2015: A year of reading

[vintagewitch]

I read a lot more in 2015 than I have in other years. Part of this was the long stretches on un- or under-employment. And I was thinking about it, and realized that it was actually kind of difficult to remember all that I've read. So I stared at my bookshelves a good long while, went back through my defunct book club's facebook group, and pulled together a list. Some of these will get a couple of short words in the post, behind cuts in case you just want a snapshot. 

Books I've Finished:
Kindred b. Octavia Butler
The Last Unicorn b. Peter Beagle
A Short History of Nearly Everything b. Bill Bryson
Neverwhere b. Neil Gaiman
The Haunting of Hill House b. Shirley Jackson
Love Medicine b. Louise Erdrich
The King in Yellow b. Robert W. Chambers
The Spiral Dance b. Starhawk
Wild Seed b. Octavia Butler
Sandman original arc vols 1-3 b. Neil Gaiman
Spiritual Cleansing b. Draja Mickaharic
Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories curated b. Roald Dahl
Brave New World b. Aldous Huxley
Bird By Bird b. Anne Lamott

Books I've Read Part Of:
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate b. Naomi Klein. NOTE: I really enjoyed this, but I started it right as grad school was beginning, so I had to drop it. Highly recommend, though.
The Hero Within: 6 Archetypes We Live By b. Carol Pearson
Rogues - collection of short stories by multiple authors all centered around a rogue character. DEFINITELY recommend - I only read some of the stories, but they were all fab.

The Goldfinch b. Donna Tartt 
I just couldn't get into this one. It was extremely repetitive, and very character-based. From the description, I thought it would be more plot-driven. At a whopping 700+ pages, it was a tall order. However, I do think that Tartt is an extremely good writer. Just ... perhaps the short story or novella of hers is more up my alley.

Maddaddam b. Margaret Atwood
This one felt a bit like an afterthought to me - I loved the first two in her MaddAddam series, but it seemed like perhaps it was an afterthought. Like the publishers were all "Well we can't market it as just a two-part series! Better write a third novel." I mean, it was ok. It just felt a bit off-base. I also maybe wasn't in the mood to read it at the time.

 

Comments

[frayadjacent]

How did you find Wild Seed? I had to stop reading it after a while because it was so intense and disturbing. Lately I've been wanting to return to Butler. I loved Parable of the Sower/Talents.

I just started This Changes Everything. I forgot what a compelling writer Naiomi Klein is. It's been ages since I read non-fiction (besides fan meta) and I wasn't sure I'd be up for it, but it's a great book so far.

[vintagewitch]

Oh man, Wild Seed. It was so good! I wasn't as disturbed by it, but that could be because I love reading horror, and so I might have a higher tolerance. The first book of Butler's I'd ever read was "Kindred" (in January last year), and I found "Wild Seed" much more adult. It felt more real to me.

I really want to read Parable of the Sower/Talents! I was going to buy that book, actually, but then they only had the Patternist Master/Seed to Harvest series, and I am particularly intrigued by Mind of My Mind, so I went ahead and bought that, thinking I couldn't go wrong with Butler.

[birke]

My sister liked The Goldfinch so much she read it from the library and then asked for a hardcover copy for Christmas. She's enjoyed all of Donna Tartt's books. I on the other hand couldn't even get into The Little Friend, which has more plot.

I read Bird by Bird a long time ago and found it helpful at the time. The things that stuck with me the most: 1. The anecdote about her brother and the bird project, because that whole 'oh god vacation is ruined because i left a thing to the last minute' really resonated and because it was such good advice. 2. That frustrating experience where she thinks she knows what to do with her novel, she prints it all out and cuts it up and rearranges it on the floor, and her editor still isn't satisfied.

[vintagewitch]

Yes! Those were both terrific parts of Bird By Bird. I really like that she included a bit about editing - often times, books about writing are more about the beginning stages of the creative process, and less about the refinement (in my opinion).

I just want to read some short stories by Donna Tartt! I feel like "The Goldfinch" needed to be seriously edited. I think that with her skills in putting words together and painting a picture, being restricted to a short format would be good. But alas - what do I know, right?