 (which is going to be a Hulu series with George Clooney) and I haaaated it omg. Couldn't get far with it bc the writing style is so annoying

Hannah, Wide Sargasso Sea counts :)

Despina wrote: "Alyssa wrote: "i felt the same way about that book! Everyone i know is so into the series and i was so annoyed with it. "

The more I think about it the more annoyed I get. What she did with the ma..."

LMAOO another In the Woods discontent. Welcome to the club, sister!

Well, I read Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, it's set in the US - boring choice I guess, but I've never been. It was wild.

Sasha, I don't worry too much about the reviews I write on Goodreads. Just give my impressions. Often I have much more to write about when it's a book I've disliked. Of course, if I was writing reviews for a blog or something slightly more professional, I'd have to come up with a template or something.

hey guys sorry we're running late with the post this month. we'll have it up by today

This website right HERE has recs (with blurbs) on books set in different places like: Turkey, Germany, China, Morocco, South Africa, Spain, Malaysia, Ireland, Scotland, Mexico, Nigeria, Greece, India, Japan, the Netherlands, and more. It's worth a look!

Also everyone, I own the book "Book Lust to Go" by the librarian Nancy Pearl, it's a book of recommendations based on where the book is set. So if anyone wants recs for a specific place, let me know and I'll look it up there!

Tiffany wrote: "Does anyone have recommendations for books that take place in Portugal? I've been dying to visit there and would love to have a good read before I travel. Dealing with a breakup too so if there's a..."

Okay so there are the big Portuguese writers, like José Saramago, Eça de Queiroz, Fernando Pessoa (poetry)... I mean, they are amazing. But not happy, light material if that's what you're looking for.

Saramago does have one book ABOUT Portugal which should be a good read before you travel: Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture.

There is a mystery set in Portugal (not written by a Portuguese author): A Small Death in Lisbon. And I've been recommended The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon many times. For non-fiction, there's The Man Who Stole Portugal.

Here are a couple of lists I found online with blurbs of some books set in Portugal (some by Portuguese authors, some not). Many look really good, so I hope you'll find something to your taste!

http://taleaway.com/books-set-in-port...
https://www.tripfiction.com/five-grea...

Alyssa wrote: "so it sounds like The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle counts? i am on the waitlist to get that from my library and going to go with that one. the others don't sound super interesting..."

there are a lot of books out there now about reliving the same day. I have seen a few of them in lists about time-travelling. I think it's close enough to time-travel that it counts.

At the beginning of the month I read Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, which was a pretty heavy read. I managed to squeeze in another non-fiction book at the end of the month, Korea: The Impossible Country, which was much lighter and taught me a lot about Korean culture.

Whew, I finally read a romance. The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer was a hilarious romantic adventure.

Despina wrote: "Ι read This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor and I loved it. It highlighted all the struggles of being a doctor in the NHS with lots of added humorous incidents."

I love this book! Glad you liked your challenge pick!

I ended up reading Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, by Haruki Murakami (which made this month's rec post). It was fucking bonkers. I wasn't really familiar with the story of this attack so it was really shocking to read. It's a heavy book (subject-wise) but I would recommend it if you're interested in reading about cults or terrorism and its aftermath.

N. wrote: "Does Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup qualify for this category? If it doesn't, I am going to go with [book:The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shin..."

it does