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

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

oh my god i FINALLY finished something for this challenge! i wanted to finish before the end of the year but then i had family come visit and had no time to read lol.

i decided to go with I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream: Stories by Harlan Ellison who was born in 1934. If the collection wasn't so misogynistic I would have loved it. The stories had interesting premises and the writing was generally good (especially the title story) but the women characters were treated just horribly. I couldn't ignore that so I only gave the collection 2 stars.

i still don't know what i want to read!

I saw that In The Tall Grass, which is based on a Stephen King/Joe Hill novella, should be released this year but there's no official date for it. Maybe IT, for the chapter 2 release?! IDK... The Visible Filth sounds good too (the adaptation is "Wounds" with Dakota Johnson)

Marlene wrote: "Hmm, would Captain Marvel, Volume 1: In Pursuit of Flight or any of the other Captain Marvel comics count even if the movie might not necessarily cover a specific arc from it?"

hmm, I would say that this particular instance with Captain Marvel couldn't count for January. Comics/graphic novels are generally fine for our challenge but this month is tricky since it's an adaptation. I would say that unless it was an adaptation of a specific volume or collection then it can't count. For example reading Watchmen would count if the film was coming out this year, or reading the first volume of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Vol. 1: The Crucible could count if season 1 of the Netflix show was being released this year. On the other hand, reading past issues of Archie wouldn't count since the tv show Riverdale doesn't really follow those. I think Captain Marvel adaptation here is more similar to Riverdale. From what I can tell it's not actually adapting In Pursuit of Flight?

Sorry!

I ALSO read Ararat Lol (it was our ONTD horror book club read) and really liked it!

this is the only book i have left for the challenge! (well, plus the one i'm reading now for december). i decided to check out that Harlan Ellison collection. I got it as an ebook, and will hopefully will be able to knock it out before the end of the month!

Feel free to discuss the book or books you read this month here!

Welcome to the 2019 ONTD Reading Challenge! milfordacademy & hjalmartazar invite you to join the new and updated 2019 ONTD Reading Challenge: 12 books, 12 months, and ONTD-themed categories. Every month, we will make a post recommending books that fit each category.

The rules are simple:

Each month, read a book that corresponds to the category.

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.

Keep us updated on how your reading challenge is going in our book posts!

If you have a Goodreads account, join our ONTD Reading Challenge Group!

Thank you to EVERYONE who helped us in coming up with this year’s tasks for the challenge!


JANUARY - A book that is being adapted into a film or TV show this year.
It's always fun to read a book before it is made into a movie or TV show - you'll get to complain about all the things the adaptation didn't get right in the ONTD posts about it.

FEBRUARY - Love is Lit! / “fuck them both for thinking they could be happy”
This month, get in the Valentines mood and celebrate love by reading a romance. OR, get your schadenfreude on and read a book about a breakup.

MARCH - IJAF
If you don’t recognize this old-school ONTD reference, do yourself a favour and don’t google it. It’s just a fact that this month, our task is to read a nonfiction book.

APRIL - WHAT YEAR IS IT
This month, read a book that involves time-travel - and get lost in the pages like Robin Williams (or Nick Jonas in the remake) did in the game Jumanji.

MAY - "I've never even been to Luxembourg!"
Have you ever cheated on your wife with a Russian model you met at Luxembourg? Of course not! You’ve never even been to Luxembourg! (But you can read about it). This month, let’s read a book set in a country you’ve never been to.

JUNE - My Friend With a Bike
This month, let’s celebrate our friends with bikes who like to gossip with us. Read a book about a friendship (or where friendship is a main theme).

JULY - Posted!
We don’t like it when the same news gets posted twice on ONTD, but when it comes to books, the same story can be told in many different ways and still charm the reader. This month, let’s read a retelling!

AUGUST - U in Danger, Girl
Read a crime book/thriller with a female protagonist in danger.

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

OCTOBER - "I just wanna tell you that some people have war in their countries"
Sometimes we get upset about things such as not making it to our modelling jobs on time. But in the words of Natasha from ANTM, some people have war in their countries. This month, let’s read a book about war - it could be a memoir, a nonfiction book or a novel about a real war.

NOVEMBER - ONTD Doesn’t Read
This month, let’s live up to the ONTD stereotype and not read. Or at least, not a lot. This month’s task it to read a graphic novel, a book without any text or mostly consisting out of images.

DECEMBER - Read a Book That Won an Award This Year
Any award you want - you can go highbrow with the Man Booker Prize or the National Book Award, explore what’s best in speculative fiction with the Hugo and Nebula awards, get scared by the Shirley Jackson or Bram Stoker Awards, read women with the Women’s Prize for Fiction, fall in love with the Romance Writers of America (RITA Awards), etc!

I forgot to update the thread, but recently I finished a horror novel called THE BLACK ALBUM: A Hollywood Horror Story and it was just alright.

I read The Haunted House: A True Ghost Story Easyread Large Edition and it was boring lol. It was published in the late 1800s but that doesn't excuse its boringness imo. There was all this supposed paranormal activity that took place but the book didn't show it in an interesting or exciting way at all. Oh well, at least it gave me something to read on the train, and I'm very curious about the "true story" behind the book.

Let us know what you read this month, if you liked it and if you'd recommend it!

Ran wrote: "I finished LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom and absolutely loved how LaValle outdid Lovecraft at his own game, extracting the xenophobia and racism from Lovecraft's work and illuminating it with s..."

YES! I loved it too, one of my favorites. I love LaValle and that story in particular.

I'm going back through the wrap-up threads to double check what months I missed.

I honestly read so many fantasy books by women this whole year! I already commented with a couple but I think my favorite was Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede!!!

I'm going back through the wrap-up threads to double check what months I missed.

For this month I had read Perfect Days. Totally messed up book!

I have a few short books on my kindle that I plan on reading:

Three Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens
Body of Christ
The Haunted House: A True Ghost Story

and i still need to read Sour Candy so I'll do that one too.

I'd like to read The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly as well.

Ran wrote: "Perfect. I've been meaning to tackle The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle, actually."

I loved that one! I believe it's being adapted to a tv series.

Link to the ONTD post is above!

The ONTD post is up!
https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com...

Can’t face another big-ass book? Let’s take it easy: this month, read a novella or a book under 150 pages.

Some links to help give you ideas: Note: Some of these lists contain books longer than 150 pages so you may have to confirm the page count!)

World's Greatest Novellas - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Popular Under 150 Pages Books - https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
Best Books Under 200 Pages - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Short & Sweet Treats Under 250 Pages - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
Christmas and Winter Novellas - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
Historical Romance Novellas - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
The 10 Best Books Shorter Than 150 Pages - https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...
The Best Short Books You’ll Ever Read - https://www.rd.com/culture/short-books/
9 books under 100 pages for a quick afternoon read - https://hellogiggles.com/reviews-cove...

I decided to use a book that I received off of NetGalley for this challenge, The Malaise. The writing left a bit to be desired, but it had an interesting concept. Some parts of the store were more compelling than others, so at times I was bored, and despite the premise thought the writing was a bit bland. I gave it 3 stars which was generous, it's more like a 2.5.

Talk about what you read this month! Did you like it?