13) More online articles, newspaper articles (when the paper actually comes), job postings, curriculum for online courses, research studies, how-to articles, some articles from AdAge, store signs, reddit posts, instructions from a sewing project along with some old blog posts to see where I can go from there.

Haven't gotten to my book yet but hoping to do so soon. Hope all are chill and relaxed. Will check in later when there's progress of some kind.

just finished my uhh *checks goodreads* 10th book: Crooked Kingdom (The Six of Crows Duology #2) by Leigh Bardugo 

i enjoyed this way more than the first book. i think i benefited greatly from reading it directly after reading the first book. i was already very familiar with the characters so this book was like another 500+ pages of enjoying those little character interactions.

it hardly had any expository flashbacks and it was focused on moving forwards which was very refreshing compared to the first book. the central storyline in the first book is this grandiose heist and it becomes hard to picture it sometimes as things start to move a bit too fast. this book is paced way better and feels a lot more driven by interpersonal relationships

though, i think it fell victim to the same tropes as the first book though where the main character is too smart so you spend too much time playing catch up reading about he already knew about something. also, the book kind of just ends and it doesn't feel like it wrapped everything up and i'm desperate for another book (which apparently isn't going to happen any time soon...)

think this is my favorite book this year so far. this or The Wicked King

i can get that. what bits of it didn't you like? there's this 1 bit of the book that almost made me want to quit reading it where she starts randomly explaining the nature of stars to Chase as she is for some reason intimately familiar with the works of Einstein... a big swathe of the book feels slightly contrived and doesn't make much sense when you think about it for too long but i still really like the first third to first half or so of the book

cool. i'm definitely gonna check it out after my YA fantasy binge finally ends. i'm vaguely aware of some of the concepts/themes of norse mythology and i think the imagery is neat like thor battling the world serpent seems like the coolest thing. i really like the idea of small guy vs something giant

oh and for my next book, i've decided to read even MORE trite ya fantasy fiction A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J. Maas

LITFAM UPDATE: EXTRA LATE EDITION

Unsurprisingly the highest total of the year so far, with everyone at home absolutely cranking that literature. Giving those huge knowledge-muscles a real work out.

Top Fam:

1. Asandir (9)
2. Malachy (6)
3. Peregrinus (5)

@Malachy's only gone and done it. @Peregrinus steamrolled his goal too and would've been the first 100% of the year but he swapped the honor for a bag of glue and higher ambitions. @Asandir also made a blazing return to form to remind the rest of us we don't know god damn shit about reading books in the span of a month.

Added brainiac @Crink and prodigal fam @Dean to the roster (knew he'd be back). @Viewbob, @Black1Star7 and @Kutaykomiks have not yet been added - if you're any of those and still interested just post in the thread a bit more, this is to cut down on inactive members filling up the roster. @Prinzy2 I wasn't sure if you want to be on the roster or set a goal - let me know if you do.

All mistakes are quarantine-induced cabin fever hallucinations, pay no heed.

@Absurd-Ditties @Asandir @Atlas @Boss @Crink @Dean @DistractedDuck @FoAngel @Ganon-Dorf @Haggard @Joltopus @Kiwi @Little-Rena @Malachy @MercyfulDeath @Peaceblossom @Peregrinus @Phobotech @Quisty @RainyG @SevenSeize @TheReviewTrickster @TopazAzul @Welldoneshellfish @Yomuchan @ZJ

Responding to these to hopefully remind myself to count them in the next update

21: Forever Free by Joe Haldeman sequel to Forever War. Got a bit weird in the end but still enjoyable.

I started reading Homeland by RA Salvatore, the first book in the Drizzt series. If I like it maybe I'll read the series and check out some more of the books by the author

me am no smarts

Done reading these books:

12. Unter der Mitternachtssonne (Journey Under the Midnight Sun), Keigo Higashino, 720 pages

13. Das Schweigen der Lämmer (The Silence of the Lambs), Thomas Harris, 432 pages

14. Heilige Mörderin (Salvation of a Saint), Keigo Higashino, 320 pages

15. The Green Mile, Stephen King, 592 pages

Journey Under the Midnight Sun:

Osaka, 1973. The pawnbroker Yosuke Kirihara is found dead with mutliple stab wounds in an abandoned building. The cop Sasaki and his team are investigating the crime.

Fumiyo Nishimoto, a client of the pawnbreaker is one of the possible suspects but dies under strange circumstances that make it unclear if it was an accident or suicide, making her daughter Yukiho an orphan - luckily one of her relatives, Reiko Karasawa, takes her in, allowing her to get a new home.

The other main suspects were Isamu Matsuura, the manager of the pawn store and Yosuke's wife Yaeko Kirihara, but both have a clear alibi, backed by Yosuke's son, Ryoji Kirihara, a young boy that seems very distanced.

As all suspects can't be connected to the murder, the case turns cold. Over the span of 20 years, Sasaki can't let go of this case and we get insight into the daily lifes of many characters - all getting affected by their own personal tragedies and sucked into the abyss that originated in 1973.

Great book. Truly unnerving at some points when my suspicions were backed by small details and the picture became clear to me. Also contains scenes that are truly terrifying. Highly recommended.

The Silence of the Lambs:

A serial killer called "Buffalo Bill" is one the run and has killed atleast six women so far. The police can't track him down and it seems like only one man could change that : imprisoned serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. FBI-agent Clarice Starling is ordererd to talk with him and get some leads from him.

Great book. All scenes with Dr. Hannibal Lecter were fascinating and unnerving. Never saw the well known movie adaption before.

Salvation of a Saint:

Yoshitaka Wakayama is dead. He was found by Hiromi Wakayama, his wife Ayane was in Hokkaido when the death occured. As the investigation unfolds it becomes clear that Yoshitaka died due to consuming Arsenic, mixed into his coffee. However, it is a complete mystery how the Arsenic was added to the coffee, as his wife was absent and it looks like no one else entered the house. Kusanagi and his assistant Utsumi keep investigating this mystery. It looks like Kusanai is enamoured by Ayane, becoming more melancholic when circumstances make her the more likely culprit. Utsumi decides to ask Kusanagi's old friend, Yukawa, a physician, for help.

Good book. Reminded me a bit of Phoenix Wright games with trying to figure out how the murder was done.

The Green Mile:

The old man Paul Edgecombe is looking back to the most impactful year of his life, 1932. Back then, he was the block supervisor of the Cold Mountain Penitentiary death row, thanks to the floors being covered in linoleum called "The Green Mile". That's the year when John Coffee, same name as the beverage, enters that facility. John allegedly raped and killed two underage siblings and thus faces the death penalty.

From Paul's viewpoint we get an insight into the daily procedures and the daily life on the Green Mile, from horrible wardens like Percy to an inmate called Eduard Delacroix, who soon becomes friends with a wonderful mouse called Mr. Jingles.

Soon things become unusal on the Green Mile though - John Coffee, despite his alleged evil doings seems to have healing powers, which first becomes apparent as he heals Paul Edgecombe from a nagging urinary infection. Not the last miracle that Paul Edgecombe and his co-workers will witness ...

Beautiful book. By far my favorite book by Stephen King and also one of my favorite books I have ever read in my life.

No need for modesty, everyone in here knows the feeling of their hippocampus enlarging by absolute micrometers every time they finish a page.

Done reading these books:

16. Böse Absichten (Malice), Keigo Higashino, 255 pages

17. Peking falten (Folding Beijing), Hao Jingfang, 84 pages

18. Wenn alle Katzen von der Welt verschwänden (If Cats Disappeared From The World), Genki Kawamura, 192 pages

Malice:

The famous author Kunihiko Hidaka has been murdered in his own house via strangulation. His wife and his friend Osamu Nonoguchi, who is also a writer, found him. Both seem to have a clear alibi and no other suspects can be found. The cop Kyochiro Kaga keeps investigating and soon finds out that the alleged friendship between Hidaka and Nonoguchi was instead a much more troubled relationship. The murderer becomes clear soon after but it seems impossible to unveil the true motive.

Good book. Liked the different take on a crime book, where the murderer admits the criminal act but lies about their true motivation.

Folding Beijing:

Lao Dao is a 48 year old man. He lives in a futuristic Beijing that is constructed in a special way: within a 48-hour cycle, the upper and under part of the city get folded together and switch places, one reaches the surface, the other goes underground. One half of the city is beholden to the first sector, where the upper class lives. The other half is the living space for both the second sector(essentially the middle class) and the third sector, Lao Dao lives and works in the third sector.

One day he finds a note with the request to transport a gift and a message to the first sector, a task that Lao Dao is willing to undertake to use the promised money to make sure that his daughter can attend a decent school.

Great short story that evolves around China's class system and how average citizens accept their life despite repressions. I read this as an e-book, however, the short story has been published for free as well and can be read here:

Folding Beijing

If Cats Disappeared From The World:

A thirty years old mailman gets a shocking diagnosis: he has a brain tumor and will likely die within half a year, there is no hope for recovery. He falls into despair until a clone of himself, who turns out to be the devil, makes a deal with him: every day, one thing will vanish from the earth but the man can live one more day. The man agrees and lives a few more days until the devil announces that cats are the next thing to vanish.

Beautiful book. The deathly ill man uses the little time that he has left to look back on his life and gains an appreciation for all the small nice things that become unnoticed in our daily lifes and realises the true nature of his mothers last wish to spend time with him and his father on one last vaccation and also realises how similiar he is to his father, despite not seeing him after his mother died.

All in all a very positive, wholesome read. Highly recommended.

22: Homeland by R.A. Salvatore

Der Wifen has always talked about how great Drizzt was and so I decided to start reading some books that he's in. Although the character was introduced in another trilogy, Homeland is the origin story of the dark elf. I enjoyed it. It was a pretty cool twist on typical fantasy of certain races being completely evil or completely good. Drizzt is born into one of those evil races and Salvatore does a pretty good job explaining how they are mostly indoctrinated into their evil ways.

Next up is Exile

Starting off May with some really enjoyable books!

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

I finally finished Jane Eyre last week - I've got to say, its up there with some of my favourite books I've ever read.

Jane is a wonderfully constructed character - you get to follow her through her whole life from a passionate and strong willed child to a woman who is for the most part unshakeable. As you see her position in life changed drastically through the novel, her nature is slowly revealed. At Lowood she learns the value of morality and is touched by considerations of mortality, as a governess she learns to play her role and to conceal her feelings etc.

The novel touches on questions of enduring hardship, class mobility, the importance of social structures, the purpose of life etc. I found it quite profound at times, and Jane's inner monologue raises some interesting considerations.

While I loved it - this is a long ass book. If you enjoy classic novels, you should enjoy this. However, there's a lot of reading in this.

Convernience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata

This was a quick read (I read it in a day).

I picked it up because I heard someone on youtube talk about it. Despite knowing a little about the book beforehand, it was completely different than my expectations.

The book (to me) felt like a meditation on societal expectations and imposed social orders. It focuses on a main character who can't understand or interact with regular society. She describes herself as a "foreign object" and tries to mimic those around her in order to protect herself. As she suggests herself, foreign objects are cast out by society - so she needs to blend in.

Given her issues understanding the social world., the main character finds solace in her convenience store job. The clearly outlined structure and rules of the convenience store make sense to her, and she lets her life be subsumed by her job. However, after 18 years working a part time job - those around her are increasingly worried about her, a fact that is encroaching on her way of life.

I found this book very interesting - particularly after reading "The Outsider", the central question of how societies deal with non-compliance and difference really resonated with me. There's definitely an aspect in all of us that fears that we could end up as someone cast out by society. I'd love to read more books that deal with that question - if anyone has read anything like that I'd love to hear about it!

Done reading this book:

19. 13 Stufen, Kazuaki Takano, 400 pages

13 Stufen (translates to thirteen steps):

An innocent man faces the death penalty. Seven long years have passed and Ryō Kihara is bound to die soon - after all this time, thirteen officials will soon have signed all the necessary papers, all thirteen steps to his death will be taken. Former prison warden Nangō and former prisoner Jun'ichi, now on a three month probation, get hired by a mysterious client to find the true culprit and save Ryō Kihara from his demise.

Fantastic book. Deals with the japanese justice system and the death penalty, giving a perspective on both prisoners struggling to re-enter society and famlily members who lost someone due to a murderer - some forgiving the culprit, others being vengeful. I found this one amazing at presenting these perspectives and showing the inner conflicts of the protagonists while showcasing a justice system that is surprisingly unclear when it comes to the death penalty.

Sadly though, I couldn't find an english version of this book.

Finished "John Sinclair - Mörder aus dem Totenreich" (Murderers from the realm of the dead).

Second story about "Ghost hunter John Sinclair". This time he has to travel to Mexico to stop a crazy old "Master of the Dead" from turning innocent people to willingless zombies.

Finished the audiobook of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque this morning. Incredibly powerful story, even 90+ years later. I had to look it up to see if it was a work of fiction or not since it seemed almost entirely autobiographical outside of the ending. I know the author was a World War I veteran himself so that probably was the basis for a lot of the book.

Loved how the book sought to talk about the dirty realities of war (especially the trench fighting of this period) and make it as unglamorous as possible. Most of its passages were about the lack of food and crushing boredom than anything else. It was a nice counterbalance to a lot of the heroic tales I’ve usually read about fighting in great battles in Europe. Probably some of the best anti-war material I’ve ever read. It’s no wonder why the Nazis banned and burned this novel.

It’s easy to characterize Germany as “the bad guys” in the World Wars, but it’s crucial to remember that a lot of its soldiers were just young, confused kids that had their whole lives warped by being sent off to die on horrific conditions in fields of Europe by monarchs. I like that this book explored that.

At 5/16/20 12:23 PM, Peaceblossom wrote:

I've always wanted to read that book. Some of the kids in my high school got to read it for their English classes. Not sure why mine didn't. We read Anne Frank's Diary instead. I also recall reading the graphic novel Maus on my own and thinking that it was a pretty powerful portrayal of the Jewish experience in Europe during World War II. It's pretty horrifying and depressing material to contend with, though. Not a huge fan of reading about it constantly if I'm being frank.

Anne Frank, Night and Man's Search For Meaning make for a powerful trilogy (in that order). imo though it's futile if not a bit fucked up to force Night or even the diary onto school kids. Night would've fucked me up, probably permanently turned me off the subject and I doubt I'd have understood the weight of either.

Night's a slim volume (mine was 160 pages), but also liable to stay with you indefinitely.

help I can’t read

Done reading these books:

20. The Woman in the Window, A. J. Finn, 544 pages

21. Nachtschicht (Night Shift), Stephen King, 448 pages

22. Geständnisse (Confessions), Kanae Minato, 272 pages

The Woman in the Window:

Dr Anna Fox hasn't left her house for over ten months and lives seperated from her husband and daughter. She has suffered a trauma and has developed a severe case of agoraphobia. Unable to leave the house, she spends most of her time watching old movies, drinking Merlot and observing her neighbours. This goes on until she sees one of her neighbours, Jane, who talked with her a few days ago, killed with a sharp object. But nobody believes her as it seems like nobody got killed at all in that house where she saw the murder.

Good book. The first half is pretty slow paced and goes into great detail about how Dr. Fox is affected by her agoraphobia and how she structured her life around it. The buildup is worth it though for the rest of the book.

Night Shift:

Collection of 20 short stories, ranging from a tale about a factory where an army of cat-sized rats resides, a very effective company that helps people to stop smoking, an astronaut that went to Venus being infected with mysterious entities that use him as a host to commit unspeakable crimes, trucks driving - and starting to kill -people by themselves and other stories that have no supernatural aspects and turn out to be the most scary of them all.

Great book. I enjoyed all stories included here and most are good or even great.

Confessions:

Yuko Moriguchi is a teacher and tragedy hits her when her four-year old daughter is found dead in a swimming pool nearby the school where she teaches. It looks like a tragedy but reality is much crueler - as she talks with her class to accounce her departure from school, she also reveals that she knows that her daughters demise was a murderer - and that she knows exactly who did it. As most pupils are thirteen years or younger, they wouldn't be punished by the law much, if at all. But Yuko Moriguchi has come up with a plan to take justice in her own hands - she has put HIV-infected blood in the milk cartons of the two pupils who commited the crime.

From that moment on, a circle of desasters unfolds, we see the coming months from the perspective ff the involved people, each with confessions that unveil more and more grim details.

Great book. Kept surprising and terrifiying me with every revelation till the bitter end. Highly recommended.

i have finished 11th book: A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J. Maas 

i didn't know much about it other than it was a highly received ya fantasy book so i thought hey, why NOT!!!

it has an interesting theme and it's really quite bleak at times. i would say it is slightly reminiscent of harry potter in the sense of a poor kid being thrust into a fantastical world but it is a lot more mature as it feels like the fantastical world is full of things that will delight in killing a little mortal

i really liked it

the only weird thing is part is the slightly graphic scenes of romance where it feels like a self insert from the author who gets off on picturing herself getting railed by a really handsome dude who is shredded because it's SO detailed

eh whatever. i started reading the next book so i'm like 20 pages into book 2 but the author is already throwing graphic sex at you...

23: Exile by R.A. Salvatore

2nd part of the Drizzt story. I'm enjoying the series even though i feel like I'm slowing down a little this month.

Just started on Sojourn

So I finished Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez over the weekend. I wanted to take some time after to filter through my thoughts on it before posting about it.

I picked it up on a complete whim from a charity shop - I hadn't heard of the author or the book itself. I just thought the cover looked interesting and the subtitle "Exposing data bias in a world designed for men" appealed to me. My degree and work are quite social research based so I was curious on what the book had to say.

The book essentially collates a wealth of social, economic and medical research to highlight that women have been systematically excluded from data. Perez then goes on to show how not being accounted for in datasets had led to sub optimal outcomes in a range of areas. The book mainly focuses on health, product design, the workplace, crisis situations and in family life.

I think the book raises very good points, and lays out its arguments very clearly. The author is clearly passionate about this topic and draws on an absolutely huge number of studies and research to back up her points.

My only criticism of the book is that some sections almost felt laden down with the amount of stats and research discussed. There were pages where it felt a bit like reading "X from Y country study says this. Z survey however found this...", which I found for a book aimed at widespread consumption could be heard to read at times.

If the topic is of any interest to you at all, I would highly recommend at least reading the introduction, Chapter 1 (Can Snow-Clearing be sexist?), Chapter 8: (One Size fits Men) and Chapter 10 (The Drugs Don't Work). Even as someone who has studied some of these topics in university, I was very surprised by some of the points raised there.

I'm moving on to read Animal Farm for my book club and then I'm reading Hot Milk!

Read through Spelunky by Derek Yu. It's a autobiographical book about the creation of the popular indie game of the same name!

Really enjoyed this one as it got into Derek's backstory and relationship with video games before tackling why and how he created the original Spelunky game as freeware game back in 2009. It then goes onto explain how he made the XBLA version of the game and the process that went into virtually every aspect of its design from its roguelike (Randomly generated layouts each time) elements to its distinct music and its special "chain" of secrets that gave the game such a cultlike following online.

I particularly love how Derek would get deep into his thoughts on how video games should be and how that informed the works that he himself has made. He seems to really dislike the idea of hand-holding in modern video games and feels that it's important to cater more to rewarding players who practice and get good at video games than making something that would appeal to everybody. I'm not going to say that's a right or wrong approach, but I love that he has strong convictions and was able to clearly express them through the book. If nothing else, you exactly why the game of Spelunky is what it is.

I was biased going into this reading because I really do love the game of Spelunky, but I can say that this is worth reading if you're a fan or student of good game design as well. It was a fun look inside the mind of a successful indie developer that gave both a compelling retelling of how a popular game was made while also serving as a written lecture series on what makes compelling games that reward players with fun secrets and novel experiences with every playthrough.

Also, he referenced Castle Crashers a few times, to that was cool. Nice that he gave Tom and The Behemoth some love there.

I've been meaning to read this for YEARS. Back in highschool I asked my librarian if he could order it but it costed too much lmao.

I might just buy it myself since I got some extra cash lying around.

Pretty late but I'll read Tolkiens books

Forgot to mention that I finished "Art and Fear" a while ago. If you're as neurotic I am or if you expect technical answers to your art to be the street lights on the dark road of artistic development (same thing), this is the quick read for you. Its basically a self help book for those in the throws of writers block, self doubt, or have become disenchanted. I'm a musician, yet the anecdotes crossed over very nicely for me. Honestly, go pick it up. Its less than 130 pages and isn't patronizing.

There are some books I've started and put down temporarily when I lost the mood for their specific flavor. I have made the most progress with "Come Be My Light", (does the comma go inside or outside the quotes?) the personal letters of Mother Teresa. I picked it up because I know that she did not allow for adequate care in her House of the Dying and that she felt a growing gap between her and God as she aged despite her answering what she fully believes to be God's specific instruction. (At the point I'm at) Mother Teresa insists on living in the third world poverty of India in order to ingratiate herself with the poor she hopes to convert. She frequently calls herself a "victim for Christ" and wants to make others "victims" too. I'm unaware if this is outdated and deep, deep Christian missionary jargon or if this is her personal view on the relationship one must have with Christ chex. There id also a lot of allusions to immolation which makes it feel like I'm reading the journal of a cleric from Dark Souls III. So that's fun. Haven't gotten to the part where Jesus abandons her yet, but I expect to get to that part soon.

Welcome aboard. Any specific number you're going for?

Pretty much LOTR and The hobbit

January:

1. The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish - Katya Apekina

February:

xxx

March:

2.Sweet Salt Air by Barbara Delinsky

3.Barbara the Slut and Other People by Lauren Holmes 

4.Dark Matter by Blake Crouch 

5.Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan 

6.Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray & What It Means for Modern Relationships by Christopher Ryan

7.Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

April:

8.Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

9.How to Love (Mindfulness Essentials #3) by Thich Nhat Hanh

10.Tampa by Alissa Nutting 

11.The Boho Manifesto: An Insider's Guide to Postconventional Living by Julia Chaplin

May

12.An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

13.How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don't by Lane Moore

14.The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson 

15.The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

I finished Animal Farm by George Orwell last night. I read it when I was 12/13 and I think I quite enjoyed it then. My bookclub wanted to read it so I reread it ahead of the Zoom call for that.

I think when I first read it I thought it was much more clever? I thought it had some interesting points, but for the most part it seemed to me to be a pretty straightforward retelling of historical events in a satirical way.

That being said, this time around I really enjoyed the humour. Some of the absurd moments and the satirical representations actually made me laugh out loud.

If you've never read it - its a classic for a reason. Its an easy entry point into satirical books - I'd recommend giving it a go.