February Discussion Post
Feb. 18th, 2023 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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thestoryinside
It's time for our monthly discussion post! This post will remain open for you to contribute at any time, so no pressure. Even if you didn't get around to reading any of your selected books or opted out of participating for the month, you're still more than welcome to take part in the discussion.
Please copy and paste this in the comments!
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Date: 2023-02-21 06:24 pm (UTC)What books were chosen for you? Ready Player One - Ernest Cline, The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho, The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Did you manage to read your books? Which ones? I read Ready Player One and The Alchemist, and I'm about to start with The Picture of Dorian Gray
If you read more than one, did you enjoy them? What was your favorite? They were both books I enjoyed reading, but my absolute favourite would have to be Ready Player One. It had everything for my geeky mind and the references were endless. So amazing! I'm almost afraid to watch the movies, because I know already it won't be even half as amazing as the book itself. The Alchemist wasn't bad either, but I read it more as a personal growth story instead "the almighty God will always guide your way to good choices".
Would you recommend your chosen book(s)? Yes, both of them.
Did you read anything else this month, outside of your chosen books? I read As You Do by Richard Hammond
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Date: 2023-02-24 05:53 pm (UTC)What books were chosen for you? "Beyond The Gender Binary" by Alok Vaid-Menon, "The World's Most Travelled Man: A Twenty-Three-Year Odyssey to and through Every Country on the Planet" by Mike Spencer Bown, "The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America" by Bill Bryson
Did you manage to read your books? Which ones?I read "The World's Most Travelled Man" and I read 203 pages of "The Lost Continent" before DNFing it.
If you read more than one, did you enjoy them? What was your favorite?Unfortunately, I did not enjoy either of them. "The World's Most Travelled Man" was not a bad book as such, but I found the author to be insufferable. He constantly bragged about how his way of travelling was the only legit one, how neither heights nor sickness or fear could touch him, and just generally seemed like a pompous jerk. If the travel stories as such had not been interesting (and the author surprisingly enough turned out to be from Newfoundland, lol) I would've probably DNF'd that one as well.
As for the Bryson book - I think I did give it a fair chance, but eventually I had to abandon it. While again, the writing style is good and the topic interesting, eventually I got tired of the author's overly cynical brand of "humour" which kept veering into the offensive. He kept insulting all the people he met, constantly complained about how shitty all the places were and constantly fat-shamed people and called them "dumb" and "slow" just because they spoke certain dialects. Awful.
Would you recommend your chosen book(s)?Sadly no.
Did you read anything else this month, outside of your chosen books?
I did!
-> How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems by Randall Munroe
-> Verschwörungstheorien by Marlies Hübner (an autobiographical novel about a young woman who gets diagnosed with autism; recommended if you can read German)
-> Bird Box by Josh Malerman (recommended)
-> Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon (recommended if you have the attention span for books with over a 1,000 pages. It took me a grand total of SIX WEEKS to finish it - though I have to say that I could only read a small part of the book every day since it's so heavy I couldn't bring it on my commute to work.)
-> Mist, die versteht mich ja! Aus dem Leben einer Schwarzen Deutschen by Florence Brokowski-Shekete (The autobiography of a Black woman who grew up in Germany with a white adoptive mother and the trials and tribulations but also happy times coming with that. Recommended if you can read German)
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Date: 2023-02-26 05:28 pm (UTC)What books were chosen for you? Les Derniers Jours des Reines by Jean-Christophe Buisson et Jean Sevillia, The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire and The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry.
Did you manage to read your books? Which ones? Yes, I read Les Derniers Jours des Reines and The Charlemagne Pursuit.
If you read more than one, did you enjoy them? What was your favorite? I enjoyed them both as they're very different genres. Les Derniers Jours des Reines is a non-fiction about the last days of 20 Queens from Cleopatra to Queen Astrid. It was all very interesting and while I knew how and when some of them died, there were others that I knew nothing of their deaths. They all marked history during their lives and I loved learning about them. The Charlemagne Pursuit is the 4th book in the Cotton Malone series and as always, he manages to place himself in danger, this time while trying to find out exactly how his father died. I love this series and I always love going back to these characters.
Would you recommend your chosen book(s)? Yes! As I said, they're both interesting and if you love the genres they cover, you should read them.
Did you read anything else this month, outside of your chosen books? I read two others books:
- Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
- L'Archiviste by Alexandra Koszelyk
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Date: 2023-03-01 04:37 am (UTC)What books were chosen for you?
Choice 1: Caleb Carr - The Alienist
Choice 2: Sarah J Maas - A Court Of Mist and Fury
Choice 3: Whitney G - The Other Belle
Did you manage to read your books? Which ones? I managed to read all of them. But I am still in the middle of The Alienist and A Court of Mist and Fury..
If you read more than one, did you enjoy them? What was your favorite? My favorite was The Other Belle. I am OBSESSED. I will buy that book when I can. The other favorite so far was The Alienist
Would you recommend your chosen book(s)? Yes, all of them.
Did you read anything else this month, outside of your chosen books?
The Nurse's Secret
M is For Malice
As Old As Time
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Date: 2023-03-01 06:05 pm (UTC)What books were chosen for you?
Choice 1: Det er vi som er her nå by Jostein Gaarder (Non-Fiction)
Choice 2: The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch (Fantasy)
Choice 3: Skatten og tyven by Erik Eikehaug (Male Author)
Did you manage to read your books? Which ones?
I choose to read Det er vi som er her nå and Skatten and tyven, both very enjoyable, though I am still reading Skatten and Tyven.
If you read more than one, did you enjoy them? What was your favorite?
Det er vi som er her nå is an easy non-fiction relfection over different philosphichal questiostions, written as an open letter to the authors grandchildren. Well worth the time to read.
Would you recommend your chosen book(s)?
Yes, if you speak a Scandinavian language. I don't think either book have been translated to English.
Did you read anything else this month, outside of your chosen books?
I am currenting reading Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars by Francesca Wade- It's a very well written, engaging and fascinating book. I am very glad I gifted it to myself when I was really buying yule-gifts to family members last year.