Nina’s
Comments
(group member since May 09, 2020)
Nina’s
comments
from the 2022 ONTD Reading Challenge group.
Showing 21-40 of 40
I read Normal People for last year’s ONTD challenge which I liked a lot so I was excited to read Conversations with Friends for this May's challenge. It felt like the blueprint of Normal People, just like my March pick The Solitaire Mystery felt like reading a blueprint for Sophie's World. Basically every topic of Normal People was already covered in Conversations with Friends. Nevertheless, I liked it a lot – mostly because I enjoy Rooney’s style of writing, which is so reduced but at the same time also very captivating. As a teenager, I used to be obsessed with Irish culture so I still have some unread books from this period. Teacher Man was one of them. My mother gave this one to me years ago. I had already read Angela's Ashes before which was okay (but not great) so you could say I wasn’t that excited to read another Frank McCourt memoir. It’s also the main reason this book has been sitting on my shelf for more than a decade now, unread. I have to admit I liked it, especially the first half. The other half I felt like I was listening to an drunk old white man blabbering about his youth. But then again, that’s the point of a memoir, right?
After two months, I finally finished The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder. For the ONTD Reading Challenge, I always try to buy as little books as possible and instead read books that have been sitting on my shelves for ages. This was one of them. Well, and it certainly felt dated. It was dull but easy to read.
Use this post to discuss what will be your May picks!For this year’s challenge, we'll be reading books written by authors born in the country of the month, but the language it was written in doesn’t matter. The genre of the book also doesn’t matter.
May’s month is IRELAND.
ONTD post:
https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com...
In case you need more inspiration:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Use this topic to discuss whether you enjoyed your April picks from Zimbabwe, and whether you’d recommend it to your fellow readers! Did you find it easy/difficult to complete this task?Please tag all spoilers in this post!
I picked We Love Glenda So Much and Other Tales by Cortázar and was very happy with it. Normally I don’t really enjoy short stories but these were written in such a cinematic way that I did!
I’m afraid I’ll have to skip this month! I’m still stuck with my March pick and libraries round here are still closed.
I will be reading The Solitaire Mystery which is SO BORING as Jostein Gaarder is basically the only Norwegian author I've ever read in my life. But at the same time, I'm determined to minimize my stack of unread books so I don't really have a choice 🤷♀️ I really recommend The Orange Girl though!
Use this topic to discuss whether you enjoyed your February picks from Argentina, and whether you'd recommend it to your fellow readers! Did you find it easy/difficult to complete this task?Please tag all spoilers in this post!
I'm going with We Love Glenda So Much and Other Tales by Cortázar, it was one of the few books that was available at my local secondhand bookshop, as the libraries round here are still closed.
I re-read The Vegetarian for this month's challenge. I had already read it in 2016 but hardly remembered anything – just that I read the whole thing in a rush. This time felt like a completely different reading experience for me: It was brutal, dark and eerie. I also did not notice that there were so many similarities between The Metamorphosis and this one, like a modern-day adaption of it. I also listened to the audio book of The White Book because it was available at my Spotify. Normally I find audio books really easy to follow but it did not feel right for this kind of book. I think it would have been a better experience if I had read it as a book because it is a loose collection of essays on the colour white. To be honest, for me it felt just what it is: Something a writer would produce while staying at an artist's residency, far away from home.
I also bought Please Look After Mom but haven't started reading yet. Will keep you updated on this one.
I will re-read The Vegetarian for this month's challenge and maybe listen to another audiobook by Han Kang. If the libraries round here open again in January, I will try to pick up a copy of Please Look After Mom.
JAN – South KoreaThe Vegetarian ✔
The White Book ✔
Please Look After Mom (read in 2022) ✔
FEB – Argentina
We Love Glenda So Much and Other Tales ✔
Fever Dream
MAR – Norway
The Solitaire Mystery ✔
Meisen
Das Eis-Schloss
APR – Zimbabwe
The Book of Memory (DNF)
We need new names ?
The Boy Next Door ?
MAY – Ireland
Conversations with Friends ✔
Teacher Man ✔
TBR: The Princes of Ireland
JUN – Iran
TBR: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
TBR: The Stationery Shop ?
Was bleibt von uns ?
My Part of Her ?
JUL – Poland
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (read in 2022) ✔
AUG – Egypt
TBR: Die Republik der Träumer: Roman ?
TBR: The Automobile Club of Egypt ?
The Queue ?
SEP – Jamaica
These ghosts are family ?
Here comes the sun ?
OCT – India
A Burning ✔
NOV – Australia
TBR: The Hunter
DEC – Philippines
skip or Noli me tangere ?
Vanessa Yu's Magical Paris Tea Shop
Use this post to keep track of what you're reading for the challenge, how many tasks still to go and which books you plan to read for those.As you complete more tasks, you go back and edit your original comment to add the info. Do not leave a new comment for each challenge task you complete.
JAN – South Korea
FEB – Argentina
MAR – Norway
APR – Zimbabwe
MAY – Ireland
JUN – Iran
JUL – Poland
AUG – Egypt
SEP – Jamaica
OCT – India
NOV – Australia
DEC – Philippines
Welcome to the 2021 ONTD Reading Challenge! This time, we'll “read around the world”. Each month, we’ll read a book from a different country (12 months = 12 books). The idea is to get to know new places and new cultures and experience a bit of “armchair travelling”, use reading as a way of expanding our horizons, escaping from daily life and our current locations in a safe way.
Look for our posts on ONTD before each month, with recommendations and info on each country!
For this challenge, we'll be reading books written by authors born in the country of the month, but the language it was written in doesn't matter. The genre of the book also doesn't matter.
What about books set in/about a country, written by authors of other places? Well, our purpose is to discover authors from different countries and to read authentic voices, BUT there will be cases where that will be acceptable, for example if the author is an immigrant and has been living in the country for many years, or if it's a non-fiction about the history of the country. You can use your own judgment, what we’re mostly trying to avoid is books set in say, Zimbabwe, written by an author with no ties to the country, with one hour of Wikipedia research, just for the sake of the “exotic” location.
The rules are simple:
• Each month, read a book that corresponds to the category.
• A book only counts once – so you can’t use the same title for two or more months.
• There’s no page limit.
• It can be a book that you’ve already read.
• Novellas, graphic novels, and anthologies can count toward a category.
• Ebooks and audiobooks count as books!
• If you missed a month, you can go back and read a previous month’s task. But we don't encourage reading in advance.
• If you have questions about whether the book you picked really counts for a particular month, you can ask the mods here in the group (in the topic for the month) or in the ONTD post for the month's reading challenge.
• Keep us updated on how your reading challenge is going in our book posts and the topics here in the group!
JANUARY: South Korea
FEBRUARY: Argentina
MARCH: Norway
APRIL: Zimbabwe
MAY: Ireland
JUNE: Iran
JULY: Poland
AUGUST: Egypt
SEPTEMBER: Jamaica
OCTOBER: India
NOVEMBER: Australia
DECEMBER: Philippines
My challenge tracker:JAN - Read a Book That is Being Adapted Into a Movie or TV Show in 2020
Normal People
FEB - My Cousin Just Moved to Nigeria to Discover New Talent
Americanah
MAR - Everyone Was Dad
To Kill a Mockingbird
APR - Read a Book With a Scandalous Past
I Await the Devil's Coming
MAY - Real Housewives Yelling at Cat
Nero Corleone
JUN - Ok Boomer
The Blindfold
JUL - Surprised Pikachu Face
AUG - Sparks Joy
SEP - Old Man Yelling at Cloud
OCT - Get a Job! Stay Away From Her!
NOV - Hindsight is 2020
DEC - Read a Book That Won an Award in 2020
I know I’m incredibly late but … When this challenged started, I originally wanted to re-read Stargirl for this but then switched to Normal People. Didn’t expect much but I loved the writing.
I read The Blindfold by Siri Hustvedt. It's an okay debut novel I'd say but I prefer her later work.
