2025 Reading Challenge discussion
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Tamara Reads and Reviews 52 in 2022
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Goal: 52 Books50/52. Butcher's Crossing by John Williams.
This is the second book I've read by John Williams. I loved it as much as I loved Stoner. Williams was such a gifted writer with a knack for getting to the heart of things in direct, clear-eyed prose.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books51/52. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.
This is the 3rd or 4th time I've read this classic. It gets better with each reading.
Goal: 10 Classics
12/10. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books
52/52. Summer with the Enemy by Shahla Ujayli; translated from the Arabic by Michelle Hartman.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
30/10. Summer with the Enemy by Shahla Ujayli; translated from the Arabic by Michelle Hartman.
Goal: 10 Books in Translation
17/10. Summer with the Enemy by Shahla Ujayli; translated from the Arabic by Michelle Hartman.
Goal: 10 Books by Authors from the Middle East and Africa
7/10. Summer with the Enemy by Shahla Ujayli; translated from the Arabic by Michelle Hartman.
I didn't write a review for this book because it just wasn't for me.
Goal: 52 Books53/52. Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan.
A wonderful collection of short stories. This is the third book I've read by Claire Keegan. She has become one of my favorite authors. I can't say enough good things about the way she writes.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
31/10. Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books54/52. Ithaca by Claire North.
This is the first book in the upcoming trilogy. It is a delightful retelling of Penelope's Ithaca while she waits for Odysseus' return. North makes the unusual choice of having Hera narrate the story. Her snarky voice is the source of much of the humor. An original and enjoyable take on the myth.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
32/10. Ithaca by Claire North.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books55/52. Hotel Iris by Yōko Ogawa, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder.
I loved Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor. This couldn't be more different. It is full of really disturbing sexual violence, bondage, humiliation, etc. etc. I didn't get the point at all. This novel just wasn't for me.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
33/10. Hotel Iris by Yōko Ogawa, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder.
Goal: 10 Books in Translation
18/10. Hotel Iris by Yōko Ogawa, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books56/52. Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit.
I've loved everything I've read by Rebecca Solnit, and this was no exception. Here she takes as her starting point Orwell's love of gardening and then explores a variety of subjects, including Orwell's life and writing, totalitarianism, climate change, social justice, and the degradation of the natural environment.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
34/10. Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit.
Goal: 10 Books of Non-Fiction
15/10. Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books57/52. Augustus by John Williams.
Another great novel by John Williams. This is a fictional retelling of the life of Octavius Caesar Augustus, unfolding through a series of letters, journal entries, excerpts from memoirs, dispatches, and senate dictates.
Williams was an incredible author. His novels tackled different subjects, but they were all equally brilliant. I'm a huge fan of his writing.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books58/52. The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng.
I enjoyed it although I had some minor quibbles with the narrator and the extended passages of martial arts. I thought his The Garden of Evening Mists was a much better novel.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books59/52. Walking on the Ceiling by Aysegül Savas.
This is the second novel I've read by this Turkish author. I enjoyed her White on White, but I enjoyed this novel more. Her style is unusual--very subdued and muted. Nothing much happens in her novels, but her character's interiority is fascinating and her voice, mesmerizing.
Goal: Ten Books by Authors from the Middle East and Africa
9/10. Walking on the Ceiling by Aysegül Savas.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books60/52. A Collection of Essays by George Orwell.
Orwell's essays are classics. His insights continue to speak to us across the decades. Of particular relevance in this age of fake news and incendiary language is his essay, "Politics and the English Language."
Ten books of Non-Fiction
16/10. A Collection of Essays by George Orwell.
Ten Classics
13/10. A Collection of Essays by George Orwell.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books61/52. Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin; translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins.
The narrator is a young woman working in a run-down resort hotel close to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Very little action occurs since most of it takes place beneath the surface. The novel's strength lies in the narrator's interiority.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
36/10. Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin; translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins.
Goal: 10 Books in Translation
19/10. Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin; translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books62/52. I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell.
In this unconventional memoir, O'Farrell chronicles seventeen self-contained episodes in which she comes close to death. She communicates the intensity of each experience in detailed, evocative diction with a fear and anxiety that is palpable. A compelling memoir.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
37/10. I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell.
Goal: 10 Books of Non-Fiction
17/10. I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books63/52. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. A historical novel about the plague in a seventeenth-century English village. Unfortunately, what was otherwise a good historical novel, in elegant language and immersive detail, was spoiled by its improbable and somewhat bizarre ending.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
38/10. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Goal: 52 Books64/52. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout.
Another book in the Lucy Barton series. I sort of can see why some readers rave about it, but I felt it had very little substance or depth. This is the second book I've read in the series. I doubt if I'll read any more in the series.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
39/10. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2025 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Lucy by the Sea (other topics)Year of Wonders (other topics)
I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death (other topics)
Winter in Sokcho (other topics)
A Collection of Essays (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Elizabeth Strout (other topics)Geraldine Brooks (other topics)
Maggie O'Farrell (other topics)
Elisa Shua Dusapin (other topics)
George Orwell (other topics)
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49/52. My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout.
I enjoyed it. But I'd heard so much about it that I think I was expecting it to be a little stronger. It ended with a lot of unanswered questions probably because it's the first in a series.
Goal: 10 Books by Women Authors
29/10. My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...