2025 Reading Challenge discussion
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Kiwi’s 2016 challenges and book log
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Marina
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May 01, 2016 12:26AM
Kiwi, I'm awed, you are so well organized with all the different graphs! Wow!
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Thank you Marina, it takes a little more time and discipline to add your books in a spreadsheet as soon as you finish them, but once you've got your data and the tracking formulas right, the graphs are quite easy to do :) I'm a visual person, I like pictures more than numbers
The Door by Magda Szabó, 3.5 stars:I noticed this book as it kept popping up in book lists of lesser-known European literature, so I decided to give it a try and I’m glad I did. It’s the story of an eccentric housekeeper told from her female employer POV. The two women are of different generations and social class, opposite in many ways: one religious and church going, the other rejects God, church and the establishment, one is a cultured intellectual, the other a manual labourer, one young and successful, etc.
Emerence is a proud woman of unidentifiable old age, who stubbornly refuses to let anyone enter her home, she constantly wears a headscarf, loves animals, has boundless physical strength, and expresses emotions with a mixture of raging fury and generous gift bearing (food and salvaged junk). Naturally, the relationship between the two women starts guarded but slowly develops into a close and trusting friendship, almost as mother-daughter.
As traumatic episodes from Emerence’s long life are brought to light, the reader is privy to the old woman secrets, which, in hindsight, explain a lot of her otherwise bewildering actions. The reader becomes attached to this volatile extraordinary woman, just as the narrator does.
I’m not sure, even at the end the book, that I completely understood Emerence, but I found her character original and this novel deep and thought provoking. Once again, I’m left wondering on how many wonderful books from non-English speaking countries, like Hungary, I’m probably missing out on.
Recommended as a book-club read or if you feel in the mood for something different.
On a Viking binge at the moment, finished:The Vikings: The Story of a People, 3 stars
The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings, 3 stars
and my favourite so far:
The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings by Lars Brownworth , 4.5 stars:
I love to read non-fiction books that, in addition to be accurate and seriously based on facts (i.e. non speculative), are also entertaining and not stiff and dry. This book is cleverly organised, the author presents the story of the Vikings in chronological order but he focuses on a geographical region at the time (e.g. France, England, Ireland, Iceland, etc.). With the scope limited in each chapter, the events in the story flow naturally and the genealogy of the relevant historical figures are easy to follow.
Brownworth includes excerpts from historical documents by chroniclers and biographers, but he also references Norse myths and their sagas. Though they contain much legendary material, the sagas are major historical resources of Viking-age Scandinavia; they also provide amusing anecdotes as a bonus.
The author’s style is engaging, truly bringing history to life. I loved to learn about the adventures of famous Vikings such as Ragnar Lothbrok, Ivar the boneless, Rollo the walker, Erik the red, Vladimir the great, etc. and women, like Olga of Kiev, were not to be underestimated either, beware of vengeful widows!
This book is accessible and entertaining, a true pleasure to read. If you are curious about this remarkable people and its colourful leaders read this! Highly recommended. 4.5 stars rounded up.
Favourite quotes:
Hastein and Bjorn made themselves such a nuisance in northern France that King Charles the Bald tried to buy him off by handing over control of the city of Chartres. Since the Viking had no use for a city, he sold it to a neighboring count and continued raiding.
Not only was Vladimir a barbarian, but he was a staunch pagan to boot, who had slaughtered his own brother, raped his sister-in-law, and usurped the throne. He already had seven wives and over the years had collected some eight hundred concubines. Even in an emergency, he was not the type to be given a chaste Christian princess. The court – and poor Basil’s sister – may have been outraged, but the emperor was determined to have the extra troops.
The Viking Age is often judged by its impact on other cultures. It’s remembered as a time of destruction – the brutal sacking of monasteries, the ruin of much of Anglo-Saxon England, Ireland, and the Frankish Empire – but there was creation too. Colonies were founded in Iceland and Greenland, a Duchy was created in Normandy, great trading cities like Dublin and York flourished, and Russia gained its first centralized state.
It was the Vikings who exposed the sprawling empire of Charlemagne, revealing fundamental flaws in the organization of that would-be-Roman Empire. As it broke apart under the hammer blows of the Vikings, the survivors were forced to create smaller, more efficient states. Out of the ashes of the Viking assault rose the four great medieval powers of Western Europe: France, England, The Holy Roman Empire, and the kingdom of Sicily.
Currently reading another couple of Viking books: Viking: The Norse Warrior's Unofficial Manual and The Age of the Vikings and a thriller The Lock Artist (almost finished).
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton, 5.5 stars:Thriller where the protagonist is a teen unable to speak because of a traumatic domestic incident occurred when he was 8 years old. Mike discovers he has a natural talent for opening locks and safes and this fact gets him in the company of some dangerous people.
The novel is told in first person and despite the fact that each chapter jumps back and forth in time, the story flows well. There’s plenty of tension with a little bit of romance thrown in. Strangely enough, this not is not marked as YA, but I think it would fit the genre perfectly.
It’s my very first Steve Hamilton, but it won’t be my last, 3.5 stars rounded up.
My 100th book: Our Souls at Night, 4 stars:While I enjoyed Plainsong, I wasn’t convinced that Kent Haruf style was for me, but after reading Our Souls at Night I’m sold.
There is much to think about in this little novel. It goes to show you don’t need a lot of words to express the depth of human feelings.
The Age of the Vikings and Viking: The Norse Warrior's Unofficial Manual, different style and audience, but they both get a 3 stars rating.Currently reading Assassin's Quest, last book in the Farseer Trilogy.
Time for an update, finished my last 2 books for my recent Viking phase :)101.The Age of the Vikings by Anders Winroth ***
102.Viking: The Norse Warrior's Unofficial Manual by John Haywood ***
Read the last of the Farseer Trilogy, I was slightly disappointed, although I loved the story I think that the book could have been trimmed down at least 200 pages.
103.Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb ***
104.The Last Child by John Hart ***
enjoyed this classic:
105.The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux ***
A mystery where comedy meets romance and horror mixes with melodrama? Strange combos for me. I enjoyed this atmospheric classic tale. It’s not hard to imagine that in the low light, among the velvet curtains, the echoes of singing voices and silent staircases a ghost dwells in the shadows.
I was also surprised at the humor (view spoiler) plus, in one of the many suspenseful scene, I discovered the 1909 equivalent to the classic thriller “red or blue wire?” dilemma(view spoiler).
and started a promising new mystery series:
106.The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King ****
latest reads:107.The Girl In The Ice by Robert Bryndza ***
108.The Bearkeeper's Daughter by Gillian Bradshaw ***
109.Theodora: Actress, Empress, Saint by David Stone Potter ***
110.The Byzantines by Averil Cameron ***
As always, I am super impressed at your rate of reading. I just finished 44, so much respect. I was curious, what caused you to go on your Viking kick? Just an interest in history or what? Also, of the Viking books you've read, which was the most worth your time? I have to say, Vikings are not something I have ever read about and now I am interested in adding one or two eventually.
Thank you Stephanie for your kind comment. The number of books that one reads is relative and only one of the measures, the pleasure one gets from reading is far more important to me. I see that you are well over your target for the year and you’ve enjoyed many of your books so kudos to you too!I like history and I tend to go by phases, when I’m interested in a specific period, a geographical region, an important person or event from the past, I choose to read a few books about it. Non-fiction can be dry so I read fiction too (as long as it is historically accurate). My passion is the Classical period in the West but I I’m expanding a bit. In addition to the Vikings, this year I went through ancient Sparta, Middle Ages, gold rush, Byzantium/Constantinople, last year it was the turn of the Celts, Ancient Roman and Greece history and architecture, etc.
Of all the Viking books I read this year, I would highly recommend The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings, it’s non fiction but the author has a great narrative style, he includes many hero legends and Norse mythology, it’s highly entertaining even for people who don’t like history because the characters are so well done.
Kiwi wrote: "Thank you Stephanie for your kind comment. The number of books that one reads is relative and only one of the measures, the pleasure one gets from reading is far more important to me. I see that yo..."Thanks for that recommendation. That "Sea Wolves" books looks fascinating. I have added it to the list! Probably won't get around to it until next year. I have pretty much planned most of my reading out for the year. I feel like the train in "Dumbo"- I think I can, I think I can...get all these challenges I signed up for done :)
Stephanie (R-A) wrote: "Thanks for that recommendation. That "Sea Wolves" books looks fascinating. I have added it to the list! Probably..."You're welcome Stephanie, I hope you'll like it when you'll get around to reading it. I know what you mean about overstretching oneself with reading challenges, I keep telling myself, this looks so good, I could do it, right? one more can't hurt ... Good luck!
another couple of books down:Half the World, 3 stars and Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore (If on a Winter's Night a Traveler), 3.5 stars.
Lately I realized I don't do many reviews, just a couple of sentences, too much reading to do :D
Currently reading:
Throne of Glass for my "Take a chance" challenge and
A Vision of Light for history (set in fourteenth-century England)
Throne of Glass, 2.5 stars:I read this book as part of a “take a chance” challenge (books that come recommended but I doubt I will like), it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I can easily see the appeal to the YA crowd: a feisty heroine, a love triangle, beautiful gowns, balls and even puppies, how can a girl resist?
With this book I have finished my 7th challenge (Recommended by Reading Challengers challenge).
May is almost gone, time to plan for June
A Vision of Light, 2.5 stars:This novel is set in England in the middle of the 14th century. It all starts when Margaret, a wealthy but illiterate merchant wife, struggles to find someone willing to write her memoirs. She meets Brother Gregory, a copyist down on his luck, who reluctantly accepts the post. Like most of his colleagues, Gregory is resistant to the idea of writing about the life of a commoner (and a woman besides) because only classics, religious texts or saints biographies are worthy of a scholar’s time and effort.
The book started strong with the author presenting Margaret and describing the medieval setting really well. Misogyny by Brother Gregory was annoying at first but it is typical of the times, his religious views and exchanges with Margaret were believable. The tale of Margaret’s life was interesting and varied, although some of her stories were predicable (view spoiler).
The tales are populated by medieval class stereotypes, with the poor but wise peasant, crafty merchants, dishonest peddlers, wealthy and wicked lord and unkind clergymen. They have a picaresque quality but were also a bit humdrum. Unfortunately, the novel for me started going downhill at the halfway mark and by the time I reached the ending I had enough.
In the book, you’ll find stories of religious fervour and superstition, mystic visions and miraculous healing, witchery and heresy trials, pestilence and alchemy, violence and plenty of death. I would have preferred less stories and more character depth and I didn’t like the conclusion at all.
Based on the many glowing reviews, once again I seem to be in the minority with my opinion, so even if this novel didn’t work for me it may work for you.
June is at the door and winter is coming here downunder, we’d better prepare with a good book and a cuppa, here is the list of my planned reads (counting toward my challenges):• Clear the shelves challenge: 5 books to choose from my pre-2016 TBR
• Doorstopper for Big and Small: I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb (just started)
• Recommended: The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson
• TBR Mystery: In Cold Blood (doubles as monthly genre)
• One book for New to Me: TBD
• June Monthly genre: Classic or literary fiction, two or more books TBD
Reading bingos are such fun that I want to do another one before the end of the year, I’ve seen a couple of them online, I just need decide which one to pick.
May Summary# Books read: 24
# Pages read: 7,998
Average Rating: 3.21
Best book of the month: (NF) The sea wolves /Bel canto (F)
Best yield/payoff book: The lock artist (4 challenges)
Challenges completed (2):
• Challenge 16: Second Quarter Challenge: Award Winning Books 10/10 on 13/5/16
• Challenge 9: Recommended by Reading Challengers challenge 12/12 on 30/5/16
Provinces of Night by William Gay, 3 stars:Southern lit. It starts slow and was confusing at first, I had difficulty in following the characters and connecting them to each other, but I was hooked on the beautiful descriptive language, as it puts a spell on you:
“The wind was at the trees like something alive and faint light quaked and died, flared and diminished far to the west and he held his breath waiting for the thunder. It finally came, so faint it was like a dream of thunder, a hoarse incoherent whisper, just a madman mumbling to himself in the eaves of the world.”
Gay's humor compensates the darkness of this gothic novel, the episode with the hog was hilarious!
I listened to the audio version by Dick Hill, which was great, his voice magically evokes the South for me.
Currently reading I Know This Much Is True, that has been on my shelves forever, I am really enjoying this!
finished I Know This Much Is True, 4.5 starsDon’t you feel antsy when a writer drags the story on and on just to make the book longer? That’s not the case for this novel: it is long but there are no fillers here, Wally Lamb had so much to say and, through Dominick, I felt that I knew every character in the story.
What a beautiful book. Highly recommended!
Favourite quotes:
The point is this: that the stream of memory may lead you to the river of understanding. And understanding in turn may be a tributary to the river of forgiveness.
I am not a smart man, particularly, but one day, at long last, I stumbled from the dark woods of my own, and my family’s, and my county’s past, holding in my hands these truths: that loves grows from the rich loam of forgiveness; that mongrels make good dogs; that the evidence of God exists in the roundness of things.
This much, at least, I’ve figured out. I know this much is true”
The Kind Worth Killing, 3 starsArkwright, 2 stars
Their Eyes Were Watching God, 3.5 stars
Currently reading: By Fire, by Water and Pump Six and Other Stories
By Fire, by Water, 2 starsPump Six and Other Stories, 4 stars:
Wow, talk about dark … this was bleak and, at times, disturbing read, but Mr Bacigalupi’s originality and genius cannot be denied. Although I didn’t like all of the stories in the collection, some are really uncomfortable to read, each one of them presents something worth thinking about. My favourites were The fluted girl and The Pasho.
While I acknowledge it’s not suited to everyone’s tastes, this collection it’s not an easy read but makes you think. Recommended to lovers of (very) dark fiction.
With these two, I completed Challenge Challenge 15: Second Quarter Challenge: Clear The Shelves (31/30).
I'm currently reading Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption which I'm enjoying but it not exactly light and after a few depressing books I need some light entertainment, so I've started The Luck Uglies to compensate.
The Luck Uglies, 3 starsThe Overcoat for this month Classics theme, 3 stars
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, 4 stars
An eye opener on the USA criminal justice system. The author articulated really well the link between race, youth, poverty and mental disability on one side and the high rates of incarceration on the other. I reserved one star because, a couple of times, I had the impression that the author went overboard and I would have liked him to remain more balanced.
I greatly enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend.
Favourite quotes:
There are hundreds of ways we accommodate physical disabilities—or at least understand them. We get angry when people fail to recognize the need for thoughtful and compassionate assistance when it comes to the physically disabled, but because mental disabilities aren’t visible in the same way, we tend to be dismissive of the needs of the disabled and quick to judge their deficits and failures. Brutally murdering someone would, of course, require the State to hold that person accountable and to protect the public. But to completely disregard a person’s disability would be unfair in evaluating what degree of culpability to assign and what sentence to impose.
Walter made me understand why we have to reform a system of criminal justice that continues to treat people better if they are rich and guilty than if they are poor and innocent. A system that denies the poor the legal help they need, that makes wealth and status more important than culpability, must be changed.
… the death penalty is not about whether people deserve to die for the crimes they commit. The real question of capital punishment in this country is, Do we deserve to kill?
The Secret Keeper is delightful...one of my favorite reads in the last couple of years. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did :)
Thank you Jessica, I'm looking forward to it.I loved The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, she has such a talent, have you read anything else by her?
I read The Lake House earlier this year. It's also a wonderful book. I have The Forgotten Garden in my TBR pile...will probably get around to it this year :)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story, loved it, 4 stars!A Good Man Is Hard To Find, didn't work for me, 2 stars
The Secret Keeper, 2.5 stars:
I’m sorry to say that I was rather disappointed with my second Morton novel. First of all by the setting, London during the Bliz, the war was superficially discussed and it didn’t feel real(view spoiler).
It was an easy read because Morton writing is really good and some parts of the mystery were intriguing, especially early on. However I remain unconvinced by the many twist and turns in the plot, they felt contrived and the novel turned out more sugary that I was expecting (view spoiler).
The Forgotten Garden by the same author was a great read for me so I will probably read another of her novels but not in a hurry. 2.5 stars
Currently reading: The Dungeoneers and another classic: The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories
completed Big and Small challenge.The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories, 3 stars
The Dungeoneers, 3 stars
currently reading: Cold Mountain that has been on my shelf for ages...It's very sad but also beautifully written
Cold Mountain, 5 shining stars:Melancholic, bleak and stunningly violent, the book narrates many stories of bitter souls living grim lives and towards the end(view spoiler). Frazier’s beautiful prose gives the reader a perfect sense of place and time. I loved this book!
Favourite quotes:
The woman looked as if she thought Inman spoke the greatest foolishness she had ever heard. She pointed her pipe stem at him and said, You listen. Marrying a woman for her beauty makes no more sense than eating a bird for its singing. But it's a common mistake nonetheless.
In his experience, great wounds sometimes healed, small sometimes festered. Any wound might heal on the skin side but keep on burrowing inward to a man's core until it ate him up. The why of it, like much in life, offered little access to logic.
And then she thought that you went on living one day after another, and in time you were somebody else, your previous self only like a close relative, a sister or brother, with whom you shared a past. But a different person, a separate life.
Cold Mountain was a mottle of color rising behind the house. It changed day by day, and if you watched closely you could follow the color as it overtook the green and came down the mountain and spread into the cove like a wave breaking over you slowly.
Hello from the Gillespies, 3 starsThe Serpent, 4 stars:
This novella is the best original fantasy that I’ve read in a very long time. It’s a blend of fantasy and historical fiction. Although I like the two genres on their own, I don’t like them mixed, so I was sceptic of the book many high ratings on GR, but this combo worked for me too.
The characters are intriguing, the secrets and conspiracy games work perfectly well in a city as mysterious as 17th century Venice. I am looking forward to reading the second book in the trilogy.
Pygmalion, 3 starsIsland of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World, 4 stars:
The gripping story of a company of men shipwrecked on a cold and isolated place in the middle of the Indian Ocean. This tale of adventure and resourcefulness is remarkable, as it is a true story and the book is based on the extracts from the survivals’ journals and the papers of the time (late 1800s).
June summary # Books read: 20
# Pages read: 6,685
Average Rating: 3.30
Best book of the month: Just Mercy (NF) / Cold mountain (F)
Best yield/payoff book: The kind worth killing (5 challenges)
Challenges completed (2):
• Challenge 15: Second Quarter Challenge: Clear The Shelves 31/30 on 12/6/16
• Challenge 1: Big and Small 12/12 on 19/6/16
July is here and I’m excited, my mail goal for the year remains to read books from my pre-2016 TBR but this month theme is new releases, which give me the perfect excuse to read new books, Yay! The first 3 July books are :
Trust Your Eyes, 3 stars
The Curious Charms Of Arthur Pepper (2016 release) 3 stars
and
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, wonderful book, 5 stars:This is a beautiful and very readable biography of one of the most fascinating and influential women in history. The author did not limit his book to Catherine’s story nor to her family and the Russian imperial line but included many important figures from the Russian political world and the wider European courts and culture (for example wonderful cameos of Voltaire and Diderot). In this way, Massie successfully provides a 360 degree view of historical period in which Catherine lived and an enjoyable introduction to the main players and events in 18th century European history.
Without losing his focus on Catherine’s biography (with perhaps the exception of the description of French revolution in which Catherine declined to directly intervene and where the author indulged in a detailed description the use of the guillotine), Massie describes very well the Russian internal situation and its social structure, her relationship with the Orthodox Church, the caste system and the plight of the serfs were particularly interesting to me.
Highly recommended, this book deserves a full 5 shining stars rating (The book has even maps!)
Memo to self, Massie mentions an interesting story between a Russian aristocrat and his serf celebrity, read The Pearl: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in Catherine the Great's Russia.
Fav. Quotes:
My natural pride made the idea of being miserable intolerable to me. I used to say to myself that happiness and misery depend on ourselves. If you feel unhappy, rise above it and act so that your happiness may be independent of all outside events.
“Monsieur Diderot,” she finally said to him, I have listened with the greatest pleasure to all the inspirations of your brilliant mind. But all your grand principles, which I understand very well, would do splendidly in books and very badly in practice. In your plans for reform, you are forgetting the difference between our two positions: you work only on paper which accepts anything, is smooth and flexible and offers no obstacles either to your imagination or your pen, while I, poor empress, work on human skin, which is far more sensitive and touchy.
She was the heavily burdened ruler of a great empire as well as a proud and passionate woman, and she had neither time nor inclination to explain or quibble. She was lonely and she needed a partner, someone with whom to share not power but conversation, laughter, and human warmth. Therein lay one of the problems confronting her: the love of power and the power to attract love were not easy to reconcile.
140.Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie ** (2016 release)141.Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger ***
142.Hard to Be a God by Strugatsky bros * (DNF)
143.Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris ***144. All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor ****
145. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier *** - with this book I completed Challenge #2 (New to me authors)
currently reading: Shift and How to Be an Imperfectionist: The New Way to Fearlessness, Confidence, and Freedom from Perfectionism
Shift, 3 stars - with this book I completed Challenge #3 - Recommended booksNot as good as Silo, which admittedly is a hard act to follow (btw Silo is necessary reading to fully understand Shift post-apocalyptic world), but a welcome good read for me after the number of disappointing sci-fi reads this year. One more to go to finish the trilogy.
Currently reading Joan of Arc: A History
Joan of Arc: A History, a disappointing 2 stars:Unfortunately, the tile of this book is deceiving. The name may not had been the author’s original choice (possibly the publisher’s?), I have come across a few books that use name dropping as a marketing tool to attract readers, but for people like me this marketing device inevitably leads to disappointment.
The author opens the book with the political situation during the dynastic clash for the control of the French crown, the English invasion and the battle of Agincourt at the beginning of 1400s. It is a reasonable start but Castor dedicates five chapters to the complex climate in France and England before even introducing the protagonist. This first part occupies more than a third of the book (excluding illustrations, list of characters, family trees, notes and bibliography, these last two sections fill half the book).
The second part, despite being named “Joan”, is a lengthy blow-by-blow account of the Anglo-Burgundian vs Armagnac military campaigns (in which Joan is only one of the many players) rather than the biography that I expected. The reader will have to wait until the end of this second part, chapter 9 to be exact (her testimony at the trial) to begin to learn something about Joan’s life.
Finally, the third part, which occupies another quarter of the book, continues the history of the war for another twenty years or so after her death until the final retreat of the English from France (with the exception of the port city of Calais). Only at the end of the book, the testimonies of the witnesses at her second trial (25 years after the first) shed some light about Joan’s past, for a dozen or so pages.
So, at least 80% of the book is not about Joan of Arc's life. Instead, it is a summary of a brief period in French history and, although well done, is certainly not the “portrait of a 19-year-old peasant who ….” that the book blurb promised.
Here, you will not find in-depth analysis of Joan’s claims to be the messenger of God, nor the theological position and implications at the time (for example was the papacy aware of her campaign and of the trial? and if so what was their position?), no insights on the religious or cultural historical context (e.g. how was heresy defined at the time? What were her contemporaries beliefs about women, sorcery and superstition?), and more importantly you will not get a sense of who Joan was and what her personality was like.
With a name like “The history of the Ango-Burgundian and French Armagnac conflict before, during and after Joan of Arc”, I would rate the book 4-5 stars, but as it is named “Joan of Arc, a history”, I must rate it much less. It is a pity, because this historical period is interesting and Castor’s writing of the strategies during the war (like at the siege of Orleans, the many political manoeuvrings and her descriptions of the battlefields) are engaging.
I would recommend this book as a chronology of the dynastic battle for the French crown during the first half of 15th century (complete with a detailed genealogy of the main players), but if you, like me, are looking forward to reading a biography of Jehanne la Pucelle, look elsewhere.
My Family and Other Animals, really really funny memoir, 4 stars:I am so glad that I finally read this book who stood neglected on my TBR shelf for too long.
Durell’s remarkable ability of observation enables him to vividly portray on paper the behaviour of the creatures (and the people) around him in their minuscule details. The descriptions of the landscapes of Corfu Island in their changing seasons are equally beautifully poetic and glossy.
Part nature guide and part autobiography, with plenty of humorous anecdotes, this memoir is a pleasure to read.
How to Be an Imperfectionist: The New Way to Fearlessness, Confidence, and Freedom from Perfectionism, 3.5 starsA number of excellent points, but with a lot of repetition and self promotion too.
I have reached my page goal for the year (50,000 pages) but I have still some way to go on my book count (149/200 books).
currently reading: The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life and In Cold Blood
149. How to Be an Imperfectionist: The New Way to Fearlessness, Confidence, and Freedom from Perfectionism by Stephen Guise ****150.In Cold Blood by Truman Capote ***
3.5 stars. Suspenseful true crime story with an excellent analysis of all the characters, even the minor ones. I rounded down as I felt that the last part (the trial) dragged for too long.
151.The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney ***152.Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock ****
153.Bruno, Chief of Police: A Novel of the French Countryside by Martin Walker ****
I enjoyed this cozy mystery novel very much. The book setting in a quaint village in one of the most beautiful regions of France (Dordogne) brought back treasured memories of my visits there.
Contrary to many other novels set in France, in this one the events take place in modern times. I liked the author’s inclusion of current issues such as the strict rules about food production and its sale due to the EU regulations and the challenges to integration between locals and Muslim immigrants in the past and at present. However, the best part for me was the background about wartime France, the French Resistance and the actions of the Force Mobile (part of the Vichy regime and Nazi sympathizers) in occupied Perigord.
The novel evokes the many colours and flavours of French culture, the local people, countryside, history and food (!) without falling into the cliché’ trap. A charming read, I will certainly continue this series.
3.5 stars rounded up for the interesting historical aspect.
154. The Sailor on the Seas of Fate by Michael Moorcock **155. This Census-Taker by China Miéville **
I enjoyed The City & the City but honestly I don’t know what to make of Miéville’s latest book. Despite my doubts, I kept reading in the hope it would make sense in the end. Alas, no such luck, the story remains obscure till the end. On the last page I asked myself: what did I just read? What was the point?
Writing that doesn’t have a meaning it’s only words, so not even an OK rating for me: 1.5 stars.
almost finished The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life and half way through Maisie Dobbs
2025 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
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