Littlegeek's triumphant return and 2024 reads.

Greetings, Dragoneers!
I've been off LT for ages but I decided this year to start keeping track of my reading again, so where better? Plus, this really is the friendliest place in the internet, bar none.

For those who have asked, things have been pretty status quo in my life. I did contract COVID a couple of times. The first time left my lungs damaged so I don't move as quickly these days, but I still take the stairs. Hubby is well and still hilarious. I plan to retire in April of 2026 so just marking time til that magical day.

Last year I decided to only read classics that I had somehow missed. Finished up that project about a week before xmas, so I'm officially into 2024, reading-wise. Since I read nothing newly published in 2023, I've got some catching up to do! I'm planning to have one reading book and one audio book going at the same time. I do knit a lot, so audiobooks are great for that. Usually use Libby for audiobooks so those will be back catalog, whatever is available at the time.

So far I have read Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead (I'll read anything by Whitehead, the crime novels are very reminiscent of Walter Mosely), then Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro (very strange and sad, and a bit over the top), and now reading The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride, which is just lovely.

So far I have listened to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, which was ok, but for some reason the author is obsessed with grooming and shopping and those parts bored me. Then I started Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez which I think I'm gonna DNF. There's one white character in there that I just cannot stand and life is too short. Not a bad book, just there are too many books to read! Today I will listen to A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers, sequel to A Psalm for the Wild-Built, which I quite loved.

Welcome back and happy new thread!

For those interested, here are the books I read in 2023:

100% Stone Classic
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Death of Ivan Ilytch by Tolstoy
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Solid Read
Ordeal By Innocence by Agatha Christie
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Silas Marner by George Eliot

I get why it's a "classic" but I didn't love it
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (only Dickens I ever finished!)
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Meh and/or Dated
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Awakening by Kate Chopin

DNF
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

Welcome back and Happy New Thread!

I think after good advice from the folks here, that my quest to read Dickens is going to end this year with David Copperfield. Thanks for helping to confirm that.

Starred for 2024!

Cold Comfort Farm is dated, but I still think it's hilarious. Kind of like I Capture the Castle on drugs.

>4 Karlstar:
David Copperfield was the Dickens book I least enjoyed.

>1 littlegeek: Welcome back! And for the record >5 Marissa_Doyle: that's the best characterization of Cold Comfort Farm EVER. On drugs...

>5 Marissa_Doyle: My problem with it was it's so very classist. City girl comes to town and fixes up the poor stupid country cousins doesn't really sit well these days.

I like Cold Comfort Farm much better than I Capture the Castle, which is a book that enraged me.

Well, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy was sweet. In this messed up world, it's sometimes nice to read a simple tale of friendship. Downloaded Upgrade by Blake Crouch for my next listen.

Welcome back and happy reading in 2024!

>6 pgmcc: Uh oh, I figured that was the one left that I hadn't read that I really should.

Happy new year!

>12 Karlstar: Does that mean you've read all of Dickens except that one, or just that there are some you think you should read and some you don't want to bother with?

>13 haydninvienna: Some that it seems I should not bother with. I have read 4 so far, there must be at least 1 or 2 more to read.

>14 Karlstar: TBH I probably wouldn't bother with David Copperfield either. I remember disliking it some years ago. Somewhere I mentioned being unable to cope with Rosa Bud, so there goes The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I take it that you've read A Christmas Carol and Pickwick Papers. My next after that would probably be Bleak House. (I read this sitting on a train travelling across Canada, so it must be all right.) Note I haven't read all or even most of them either, and I am certainly not pretending to be a Dickens expert. But when he's good, he's very, very good; and when's bad, he's horrid.

>14 Karlstar: Have you read A Tale of Two Cities? (So many of us had that as assigned reading at some point...) Personally, I've had Bleak House on my shelf upstairs for a number of years and I have yet to really give full attention to it. (I really prefer Wilkie Collins to Dickens.)

I didn't mind Copperfield (Aunt Betsy!!), but I couldn't stand Dora. Also liked AToTC...all that knitting.

>16 jillmwo: I have read A Tale of Two Cities, it was assigned reading in high school, then I re-read it later. I actually read a chapter or two of it from time to time, as it is on my Kindle. It actually seems better reading it at that pace.

>15 haydninvienna: I have not read Pickwick Papers.

I tried so many Dickens, probably got farthest in Bleak House before last year when I finally finished Great Expectations. I really love Trollope and Collins, too, just Dickens doesn't work for me.

>19 littlegeek:
Trollope's books are great. His humour is amazing.

WELCOME BACK! Please stay this time!

>21 clamairy: I will try! Btw, you know my husband is a cheese monger now? I always have amazing cheese in my fridge!

Finished Upload. Basic scifi thriller, sort of silly, but a good premise. I find that when choosing something to listen to while I knit, the best books are either mysteries, scifi, or thrillers - plot heavy stories that keep me interested. If I want to experience something with lovely prose or well-drawn characters, I have to read it in a book, the better to reread beautiful passages or savor a moment.

Gonna go find a mystery for my next listen.

>23 littlegeek: I have to agree. Scalzi writes a great book to listen to, Whitehead's writing is for my eyeballs only.

Decided on a stand alone (or maybe first in a series?) by Laurie R. King, Back to the Garden. I have enjoyed many of her books, plus she's local to me here in Santa Cruz, CA.

>24 clamairy: I love Neil Gaiman, but only his audiobooks! He's such a good reader, but I don't really love his prose to read.

>22 littlegeek: Honestly. Pirate, funny AND a cheesemonger?! Angus amazes. :)

>22 littlegeek: We expect regular cheesy updates and recommendations, you know.

Welcome back! Wishing you a New Year full of great books and CHEESE!

>28 clamairy: Try Harbison. The most delicious soft cheese ever!

Blessed are the cheesemongers.

Finished The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store last night. Boy can McBride spin a yarn! Themes of community, diversity, and kindness. I loved it.

Now reading The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese.

Finished listening to Back to the Garden. It was ok, pretty standard mystery, not hard to figure out. I was noticing all the ways the author used stalling to hide certain clues until she was ready to show the reader. For instance, waiting for DNA results, or someone's in a meeting, etc. Anyway, I managed to finish despite hating that narrator!

I've decided to go ahead and listen to the Murderbot books. I had read the first one yonks ago but wasn't compelled enough to shell out full price for each novella. But now I can listen to them through Hoopla for nothing so cheapskate me is all over it. Listening to the first on again rn. I do find Murderbot an engaging protagonist.

Still reading The Covenant of Water. It's great but boy is it loooong. Not as much reading time for me rn as there is a Grand Slam to watch, go Coco!

>33 littlegeek: Murderbot series is a favourite of mine, I hope you'll enjoy all of the books.

The Covenant of Water is on my "to read some day, just now now" list. Maybe I'll get to it...

Finished The Covenant of Water. I'm a bit disappointed. I finished it, but it was very long and ran out of steam in the final third of the book. It was like Verghese suddenly forgot to make the characters compelling. And there was some creepyness in the end that was a turnoff for me. I did enjoy 2/3 of it, tho! I'm one of those nerds who loves the medical stuff.

Now reading On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. Beautiful prose, but that's to be expected of a poet. It's very sad so far.

Listening to Artificial Condition, the second Murderbot.

Between the tennis tournament and the new crochet project I'm working on, I have more time for listening than reading rn. Finished the Murderbot. I am a little stymied as to why these books are so very popular. It's fine, but I guess there's been too much hype.

Then I listened to In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. She manages to write about an abusive relationship without being lurid. Difficult subject, handled with care and with beautiful language.

Next up is Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. I need a bit of whimsy after that (and still reading Vuong, which also deals with abuse).

>36 littlegeek: I have a couple more of the Murderbot books to read, including the most recent and I will get to them. They are ok, not great.

It's possible that the extent to which people enjoy the Murderbot books is related to how much they personally relate to Murderbot and its voice.

I love them.

>38 reconditereader: I think you might be right. I love them too...

>38 reconditereader: & >39 Alexandra_book_life: Agreed. I find them both hilarious and touching.

Finished both On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and it was so very beautifully written and so very sad. Obviously written by a poet. If you read for style and word choice, this book is for you. Glad I read it.

Also finished listening to Remarkably Bright Creatures. I really did love the characters, especially the octopus. But this is the kind of book where the reader can see early on where the book is heading and how each character will end up, and the reading experience is sitting from on high watching the missed connections and bad decisions that delay the inevitable ending until the book reaches novel length. If you are the type of reader who reads the ending first before you decide to commit your time, this book is for you. For me, it was sweet, but yeah, not really my favorite type of book. The octopus was great, tho.

Now reading The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. Liking it so far, and I have no idea where it's heading so it has that going for it!

As for Murderbot, I do love the character. I think sci-fi adventure isn't really my thing, tho. The parts where they are shooting people or the endless exposition is where it loses me. I felt like almost the whole book was exposition!

Well, hmmm. I can't say I didn't enjoy reading The Bee Sting but it left a lot to be desired. Let's just say there's a difference between an ambiguous ending and an unresolved one. That and the pretentious lack of punctuation were a turnoff. But it definitely kept my interest.

I'm going back to something reliable, book #17 in the Brother Cadfael series, The Potter's Field.

>42 littlegeek: Ahh, well. Lack of punctuation would be a killer for me. I would have to do that as an audiobook in order not to be screaming the whole time.

>41 littlegeek: I loved the octopus in Remarkably Bright Creatures, too. I also could see exactly where it was going and it seems like it took forever to get there.

>43 clamairy: The punctuation thing was different for each character. POV changed with each chapter. So not only was there punctuation weirdness, but you had to get used to a new type every time the POV changed. Gimmicky.

Ah, the gentle joys of Brother Cadfael. I like a book with modest goals that meets them completely.

I have been hit by Alexandra's bullet and have started City of Stairs.

Btw, my audiobook is Imposter Syndrome by Kathy Wang. I had never heard anything about this book but it was available on Libby. I listened to about half of it on Sunday when our power was out. It's diverting enough for background for crocheting.

>45 littlegeek: I am looking forward to seeing what you think of City of Stairs :)

Finished Imposter Syndrome. It was ok. Just borrowed The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz. I have really enjoyed some of his other mysteries.

Do you feel that you're not qualified to say more about Imposter Syndrome?

>47 littlegeek: The Word is Murder was enjoyable and very meta, the same goes for the rest of this series. I hope you'll like it.

>48 MrAndrew: Ha!

>48 MrAndrew: Nice one!

>44 littlegeek: I have to admit that kind of "playful" use of punctuation as a signal to the reader (regarding whose head you were in) would drive me totally up the wall and down the other side. Gack.

>48 MrAndrew: Ha, I have missed you, Mr A!

Finished The Word is Murder. I enjoyed it enough that I downloaded the next installment, The Sentence is Death.

Also, really very much enjoying City of Stairs. It's got a little of everything from fantasy to murder mystery to political intrigue to genuine horror. Plus Vikings. Or maybe a Viking. Anyway, good fun!

>55 littlegeek: I am very happy to hear that :)

>53 littlegeek: right back atcha, lg

>55 littlegeek: dragons?

>57 MrAndrew: I'm only half way through the first book, so there is hope.

Finished The Sentence is Death. This series is pretty fun. Still working in City of Stairs and still enjoying it. I can't decide on a new audiobook. Nothing is appealing right now.

I went with Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. I had started reading this a while back and got distracted about 20% through so I thought I'd try the audio.

Finished City of Stairs. What fun! I really enjoyed it. I will definitely be reading the rest of the trilogy, but I have other series I'm working on. Just started book 5 of the House of Niccólo series by Dorothy Dunnet, The Unicorn Hunt. Woot, I love Dorothy!

>61 littlegeek: Just to let you know that City of Blades is an even better book than City of Stairs (imo, of course). I am looking forward to reading the House of Niccólo I am still reading King Hereafter with my buddy readers (65% done), and I have the last two Lymond books left to read. Dunnett is great :)

>62 Alexandra_book_life: Looking forward to more City books! Thanks for that bullet!

Once again got bored with Great Circle. Oh well, I tried. Signed up for Audible again to whispersync the Dunnett. Just have to remember to cancel before they start charging me. Now I know how to pronounce all those names.

The big news is I bought a new Kindle. My Paperwhite is 9 years old! No wonder she hardly holds a charge! My first Kindle died when I was on vacation, never going through that again.
I'm off to Indian Wells to see the greatest tennis players on the planet next week. Not gonna take the chance.

I got the basic model this time. Paperwhite hardly seems worth the extra cash. Plus, the basic still has a bevel, I like a safe place to rest my thumb.

>64 littlegeek: It's lovely to have a new Kindle! My first Kindle lasted 8 years. I was on vacation and had misplaced it. I looked for it in panic for a while (the book was a page-turner), then I sat down hard, in anger - right on the poor Kindle. Ooops. I wouldn't want to go through that again ;)

>65 Alexandra_book_life: We were in Tahoe when my first Kindle died. No book store! We were thinking of going to Reno when I found a small section of books in an antique store. May never have read Angle of Repose otherwise, but what a great book. Thanks, amazon for your device failure.

>64 littlegeek: Oh, enjoy! All of the Paperwhites I have bought are still functioning, although the 12 year old one had gotten very slow and has been donated to my daughter's housemate. I have a six year old one that has become my beach & travel Kindle, and a new Signature edition that I love.

Long may yours function!

>67 clamairy: Thanks! My old one still works, I'm just worried the battery is about to go. I have to charge it every 3-4 days.

>68 littlegeek: Yeah, that's a lot. Have you tried taking everything off it, and just putting a few books back on? With my first Kindle I realized that for some reason a lot of the stuff I had sided-loaded was causing some processing error that was eating up the battery. The new ones can handle those files but the older ones couldn't. Once I took a bunch of stuff off the battery life improved dramatically.

>69 clamairy: Interesting. I do dump books off fairly frequently but I could try that. Thanks!

>70 littlegeek: Let me know if it helps! I was getting free books from everywhere back in the old days. And I think some of them were not formatted properly.

>71 clamairy: I did a lot of library and Project Gutenberg books last year when I was reading only classics. I thought I removed them all, but that might be a factor.

>66 littlegeek: I would say you came out on the winning side there. I love that book.

>72 littlegeek: The library loans shouldn't be an issue, but the Project Gutenberg ones definitely might have a dodgy format.

>73 MrsLee: Isn't it great? I don't think I had ever heard of it. Plus, I have contemplated the term ever since, being a little long in the tooth myself.

>64 littlegeek: Congrats and good luck with the new kindle, I hope it lasts as long as your old one.

I'm on vacation right now, watching the world's best tennis players battle it out in Indian Wells, CA, but I have managed to finish the Dunnett. Great, as all her books. It had the obligatory "oh, were you not paying attention to this tiny detail from 600 pages ago around which the whole plot turns?" kind of twist she is so very good at. I love authors who are way smarter than me.

I am following the Tournament of Books this year again so I started their play-in round winner, The Librarianist. I read one of deWitt's previous books, The Sisters Brothers and loved it so gave this one a try. It's mostly a character study of a very confused and clueless character. It's rather comical.

Hope everyone is enjoying DST.

i've always thought that daylight savings time sounds vaguely fiscal. Where would you store all that daylight that you're saving up?

DST ends here soon. I'll miss it, but i won't miss getting up while it's still dark.

>78 MrAndrew: Oh, pardon my Northern Hemisphere bias! How rude of me! But I like more daylight at the end of the day.

On the way home from Indian Wells, I listened to The Guest by Emma Cline. OK for an airport book. There wasn't much there there.

OMG the lead character in The Guest was such a pig. That's my lasting impression of the book. A little style, but even less substance.

Sorry, I've been neglecting the Dragon, time to play catch-up.
I enjoyed The Librarianist, but it did have a rather strange digression about 3/4 through which threw me off. Quirky.
After that, I began City of Blades but I haven't had much time for actual reading as I've been very involved in a crochet project, so it's been more audiobooks and tv lately. What I have read is intriguing so far.
As for said audiobooks, after The Guest I listened to The Maidens by Alex Michaelides. Meh. Ok, not great.
Now listening to The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher, which I am told is "beloved" but after 16%, I'm finding every character rather horrid. The problems of shallow rich people aren't terribly compelling to me, I'm afraid, but I will soldier on for a bit.
As for tv, I did enjoy the Netflix adaptation of The Three Body Problem, one of my favorite scifi books ever. Book is better, as usual, but they did a decent job. No idea how to adapt book 2, it's very trippy. I may have to watch the Chinese adaptation, which I believe is on AppleTV.

>82 littlegeek: I did not care for The Shell Seekers, though like you, lots of people who should know told me they loved it. I did love Winter Solstice by Rosamund Plicher though.

>82 littlegeek:
I felt the same way about The Maidens, which was a disappointment after finding his first book, The Silent Patient wonderful.

Count me as one of the people who loved The Shell Seekers, but I read it at least 35 years ago. I suspect the Suck Fairy would be flitting about if I attempted a re-read.

>85 clamairy: That damned Suck Fairy has gotten me a few times, which is why I rarely reread.

>86 littlegeek: She's the worst!

Gave up on Shell Seekers. It was not for me. I want to read James by Percival Everett but I figure it's a good idea to reread Huck Finn first (not worried about the Suck Fairy there), so I found a free audiobook of it read by Elijah Wood. He's great with the dialects.

That's what will probably keep me from reading James even though I've liked most of what I've read of Everett's work over the years. I just don't know the original story well enough to pick up on all that he could do with the basic tale. Maybe the audio you mentioned would work. Hm...

>89 Bookmarque: I also really enjoy Everett's books. He's very original.

>84 pgmcc: I too was disappointed with The maidens, for various reasons. I didn't even like it enough to try The silent patient.

>91 Sakerfalcon:
It is totally different. It is worth having a go at The Silent Patient. I got the impression he was overwhelmed with the success of the first book and rushed the second. I too would be reluctant to read another of his books had I read The Maidens first. Because of The Maidens I would be reluctant to read a third, but I am glad I read The Silent Patient first.

>92 pgmcc: Another bullet, thank you!

>93 littlegeek:
We aim to please.
:-)

Have to admit, struggling a bit with City of Blades. It's SO gory! Please tell me this lets up at some point!

Finished Huck Finn. Boy, is Tom Sawyer an asshole! Some pacing issues in the book, a little too much of the Duke and the King, and a little too many plans for breaking Jim out. But such a great, great novel. Now I'm ready to read James.

>95 littlegeek: City of Blades is very dark and continues to be dark... There are things that make up for it, though, at least for me.

Who would have thunk that a book called City of Blades would be gory! Honestly, they should put a warning sticker on the cover.

>97 MrAndrew: Yeah, well

I decided to read James while Huck Finn is still fresh in my mind. Might go back to City of Blades, might just read a synopsis and move on to book 3. It's the vivisections of humans described in detail that is turning me off.

Forgot to mention that my current audiobook is Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton. Love those Kiwi accents!

>100 littlegeek:
I got Birnam Wood on the basis that I loved The Luminaries. I am looking forward to reading it.

I managed to get Birnam Wood in a kindle deal. I look forward to your thoughts on it.

>102 Sakerfalcon:
My copy I have was the replacement for a book I received on that book a month gift a friend got for me. The one they had chosen did not appeal to me so I was able to pick one in their shop as a substitute.

Finished James. What a great book! I'm glad I listened to Huck Finn first, although you could definitely read it without. It doesn't follow the plot exactly. So much to chew on with this one. But as with Twain, a very entertaining read. Highest recommendation.

I've decided next to read North Woods by Daniel Mason. It looks intriguing.

Finished North Woods. What a weird book in every sense of the word. I guess narratives that can't decide what genre they're in are still in fashion. Writes well, some lovely description but for some reason all the humans end up dead in horrible ways.

Also finished Birnam Wood. Meh. It was ok I guess. Another everybody dies! book.

Now reading The Fraud by the incomparable Zadie Smith. 20 pages in and I'm already loving it.

Just downloaded an Anthony Horowitz mystery audiobook, A Line to Kill. It's the third in a series. I find mysteries good candidates for audio as they are usually about plot and not theme or style. I enjoyed the first two in the series.

>107 littlegeek: Nice! I enjoyed this series as well, had read up to A Line to Kill. Have you read The House of Silk, by the way? I thought it was a great take on the Sherlock Holmes canon.

>106 littlegeek: I bailed on Birnam Wood very early in the book. Every single character was getting on my nerves.

>108 Alexandra_book_life: No, but now I want to

>109 clamairy: ahyup. They don't improve