Reading books in 2023

Yes! I loved this too. Really interesting, plus it’s the only thing I’ve read that’s made me feel better about the impending doom.

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Looking forward to keeping up with this thread more this year. I’m determined to finish 50 books this year, after finishing in the mid to late 40s the last couple of years. 2021, I started off well, but got annoyed with myself for not enjoying or finishing Dracula, and ended up having a two month gap. Last year I started off slowly, and took forever to finish that pain-in-the-arse Hanya Nayagihara book from last year (‘To Paradise’) and then spent a fortnight reading The Stand.

Finished so far:

Gabrielle Zevin - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Enjoyed this. Saw this on a whole bunch of ‘best of 2022’ lists and get why it’s very much liked. My favourite aspect is that the core relationship between the two main characters is about friends and workmates, it’s never made romantic or relationship-y, if you know what I mean. Plus it’s about gaming, a topic I know very little about, and I felt like Zevin did a convincing job of making believe the games that the characters create are realistic. But I’m not a gamer, so I don’t know.

Yiyun Li - The Book of Goose - Really liked this one too, although I’m not very good at articulating why. The novel is about two childhood friends gowing up in rural post-war France. Together, they ‘write a book’ with the help of a local widower. However, when the book comes to be published, they agree that only Agnes (the narrator) gets credited for it. There’s a lot of duality in this book, and I’m not sure if my reading of it is accurate - the book never explicity says anything about split personalities, but there’s this underlying ambiguity that made me question a lot. The style reminded me of Kazuo Ishiguro (and probably a lot of other writers that do this) where the prose is very clear and tidy, and matter-of-fact, and the ‘mystery’ elements of the book are left for you to interpret based on the actions of the characters.

Currently 100 pages into The Nix by Nathan Hill. Having a blast with it so far.

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Oh no I’ve just started this! Haha
Really enjoying it so far. Not read A Little Life so wasn’t sure what to expect but I like it. I do enjoy my sci-fi though so am totally down with the concept so far.
Also enjoying the prose. Very readable.

I only read non-fiction

ain’t got time for pretend stuff when the world itself is already mad enough

anyway, I’m trying to read before I go to bed every night

currently I’m reading this

which is pretty fucking nuts

and this

which is also kinda nuts eg. last night I was reading about this guy who was bragging about how good he was at slam dunks, the uni athletics team challenged him and long story short the following year he won a world championships gold medal in high jump

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You’re missing out

The pretend stuff helps us escape the mad world for a minute :blush:

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This is 99p on Kindle today. Will give it a shot.

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I really loved To Paradise, so hopefully you’ll keep enjoying it!

I’m currently reading another giant book, The Luminaries by Eleanor Carton. Really loving it so far, although I’ve read about 160 pages and have another 700 to go still!

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Have picked this up too, along with Kindred (Butler) and The Power and the Glory (Greene)

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Not read To Paradise yet, but A Little Life was fantastic.

Currently reading Mercia’s Take by Daniel Wiles. Short novel set in a 19th century black country coal mine. Enjoying it, really nicely written.

Ooh, Kindred is great! Will investigate your other book.

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Was a bit crushed when a good mate only thought it was decent at best

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Kindred was 99p and been meaning to read it for years

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Kindred was good. We read it for our book club. I keep meaning to check out her more SF titles too.

Lovely news that happened recently when NASA named a site after her.

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Can you people stop convincing me to buy books that’ll take me ages to get around to reading please? I’d already bought Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow this morning before I came into this thread and now I’ve bought Kindred too.

Finished **The Final Revival of Opal and Nev ** this morning, which I really enjoyed. Similar in style to Daisy Jones and the Six, but with a bit more to say. Good book, recommended.

Not sure what to start next. Probably Bob Mortimer’s The Satsuma Complex, because I fancy something silly

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Of course and that’s a great reason for reading!

I do feel the need to say that I wasn’t only meaning the world being mad = being shit though :+1:

I was more meaning that there are lots of fascinating, dramatic, true stories about real people and I personally choose to read those.

Last night Jeb Corliss’ book made me laugh harder than any comedy has done for about ten years through the sheer ridiculousness of the situation he found himself in.

I was expecting the book to be interesting and it is but it’s so much more than that.

If anyone wants to read an autobiography from a wingsuit flyer, it’s extraordinarily well written.

Only problem is that it’s been so good in the first 40% of it that I’m convinced it can’t possibly keep going through the remaining pages :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Added this to my kindle wishlist, really into reading about Ireland being normal atm

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I’ve got the cause-effect influence the wrong way round here of course, but reading Kindred reminded me of Colson Whitehead - able to write about really dark terrifying topics, but the actual writing itself is so light and readable that it makes everything much more accessible and “enjoyable” than you’d expect

(Compared to someone like Ottessa Moshfegh where I find her writing style so dreary that shes a much harder read, even if the topics aren’t nearly as dark as the ones Butler or Whitehead cover)

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I’ll be honest that the 70% of the way through drop off is why I am not so quick to read Non-Fiction, particularly if it’s meaty-looking in length.

thats interesting, i didnt get along with kindred and hated what ive read of colson whitehead and its for exactly tht same reason you liked it, hadnt put it together in my head.

current pile

oops missed one, have carter beats the devil as well, please imagine that on top

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