The Book Thread Book • Page 116

Hi guys. Happy holidays :)

The best gift I could possibly receive this holidays is support for my creative endeavors. And hoping you find it a gift for yourself too. Making one last plug for the year for my poetry collection, Palm Lines, out now. Getting this out there helped make 2020 bearable for me. Working on getting more author copies to sign and ship myself (I sold out my last batch), but in the meantime, order from the publisher website here:

https://www.tohopub.com/product-page/palm-lines-jonathan-koven

 

Just seeing this now.

I'm assuming you've finished American Elsewhere by now? Worth a read?

 

It was absolutely spectacular. In the realm of Imaginary Friend, It, Fisherman. Totally original and keeps you guessing for the entire 650ish pages.

 

been reading a lot the last few weeks! here's what I've finished lately:

34. Leor Galil — Chicago Pop Stars, Hardcore Heroes, and House Legends
35. Matt Walker — Gainesville Punk: A History of Bands & Music
Both of these were very good—I love Leor's writing and I think he does such a brilliant job bringing stories of Chicago artists to life with the kind of detail that shows how much he knows about the scene there. I especially loved his American Football feature and his Willis Earl Beal feature. The Gainesville book was good too, although I thought it sort of rushed through the present day and glossed over the Fest stuff a little fast for my taste, but a lot of interesting stuff about a love of bands I didn't know a ton about before (and some stuff about bands I love like Against Me!) Was a gratifying read as someone who grew up in FL.

36. Frank Herbert — Dune
Finished this from earlier in the year—I have said before that I don't read a ton of fantasy/sci-fi but I did enjoy this. The first third of this was excellent, propulsive, and very engaging. The middle third was very slow and honestly kind of boring. And then the final third was very good. I might eventually pick up the second book, but I'm not rushing to read the whole series. But I am glad I read it though and I'm excited to re-watch the Lynch film (and see the new one some day).

37. William Shakespeare — Hamlet
I have never read this and I found my ginormous complete Shakespeare book that I got from a retiring HS teacher so I figured I would. I loved it! I'm a lot more interested in Shakespeare than I was in college (when I avoided Brit Lit at all costs), so I think this was the right time. Might start reading a couple plays a year.

38. Jean-Paul Sartre — No Exit
I think I actually read this in college but I'm glad I revisited! Really quick read and such a great play with some really interesting passages (I told my friend I read this and she raved about the mirror passage toward the beginning). Would like to find a way to read the original film adaptation that Sartre helped with.

39. Gabriel Bump — Everywhere You Don't Belong
This was brilliant, the way Bump writes dialogue is so incredible—it's somehow funny, snappy, and incredibly emotional all at once (especially when it comes to the earlier sections where the characters are all younger children). I also think the central character here is so richly written—the way he makes decisions through a lot of very delicate and difficult situations is so pointed and heavy with experience. Definitely one of my favorite books I've read this year.

 

Hamlet is so damn good.

 

Shakespeare is truly magnificent.

 

Also by Sartre, Nausea is worth checking out. Really aptly evokes existential crisis.

 

I don't think I've ever read anything by Shakespeare tbh

 

I’ve read Romeo & Juliet in school and I’ve seen the play. It was a good experience overall but not exactly an easy read. Then again I’m not a native English speaker.

 

Julius Caesar the GOAT

 

The thought of sitting down and reading Shakespeare like a novel has never appealed to me. I sometimes feel like I should but I never want to.

 

the tempest always seemed like one of his (their?) dorkiest but I always enjoyed it

 

Yeah I mean a play is a way better way to experience it, I enjoyed it more and understood it better

 

I was wondering where I should go next with him so noted! thanks

 

It’s worth reading along while watching a performance—to get the most out of it.

 

I really like those No Fear Shakespeare Sparknotes books, they're cheap and they just make it really convenient

 

got Don DeLillo's new one The Silence for Christmas. excited to start it

 

Ooh, let us know what you think, this one sounded really interesting. Love a bit of DeLillo.

 

I thought Dune would take me a month, I’m 500 pages in after 4 days. Pretty easy to read and I’m having a ton of fun with it

 

Here’s my 2020 book list, rated out or 5. Some great reads this year!



Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri (4/5)

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (5/5)

South of the Border, West of the Sun - Haruki Murakami (3/5)

Behold the Dreamers - Imbolo Mbue (2/5)

Exhalation - Ted Chiang (4/5)

Disappearing Earth - Julia Phillips (4/5)

Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney (4/5)

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union - Michael Chabon (4/5)

Inland - Tea Obreht (5/5)

Normal People - Sally Rooney (5/5)

Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino (3/5)

The Topeka School - Ben Lerner (3/5)

Devolution - Max Brooks (3/5)

Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison (5/5)

Every Day is for the Thief - Teju Cole (3/5)

American Woman - Susan Choi (4/5)

Manufacturing Consent - Edward Herman/Noam Chomsky (5/5)

No Country for Old Men - Cormac Mccarthy (4/5)

The End of the Affair - Graham Greene (2/5)

The Sellout - Paul Beatty (4/5)

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami (3/5)

Train Dreams - Denis Johnson (5/5)

Dept Of Speculation - Jenny Offill (3/5)

A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James (5/5)

All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque (4/5)

Lives on the Boundary - Mike Rose (3/5)

Stories of your Life and Others - Ted Chiang (4/5)

In the Distance - Hernan Diaz (4/5)

The Lowland - Jhumpa Lahiri (4/5)

Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders (reread - 5/5)

Slapstick - Vonnegut (3/5– easily my least favorite Vonnegut book)

The Bloody White Baron - James Palmer (4/5)

The Tombs of Atuan - Ursula Le Guin (4/5)

My Sister, the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite (4/5)

Luster - Raven Leilani (3.5/5)

 

I think it's wild that we have the opposite experiences but the same outcome. I've been reading it since the start of November and I just got up to The Prophet about five minutes ago. I'm having a great time with it, but it's definitely challenged me as a reader and encouraged me to dive more into sci-fi and fantasy!

 

My 2020 list:

1. Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Friere
2. How Children Fail - John Holt
3. The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs - Steve Brusatte
4. Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur
5. While Mortals Sleep - Kurt Vonnegut
6. The Masters Tools Will Never Dismantle The Masters House - Audre Lorde
7. Into the Wild - John Krakauer
8. White Teeth - Zadie Smith
9. Lavinia - Ursula Le Guin
10. Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction - Cynthia Freeland
11. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
12. No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference - Greta Thunberg
13. Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
14. How To Be An Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi
15. On Being Literate - Margaret Meek
16. The Body Artist - Don DeLillo
17. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction - Jonathan D. Culler
18. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
19. Three Japanese Short Stories - Assorted
20. Notes on Nationalism - George Orwell
21. Deschooling Society - Ivan Illich
22. Fates Worse Than Death - Kurt Vonnegut
23. Autumn - Ali Smith
24. The Body - Bill Bryson
25. The Man Who Made Things Out Of Trees - Robert Penn
26. The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
27. God Bless You Mr. Rosewater - Kurt Vonnegut

Most I've read for a few years, even if a few of them were incredibly short.

 

it's been many years since I've read anything by Vonnegut but I should change that. one of the best

 

I’ve never read anything by Vonnegut. What would be a good recommendation for a first time reader?

 

I've read Slaughterhouse Five and The Sirens of Titan and loved both. Slaughterhouse is a little more propulsive, I think.