Reading books in 2022

Finished Jamaica Inn. Hoping I can squeeze another book in before I fly to America on Saturday.
Going to the library this afternoon, excited! :nerd_face:

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Journey By Midnight - Antal Szerb

My reading companion for my trip round Morocco and, yep, the general consensus that it is the one of the great European novels of the 20th century is well justified. Absolutely loving it!

Read The Twisted Ones during a day of travel. They’re so good at weird bleak alternate worlds and love how easy it is to plough through them quickly. There’s something still so jarring about their protagonist doing this whole “i dont know who I’m writing this for/eugh i ahte bad grammar/hope my vet isnt reading/oh i’ll just mention my vet again 4 more times” It really makes me want to stop reading but it always tapers off a third of the way in. Really looking forward to the new one soon but really hope they pack in the weird sort of pointless 4th wall stuff.

Started on Manningtree Witches yesterday, and have read quite a few of the stories in a Rod Serling edited compilation The Three Ws: witches, warlocks and werewolves :man_mage::woman_mage: Enjoyed most of them, some a bit “of their time”*

Also listening to Ghostland which is great but suspect this 3 books at a time thing is about to crash and burn.

  • sexist
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Got back on track with reading with two shorter reads

The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers which had some great characters in it, need to explore more of her works.

Pure Colour by Sheila Heti, beautifully written and left with a lot to think about. This really got me out of a rut with reading and probably also in general.

One of the greatest American authors of the 20th century, and one of the best character writers I’ve ever read. Very envious of you. Oh to be able to read her work afresh again.

ohh ive only ever read sad cafe too

where to next?

It’s a bit like shooting fish in a barrel in that you can’t miss reading a great piece of work whatever you read of hers.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is seen as her masterpiece, which it is, but her other work is just as good, especially The Member of the Wedding. But, overall, whatever you read of hers next is the right answer.

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Quite liked Manningtree Witches. Have you read Lolly Willowes? Not sure if having a cat named Vinegar Tom in both makes it a good companion piece but still, read them one after the other and Sylvia Townsend Warner seemed fascinating.

Or Hex by Jenni Fagan is another good fictionalised witch trial related book but a bit more poetic.

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I’ve not read it, I’ll add them both to my list!

Oh that first one is currently…free on kindle? Just picked it up

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Reread Somnium by Steve Moore.

Walked the ‘psychic circuit’ as per the Reason Sinclair video on YouTube at some point after reading it the first time and went to a talk in a cemetery where Alan Moore was discussing stealing the moon goddess Selene from Steve during a dream.

Anyway, was worth a reread after realizing around Shooters Hill as that location is very much a party of him. Born and died in the same house, foresaw his death and was seen on his usual wander between his death and his body being found.

But yeah, it’s strange. The book and a lot around it… but a breeze to get through.

Have you read The Gate To Women’s Country yet? I finished it last week and really liked it. Nice Ursula vibes to it. I ended up buying a few more cheap Kindle books of hers straight afterwards.

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Will post a random selection of books I’ve read over the past few months:

Cursed Bunny - Bora Chung - Peculiar dark short stories. 8/10

How We Disappeared - Jing-Jing Lee - Singapore/Japan WWII bleakness about ‘comfort women’, but a good read. 8/10

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern I completely loved this book, and zoomed through it despite it being fairly long. Lovely magical feeling to it all (unsurprisingly) 10/10

A Ghost In The Throat - Doireann Ni Ghriofa - I wanted to like this book more than I did, but just started quick-reading it towards the end 5/10

Grey Bees - Andrey Kurkov Ukranian style Man Called Ove vibes, but with bees and war 7/10

The Bridge - Iain Banks - I’ve read all of his sci-fi, but only a few of his non-M fiction books. almost a bit worried I might not like them as much, but this was great, especially the world he built in it. 8/10

Swastika Night - Katharine Burdekin - She wrote this book in the mid-1930s or something like that before the war, imagining a future 500 years later after Hitler and the Nazis had won the war. Quite impressive considering all the horribleness that was yet to happen, but the book lost its way after a bit with its ‘telling and not showing’ what happened in the ‘past’ 5/10

The Discomfort Of Evening - Marieke Lucas Rijneveld - Another one I was hoping to like, but I just didn’t like the story or the characters, and so when it got a bit too dark and twisted/uncomfortable then it just didn’t work for me.

The Vegetarian - Han King - Three linked stories about the vegetarian, although the third one wasn’t as gripping as the first two, but still a good read 7/10

The Island Of Missing Trees - Elif Shafak - Went off this book as it continued. Have another of her books from a kindle deal, but might wait a while before giving it a go 5/10

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Finished The Castle of Otranto this morning! Quite enjoyed it - definitely keeps you on your feet a bit as it floats around from dread mystery to being almost a bit of a farcical Medieval soap opera with occasional skellingtons from beyond this realm. Unchecked power reckoning with the guilt and the deception underpinning it though - a tale as old as time… or like, I dunno, agriculture? Um.

ANYWAY! The rest of my spooky Autumnal reading, you ask?

  • I picked up Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson in town - was hoping to read Hangsaman but it wasn’t at any bookshop I went past, and I can’t be arsed ordering owt of the internet.

  • I get a feeling that this is the year that I finally get into Thomas Ligotti. I feel like cosmic hopelessness will provide some catharsis this grim year.

  • The Three Gothic Novels book that Otranto was in also has Vathek in it. And I also have a copy of Vathek of my own. Maybe this is a sign that I should read Gothic lit progenitor Vathek. Perhapsh

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have you lot seen all the stats you can get in goodreads now?


amazing stuff

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Oooh how do you do this?

There’s a “stats” section you can get to on the desktop site via your “my books” page.

Makes me think of watching fish food drifting down from the top of the tank as a kid!

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FFS. I never should have read the Illiad - thanks for messing up my Goodreads stats, Homer.

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Published over 2000 years before publishing was invented :wink:

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The Crow Road is maybe his best but I would actually say if you can find the late 90s BBC adaptation then watch that. Probably on Britbox.

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The Odyssey for me. It was a new translation from the last couple of years as well!

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