This year’s Challenge was full of challenging (read: Difficult) reads for me. Of the twelve here three were substitutions for books I had to drop for various reasons. I think I should have vetted the originals better. As a reader, most of my choices surprised and delighted me. As a writer, the good ones showed …
Octopus! The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea by Katherine Harmon Courage Current, Penguin Group, 2013 [Substitution: Challenge # 31: Nonfiction of any kind] I was having a lot of trouble finishing Undead Worlds, the collection of zombie short stories I intended as Challenge # 8, because it was only on my iPad and my …
In Pharaoh’s Army by Tobias Wolff Vintage Books, 1995 [Challenge # 24: A book about war, on the lines or the home front, fiction or nonfiction.] For my War is Hell selection I originally chose A Delicate Truth by John le Carré, and was stoked to read it because I had recently enjoyed the 2016 …
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Little, Brown & Co., 2017 (10th Anniversary Edition) [Challenge # 5: A book by a local author.] The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a semi-mythic coming of age story of a Native American boy’s freshman year. Arnold Spirit Jr. lives on …
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory A Touchstone Book, Simon and Schuster, 2003 [Challenge # 34: A book about a person you know little about.] The Other Boleyn Girl isn’t the sort of book I usually read. But since I found a copy at one of the Little Free Libraries in my neighborhood, and …
Hermetech by Storm Constantine Headline Book Publishing PLC, 1991 [Challenge # 1: A book that’s been on your TBR (to be read) list for over a year.] British fantasist Storm Constantine is an acquired taste. Hermetech, published in 1991, is the one novel of hers I kept trying to start, and kept putting off. It’s …
It’s the midpoint of the year already, and half the books on the list are finished and rated. I’ve gotta say 2018 had some tough ones that stretched my reading comprehension and attention span, not to mention free time. Three were worth it, one was not (Twilight) and I have the feeling it’ll be more …
Where Wizards Stay Up Late by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon Simon and Schuster, 1996 [Challenge # 4: A book about a historical event that took place in your lifetime.] Of all the books I’ve read so far this year, Where Wizards Stay up Late, a history of the development of the Internet, was the …
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer Little, Brown, and Company, 2005 [Challenge # 29: A book by someone everyone else seems to have read but you have not.] Well, well. What to say about Stephenie Myer’s YA vampire romance Twilight that hasn’t been said before? This book was bad. Execrably, horrifyingly, stultifyingly, bad. It was so dull …
Albert Nobbs by George Moore Waitingstar Publishing, New York, 2011 [Challenge # 38: A book made into a major motion picture] Finished Albert Nobbs, a book that kept me guessing until the end. I’ve wanted to read it for a while, since I’ve always liked books with gender bending, or obscurely gendered, protagonists. I did …