Dainey’s Comments (group member since Dec 11, 2017)

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

I went with A Murder is Announced, a very comfortable Marple story. It's very typical Christie, for good and ill, but I think it's one of the ones you have a best chance at figuring out yourself if you pay attention and ask the right questions.

Hannah wrote: "I'd like to read something I own. I'm hoping one of these three books will have a twist, based on what I've read of the plots they seem like likely suspects, but I've avoided spoilers so I can't say for sure (If anyone knows though, let me know!): Lies Come True, Sanctuary 12, or The Supernatural Enhancements"

The Supernatural Enhancements is about as twisty as your average mystery. I'd say it counts, even if it's not one of the big shocking ones that get famous.

Personally I'm probably going see what Agatha Christies I have knocking about on my kindle; I've been reading new-ish mysteries lately and have been let down quite a bit.

I haven't been in the mood for serious books lately, but I'm gonna go for Man's Search for Meaning, because I need something short so I can at least attempt to catch up on my reading challenge.

Originally published in 1946, this was one of the books recommended by the tour guide at the Dachau memorial.

Ooof, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents was a lot darker than I remembered.

I still think it's a wonderful standalone (possibly even a starting point for people who just get overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of the Discworld series), and a really good mix of fun romp and cute, funny animals to entertain the young'ins and deeper stuff that'll go over their heads and add more dimension for adult readers.

My Pratchett reread comfort-a-thon continues with The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents.

Pushed through Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and...I didn't mind it?

Other than Hagrid being a bumbling moron with a drinking problem (I have a massive beef with the very classist UK trope of "only uneducated characters speak in phonetics") and any PoC being in roles so minor as to be microscopic (yay, 90's...), it wasn't terrible overall. It wasn't at Tintin levels of "ok, this was formative, but holy shit I'm glad I didn't take some of these notions, why was I allowed to read these on my own? (yay, learning to read in the 80's...)".

Still, while this was an enjoyable adventure, knowing what the series and author ended up as, I'm quite satisfied my nephew, who is Hogwarts-letter-aged, hasn't shown any interest in the franchise, and future nibling will not be introduced to it by me, at least.

Gonna go with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Between all the withcraft and satanism hysteria associated with it in the past, as well as Rowling devolving from casual wilfully ignorant racism to a proper abuser-supporting terf with proud White Lady Opinions, I figure there's plenty of scandal to go around.

First time I read it, it was a (probably poorly) translated version of it sometime around the turn of the millenium, and I kinda wanted to give the original a go before I say goodbye to the series while I still have some nostalgia-tinted good will left.

I breezed through Thud!.

It didn't have as much of Young Sam as I remembered, but it had some very good moments of Sam Vimes experiencing dread as he contemplates his life as a copper and the many powerful enemies...most of whom are indeed smart enough not to try and threaten his family.

It also made me purchase Where's My Cow? (inspired by the story featured in Thud!) for the eventual niece/nephew my sister in law is currently baking. Better start indoctrinating them early...

I'll be going for Thud!. I once again find myself in that kind of place where Pterry's righteous anger at people choosing to be greedy, entitled and malicious makes me feel more comfortable.

Vimes having to contend with all of his promotions, all of his many enemies, still trying to get in some basic coppering in there, reading to his son every evening, and not give in to existential dread is...just what the doctor ordered.

I finished My Sister, the Serial Killer in record time, it's a very fast read.

It was dark and funny, but at the same time, written by someone who clearly knows the ins and outs of the golden child/scapegoat dynamics of dysfunctional families.

Another one reporting for the My Sister, the Serial Killer party!

Although I've no intention to touch anything Moffat does, I figured I'd read Dracula.

I enjoyed it for the most part, but the phonetic spelling of "simple working folk"'s speech did my head in, especially downright mocking the swearing one. Not a sport I'd expect from an Irishman...

I read Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland and needed to take a lot of breaks. Partly because a lot of it is a salad of names-dates-numbers that messes with my ability to absorb the text, and partly because the subject is pretty effin' heavy.

My generation grew up well and truly removed from WWII history, with a very white-washed picture of my country's part in it (with vague mumbles of "respect the veterans!"), and as an adult, I feel it's my own personal duty to learn.

I'm going to go with Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. It was one of the books recommended by the incredible guide we had on our tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site.

I decided to go with The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, and although I've barely started, so far it seems very refreshing to me as someone who's read every stripe of mystery to the point of being picky and hard to impress.

I read Circe for this month, and while it was an entertaining enough a book, there were things that I felt stopped it being the epic it wanted to be.

One of those things was the endless humiliation conga of Circe getting done down, with very few moments where she was the one in the lead.

Another thing that annoyed me was the use of very contemporary grammar and language, despite trying to have everyone sound suitably noble and old-timey.

Plus, overall there was way too much thick-headed romance for my tastes, but that's just my personal issue.

I ended up picking Scoundrels as the most fitting for the theme, and this book was one of those 0,99£ sale deals that end up absolute positive surprises.

I loved how throughout the book the main characters just stuck by each other through the most horrific events, giving grudging compliments and respect, and on the surface despising each other but never leaving the other.

It's also one of those rare gems, where the humour is absurd and offensive, but just turns it around, and all the rampant classism, sexism, jingoism and just-about-everything-ism that goes with the territory of upperclass, expensively educated gentleman spy warheroes, is dropped squarely on the main characters being two thick plonkers who teeter on a cosmic balancing act between success and karma catching up with them.

It's not perfect, but I enjoyed it, and trust me, I'd rather go get some wisdom teeth pulled than watch 20 minutes of any given Adam Sandler film!

I've been sitting on Circe for ages just for this month!

I decided to go with Unseen Academicals. Although allegedly about football, most if it is very strong and insightful friendships between various characters.

Keeping an eye out for recs here, because I might need a nudge in the right direction. I had a hard stare at my bookshelf and kindle, and nothing having friendship as the main theme popped up immediately (guess my tastes are too genre fiction if left to myself).