The Book Thread Book • Page 137

RIP Joan Didion :(

 

A little ashamed to say I’ve never read her, but she’s a giant. No denying it. RIP.

Where’s a good place to start with her (if I’m into the more literary stuff)?

 

Slouching Towards Bethlehem is an all time great collection of essays—some of them may be journalism but they feel more like creative nonfiction. For novels, the only one I’ve read is Play it as it Lays but it’s really good too

 

Damn, RIP. Love(d) Play It As It Lays. Always meant to check out more of her stuff but it just kept getting pushed down the list.

 

a couple of years ago I read Slouching, White Album, and Magical Thinking back to back to back, it was great

 

In a big reading slump right now. I haven’t been enjoying books like usual. It took me months to get through Kavalier & klay despite me REALLY liking it. I started reading a collection of stories by Gogol today and my brain had trouble understanding anything. I went to the bookstore to see if I could find a book that sparked my interest but didn’t feel motivated to pick up anything .

Maybe it’s depression or omicron or work or too much pot, but I’m bummed out that I can’t seem to sink into a book for the past few months.

 

I am thinking of starting American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett.

I’ve taken mostly a break from longer books and stayed with easy mystery/thrillers this year, but I am ready to tackle this!

 

It’s really good

 

Read Salem’s Lot and honestly it is probably my least favorite Stephen King book so far. It was good, but I think maybe my enjoyment was hindered by the random order in which I’m reading his books; I couldn’t help but feel the characters were rather undeveloped, at least compared to how he later came to treat his characters. I found it a bit meandering at times, too, which is a feeling I didn’t get from even his much longer novels like It and The Stand.

Started Eimear McBride’s The Lesser Bohemians last night. Was worried I wouldn’t be able to get into it based on reviews (I remember liking Girl for its uniqueness but it definitely didn’t stick) but so far I think it’s kind of brilliant if not disturbing.

After that, I’ll probably go back to Stephen King and read The Shining.

 

So I read 20 books this year which is a lot for me but probably not for most of you lol. My goal is 22 books in 2022. I have a list of 17 I want to read which will leave five to be determined (and maybe even more). But below is what I def want to get through.


1. Supernova Era - Cixin Liu
2. The Grace of Kings - Ken Liu
3. Gumption - Nick Offerman
4. Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert
5. Unfinished Tales - JRR Tolkien
6. The Silmarillion - JRR Tolkien
7. House of Leaves - Mark Danielewski
8. A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn
9. The American Civil War - John Keegan
10. Iron Gold - Pierce Brown
11. Dark Age - Pierce Brown
12. Star Wars - The Fallen Star - Claudia Gray
13. From Rufio to Zuko - Dante Basco
14. The Sixth Extinction - Elizabeth Colbert
15. You Only Live Twice - Ian Fleming
16. The Wheel of Time The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan
17. The Wheel of Time The Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan

 

I never did finish House of Leaves. I remember that one being......creepy

 

I’m extremely intimidated by House of Leaves lol

 

House of Leaves was/is a fun read. Sometimes I read multiple books at a time but House of Leaves I read on its own as it kind of required it / I wanted to give it the attention it deserved.

Sure, reading a couple pages in the mirror (because it’s printed backwards) can sound a bit goofy or convoluted but not a lot of the book that is like that (although be prepared for that and flipping the book upside down, sideways, etc.) and it’s worth the journey imo.

 

Is the story relatively easy to follow?

 

this year, I read roughly 60 books, which is a lot more than usual! I’m unfortunately way into the literary stuff you’d probably find on a college class syllabus there are some extraordinary books on this list though, in my opinion. check out my favorite reads of 2021 (in no order):

poetry (or some hybridization of poetry):

And Drought Will Follow - Lee Potts
Little Blue Primer - Valerie Little
Souvenir of the Ancient World - Carlos Drummond de Andrade
Self Self - Joshua Holm
The Palm at the End of the Mind - Wallace Stevens
Paterson - William Carlos Williams
Duino Elegies - Rainer Maria Rilke
Book of Hours: Love Poems to God - Rainer Maria Rilke

nonfiction:

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - Annie Dillard
Waking the Bones - Elizabeth Kirschner
(both Paterson and Little Blue Primer fit into this category as well)

fiction:

Lucky Per - Henrik Pontoppidan
Snow Country - Yasunari Kawabata
Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino
The Obscene Madame D - Hilda Hilst
Ponciá Vicencio - Conceição Evaristo
A Balcony in the Forest - Julien Gracq
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace With the Sea - Yukio Mishima
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
The Invention of Morel - Adolfo Bioy Casares
The Tanners - Robert Walser
Below Torrential Hill - yours truly, Jonathan Koven

 

Man I used to be good at reading books

 

finally got a chance to order your book today now that the holidays are almost over! so stoked to read it

also a bunch in the fiction section here I'm not familiar with, will have to add a few of these to my list

 

Thanks for getting a copy! I so hope you like it.

yeah all those fiction books seriously rule. Highly recommend every last one of them. Plz post your thoughts if you end up reading!

 

I just finished Murakami’s Norwegian Woods. I’m glad I saw it through when I felt like stopping but I’m also not sure if I would recommend it. I do recommend First Person Singular, which came out recently.

Next up is Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami.

 

I have a goal to read at least one book per month this year (hopefully more, but I don’t like setting myself up for failure). Starting off with Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson and following it with Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead.

 

Also doing a book a month.

Sorta cheating January because I already started book 2 of Tom Delonge’s Chasing Shadows series. But after that I have: “Sell Out” by Dan Ozzi, “My Heart Is A Chainsaw” by Stephen Graham Jones, and Dave Grohl’s autobiography. Trying to swap out fiction to non-fiction month over month.

 

about a third of the way into Palmares, the new Gayl Jones novel—it's really something so far. I'm surprised the reception for this has been kind of muted as far as I've seen (the New Yorker at least like basically panned it), it's really gorgeous, compelling work so far to me. but I adored Mosquito and I don't think that novel has as big a rep as her others (and even that came out 20 years ago) so who knows

also I ordered the new Yanagihara book today, didn't realize it was coming out next week! that's another behemoth I'm excited to dive into (although I'm not sure how successful I'll be as spring semester starts)

 

Wow, finished Eimear McBride's The Lesser Bohemians and thought it was brilliant. Emotionally draining, though.

 

Has anyone had children recently? My wife and I are expecting our first child in April and I am interested to hear if anyone has any experiences in regard to it impacting reading opportunities or any tips to keep going with reading even if it’s 5 minutes a day? I know life will change fairly dramatically and reading won’t be my first priority, haha!

 

First of all, Congrats!

Secondly, my 4th child is due in April so this is something I have been thinking about, how my reading time will go down here soon haha.

I'm gonna be honest, the first 3 months is your child's life you may not have much time for many leisurely things. That's not too say you couldn't get 5 minutes here and there, just the first 3 months after a child is born is exhausting and very much a whirlwind. I promise you it does get better before too long, reading just may be one of those things you need to be very specific and schedule time for going forward for sure. For myself, my reading time currently is first thing in the morning before my kids and wife get up. I may get some more at night after the kids are in bed, but becoming a parent you really kinda have to structure things differently.

Obviously, this is just me speaking from my experience but figured I'd give some insight. Best of luck to you!