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♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣

19,670 Views | 584 Replies

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-16 00:40:15


At 2/15/21 04:28 PM, ZJ wrote: Finished Fraternity: An Inside Look at a Year of College Boys Becoming Men by Alexandra Robbins today.

Simply FASCINATING book. The author made a point of following a year in the life of two college kids: One being a freshman that was entering Greek life as a pledge and the other a sophomore that was President of his fraternity chapter. She went through all of the trials and tribulations that these boys encountered while also having some sections where she just reported on various aspects of Greek life like the drinking culture and why decent young men would act in totally heinous ways when with a large group such as a traditional fraternity.

While the chapter president sections were pretty good, with it being an example of Greek life done right where the group was actually more interested in developing quality men then drinking and hooking up, the bits about the freshman entering this world for the first time were engrossing in both good and bad ways. This guy, Jake, went from being a nerdy and somewhat shy high schooler that had never really done anything with alcohol or girls to being your stereotypical frat bro that was binge drinking regularly and focusing on having sex with "slams" that would give his fraternity more prestige. It was harrowing to see him go through the rejections of the rush process, the insane hazing rituals (Some particularly memorable ones included being forced to sleep on hard floors without pillows while older members watched and being made to run in a dark forest for hours while being screamed at), and all of the other little things that totally transformed him as a person. It was kind of depressing to watch him turn into a guy who was okay with getting F's in classes (He had never dipped below a B+ on anything in high school apparently) and thought that he was being a "white knight" when he remembered that he used to say it was wrong to judge women based almost entirely on their looks. He provides a lot of justifications for his actions and he never turns into the worst of the worst that this frat lifestyle can create, but it's still shocking to watch this kid who we saw crying when another fraternity turned him away becomes this dude who delights in hazing people his own age who just happened to try to join his fraternity in the spring instead of the fall. I do wonder what he's like now seeing as this book chronicled his freshman year in 2017-2018 which would make him a senior now.

I think this one is going to stick with me for a long time. I had dabbled with Greek life in my college days, but this opened my eyes on the subject in a way that they weren't before. There's both good and bad in fraternities and I can respect them for doing positive things in their communities, but, yikes, is it rough to see how downright savage they can be even in our more "politically correct" world.


The only Greek life I was part of was Beta Club in high school. The ones that were available at my college had strict requirements. If you didn't make As and Bs and didn't have 2.9+ GPA then you weren't worth their time.


The only time I saw a fraternity in a positive light was on an episode of Extreme Couponers where a frat member was teaching his friends how to coupon while shopping for snacks for their upcoming party.

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-17 11:01:48


5) Frozen: Conceal, Don't Feel - This is part of Disney's A Twisted Tale line of books based on their animated films that diverge from their stories and become darker. In theory. I have read the Aladdin and Beast & The Beast books, and those have much different stories and darker. The Frozen book, however, is basically the same story as the film despite the major change being Anna and Elsa being separated as children. Same scenarios, same lines, only some superficial changes. The book came out a month before the release of Frozen 2, so I'm guessing Disney didn't want to mess with their cash cow that much. Still, it is a huge missed opportunity to not use the Evil Elsa story that was part of the original production before she was rewritten to her current design.


6) Perfect State - For a 70 page novella, there is a lot of worldbuilding here. It is about people living in a Matrix style simulation, and one of them, Kai, rules in a high fantasy State as an emperor. He then is chosen by the powers that be to find a mate to maintain the population in the real world. The story is actually pretty good, with some discussion if Kai's actions in a simulated world actually matter and if the Machineborn (aka NPCs) have the same value as real people.


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Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-17 11:54:13


At 2/17/21 11:01 AM, JerseyWildcard wrote: 5) Frozen: Conceal, Don't Feel


I have this, did not expect someone else would log it before me.


it is a huge missed opportunity to not use the Evil Elsa story that was part of the original production before she was rewritten to her current design.


Just read the source material bro, this is the main deviation between Frozen and The Snow Queen.

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-17 13:13:37


At 2/17/21 11:54 AM, Jackho wrote: I have this, did not expect someone else would log it before me.

Just read the source material bro, this is the main deviation between Frozen and The Snow Queen.


I got the ebook because it and a couple of the Twisted Tale books were on sale on Amazon. I figured I would read them while I read other heavier, darker books.


For Christmas, I did get the complete collection of Hans Christian Andersen's stories, so I will get around to reading The Snow Queen.

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-17 17:31:44


Book 3 is done. I'm crushing books super fast now that I figured out I can listen to audiobooks at work. I might adjust my goal to 24 books this year, which would be a huge improvement over last, but most of these will be audio books.


I finished On Writing by Stephen King. His stories throughout are fantastic. They're slightly fictionalized stories about his real life and experience writing. He does get into some tips for writing a novel, and a good one at that, but the meat and potatoes were definitely his stories about life. I'm very keen on starting to write some short stories again and maybe trying to get published in a magazine. Knowing a great author like King had a stack of rejection slips makes me less afraid to try and fail. After all, you have to practice to get good. And practice doesn't feel like practice when you enjoy what you're doing.


I completed my fourth book. William Strunk Jr.'s Elements of Style. This one was a text version. I don't think learning about grammatical style would have been a worthy listen as an audiobook.


This book is a prescriptive text on writing and common mistakes that make your writing suck. It talked a lot about the passive voice, and misuse of certain words. Definitely worth a read if you do any kind of writing, whether formal, informal, fiction, nonfiction, professional, or otherwise. Being direct and succinct is important, and one should never monkey around with useless filler words. I was reminded of many essays I wrote in high school that included lazy, passive language. If you use passive language, it shows that you're afraid to say what you're saying.


Apparently EB White later added to this book in some way? I couldn't find that version so I read the original. I found it helpful.

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-20 13:43:18


At 2/15/21 04:04 PM, Egeus wrote: Just finished my second book of the year. Stephen King's The Shining. Fuck me what a home run. Kubrick's version was good, but wildly different from the novel. I do see why he made the changes he did but hot damn I wasn't expecting it to be so good.

This was a truly horrifying read. I'm hoping to continue with more King as the year goes on I think.

I've just picked up On Writing to take a break from horror and focus on, perhaps, my own writing for a while. This version is the audiobook read by Stephen King, Owen King, and Joe Hill.


I read On Writing last month and it has me wanting to read more King. I might put this on order as I love the movie!


I just finished reading Basic Income: And how we can make it happen by Guy Standing. It is a thorough run through of some of the key talking points on the topic of establishing a basic income initiative.


The book starts by covering the moral, economic, theological and philosophical reasonings for a BI. It then highlights why it is preferable to other social transfers, and then highlights some of the main experimental information we currently have on how a BI would work.


Interesting book, and Guy Standing definitely has the authority to make the case for a basic income. The only issue I would raise is that it isn't very exciting - I will keep this more as a reference book for essays etc. in the future.


If you are interested in learning about BI, reading the first ten page introduction covers some of the key points you should know. I'd then pick chapters that appeal to your interests.


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Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-20 14:22:23


At 2/20/21 01:43 PM, RainyG wrote:
At 2/15/21 04:04 PM, Egeus wrote: Just finished my second book of the year. Stephen King's The Shining. Fuck me what a home run. Kubrick's version was good, but wildly different from the novel. I do see why he made the changes he did but hot damn I wasn't expecting it to be so good.

This was a truly horrifying read. I'm hoping to continue with more King as the year goes on I think.

I've just picked up On Writing to take a break from horror and focus on, perhaps, my own writing for a while. This version is the audiobook read by Stephen King, Owen King, and Joe Hill.
I read On Writing last month and it has me wanting to read more King. I might put this on order as I love the movie!

King is definitely worth reading more of. I did pick up and not finish a few of his books though. The Stand was one of his 1100 page monstrosities and I just didn't have the patience to keep going after about 200 pages, even though it was very good up to that point. I may revisit it later. Some of his newer stuff lacks the real crazy horror of his older works, but the writing is still good. The Shining might be one of my favourite books of all time though, so definitely I'd recommend giving it a whirl.

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-23 04:35:23


Just finished Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto.


Given a lot of the heavy stuff I've read in the last while, this was a refreshingly chilled out read. Kitchen is a book with 2 love themed stories - both of which centre grief in some way (I can't read anything that is too light hearted!)


What I found most interesting was the way Yoshimoto weaves grief into the story without needing to directly point to it. She leaves a lot up to the reader in terms of interpreting how grief affects the characters and how that informs their actions. I felt this gave space for the love story side to be the main plot focus, which was a nice way of dealing with heavy themes in a lighthearted way.


I'm a big fan of japanese novels, so this was an enjoyable read for me. If you like Murakami, I'd say you would enjoy this.

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-24 06:54:12


Book five complete!


Pet Sematary by Stephen King.


While this one didn't give me the same horrified shivers down my spine that The Shining did, I'd say the premise of Pet Sematary is significantly more depraved. It didn't help that the preamble to the book - King's explanation as to why he wrote and published it - gave away anything that might have been a surprise. Still, King's ability to build tension in a novel made this a worthwhile read. Afterall, it's the journey, not the destination.


I'll squeeze one more in this month.


8. Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child


I started going through all of Preston and Child's back catalogue from the beginning after reading (and loving) Relic a year or two back, and while there's not been a bad book yet, this is definitely the weakest so far. It's not bad by any stretch, most of what I enjoyed about their other thrillers is here, but the bulk of the book was just a bit too mundane to really grip me like the others did. I say the bulk, because there's also stuff in here towards the end that's just so goofy it becomes comical.


It's the first book in the shared universe that began with Relic that really feels like an "Agent Pendergast" novel, rather than a novel in which Agent Pendergast appears. As much as I loved the character in Relic, Reliquary and The Cabinet of Curiosities, he was always part of an ensemble cast, and Still Life WIth Crows has done little to sell me on the idea of the dozen or more future solo novels centred on him. When you've dealing with a genius, eccentric oddball like Pendergast you need a cast of more grounded characters for him to bounce off of, but for the first time in the series they're conspicuously absent.


Instead we get a sidekick in the form of a teenage goth to play Watson to his Holmes and ask all the expositional questions the book requires. Corrie's fine, but she's a much more passive figure than the likes of Smithback, D'Agosta or Kelly from the previous novels, and spends most of the novel just sort of following Pendergast around as he hunts a serial killer in small town Kansas. That's a problem, too, as the case itself would feel right at home in any bog standard detective thriller, which after how bizarre and engaging the investigations at the centre of the authors' other works are is a big problem. The final reveal as to the cause of the killings, which I won't spoil, was just too silly to be satisfying too.


I'm being down on the book, but to stress, all its problems are relative to their other pretty uniformly stellar work. It's still a very solid thriller, Preston & Child are masters at fast paced page turners that always only feel half their actual length, and the same remains true here. It might be the worst Preston & Child book I've read, but I'd still choose to read it over most other thrillers.


Here's hoping this was just a blip and Brimstone will be a return to form.


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Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-26 12:44:10


7: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling


Finished this the other night. This book really took a big turn in tone at the end. I actually appreciate that the series gets darker as the characters age (and I suppose the readers aged). But dang it went straight to violence and death in just a chapter after tiptoeing around that stuff through all the other books and most of this book.


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Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-26 18:32:21


@jackho I only finished one this month but man it was good.


The Royal Art of Poison


Excellent read!


| It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose|||Love belongs to Desire, and Desire is always cruel.||||

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Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-27 11:00:38


Book six complete! Joe Hill's Dark Carousel. Kinda dark and disturbing, short n sweet. This was more of a short story / novella but I'm gonna count it.


That's 6 of my new goal of 24 books.


Done reading these books:


15. Traumlieder Band 3 (Dreamsongs Volume 2), George R. R. Martin, 832 pages

16. Mondspuren (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress) , Robert A. Heinlein, 464 pages

17. Feuertaufe (Baptism of Fire), Andrzej Sapkowski, 432 pages


Traumlieder Band 3 (Dreamsongs Volume 2):


In german the book series has three entries, I could only find two for the english one. Cutting it up makes sense considering the page count, although book 3 as a standalone is much weaker than the first two entries, for one because the Hedgeknight story is replaced by a speech by the author at some event and mostly for the two WildCard universe stories that I found very boring.


The Moon is a Harsh Mistress:


2075: The moon is basically a space version of early Australia, i.e. a planet where prisoners get sent to (minus creepy spiders living everywhere, I guess). The moon colony is obligated to send the wheed that they farm to earth in exchange for cash. However, the moon colony also has to buy ice and soil for this and at this point, they are losing money.


Therefore, a revolution must happen. Thankfully, technician Mannie O'Kelly-Davis finds out that the super AI, Mike, has a sense of humour and is interested in supporting the revolution in secret as part of his entertainment. The rest of the book details how these events unfold in a David vs. Goliath manner.


Very good book. Nice amount of humour and still very enjoyable despite its age (originally came out in 1966).


Baptism of Fire:


Book five of the Witcher book series, my personal favorite of the ones I read so far. Looking forward to the next one.


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Tuturu~ ♫

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Chapter: 25/105. Book: The Da Vinci Code.


I think this is the first time a book has left me wanting to read more. It's like an action movie but much better, because adjectives are creatively used in books.

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-27 12:53:18


At 2/27/21 12:29 PM, Jackho wrote: Almost forgot it's Short Month month.


Yep! I have read the Art of War by Sun Tzu. Surprised to discover it's such a short read.


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Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-27 13:29:36


I finished Dominion but I may have said that already. I'm currently reading some Amit Goswami. It's not as good as the first book of his I read.

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-27 13:30:31


At 2/26/21 12:44 PM, Malachy wrote: 7: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling

Finished this the other night. This book really took a big turn in tone at the end. I actually appreciate that the series gets darker as the characters age (and I suppose the readers aged). But dang it went straight to violence and death in just a chapter after tiptoeing around that stuff through all the other books and most of this book.


This was my fave book. Possibly because it's the one I had a copy of but I read it the most lol.

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-27 13:33:39


The end of the month really snuck up on me!


I haven't been listening to audio books this month so my haul is only 3 for February.


I'm well into HP and you know I just don't quite get the magic (lol) of it? Very definitely would have hit different if I picked it up as a kid - I was really interested in hidden secret worlds in plain sight stories, especially the writing of Neil Gaiman - American Gods, Neverwhere, Stardust, Good Omens etc., so HP would have been right in my wheelhouse.


January (4)

1: Points of Impact by Marko Kloos

2: The Settlers of Catan by Rebecca Gable

3: A Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi

4: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling


February (3)

5: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling

6: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling

7: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling


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I dropped two books because they bore the shit of me this month. I'll get back into reading in March hopefully


I cannot see without my asses

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Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-28 01:20:44


january 

1.Abraham Hicks and Wayne Dyer-Co-Creating at its Best

2.Bill Murray-Cinderella Story: My life in golf


february

3.Maya Angelou-Even the Stars Look Lonesome


trying to keep up with time. hopefully finish some big old text book soon and this will activate some latent text book crunching ability which is sort of one of my objective ideals of the utility of reading. maya angelous is fucking great. anyone who hasnt read her should find a book. bill murray's book was kind of funny and phrased how he would say stuff. i never know how much is ghost written on celebrity books but i think if you like him its a decent short read, probably helps to know golf stuff.



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Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-28 01:35:21


+4 for me. I did end up reading (and then watching) The Man Who Fell to Earth. The book was great. The movie could have honestly been it's own thing because It was so far off for me. I liked it but meh. It ain't the movie club lol. Book was exactly my sort of thing and was consumed eagerly in my hammock on an unusually warm day. Perks of being self-employed. Sometimes the boss lady gives you a day off to go lay around in the sun. She also reinvests almost all of your money, screws your boyfriend, and sits around nagging you while you try to relax. What a cunt.


But uh. Yeah. The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis is a classic for a reason. It's a good read. Some dated language, and it's a bit tedious. But I ate it up and had an excellent time. My copy is after the movie, and I usually hate movie covers on a book, but it gets a pass because it's David Bowie.


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I really may change the Shakespeare goal. Honestly it's just hard for me to get into. Plays are better performed in my opinion. (An opinion I formed over the last couple of months). It's not that I dislike his work, plays are just tedious to read. The goal as far as number goes I could happily fill with some more of my sci-fi stash. For now I'm going to read and keep up with it. It may just be an acquired taste.


Nothing really stuck with me in poetry this month. Well. Every poem about nature or living very far in the woods did. And that's probably going to be a theme.

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-28 08:53:37


Been slow to start this year but I finished my first one.


Henry Thoreau's 'Walden'


I really enjoyed it on two different fronts, I found the social commentary fascinating. Especially how relevant a lot of it still was. I also really enjoyed the specific language and writing style, indicative of the time it was written.

Plus I learnt what a wigwam is.

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-28 09:56:42


At 2/28/21 08:53 AM, Tacopug wrote: Been slow to start this year but I finished my first one.

Henry Thoreau's 'Walden'

I really enjoyed it on two different fronts, I found the social commentary fascinating. Especially how relevant a lot of it still was. I also really enjoyed the specific language and writing style, indicative of the time it was written.
Plus I learnt what a wigwam is.


Thoreau gets a lot of hate, but I'm aight with him.


| It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose|||Love belongs to Desire, and Desire is always cruel.||||

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Listened to 2 different audiobooks this month. 


7) Cane by Jean Toomer, narrated by Audra McDonald - Spotify released some official audiobooks performed by professional actors (and YouTuber David Dobrick). I listened to Cane after I was disappointed with Dobrick's narration of Frankenstein. Cane was not bad; it was a collection of short stories, poems, and a play about African Americans living in the North and South. It is widely seen as a masterpiece in Harlem literature. McDonald did a great job playing multiple characters. But the story was a bit too poetic and flowerly. 


8) Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, performed by an alll star cast - not exactly an audiobook. It is a radio drama, based on a book, which is based on a TV Series. It is an actually a top notch production, with James McAvoy doing quite well as the lead fish out of water character. One main complaint is that because it is a radio drama, there is no narrator (unlike American God's full cast audiobook), so it is a bit confusing when the scene changes. There are 6 parts in total, with the 7th part consisting outtakes and extended scenes with Christopher Lee and Benedict Cumberbatch's characters.


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Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-02-28 22:12:21


5) The Employee Millionaire Personal Workbook.

Like a quick guide to investing in real estate with focus on rental properties. Quick read, easy to follow tips.


6) Online articles on stock investments, offerwalls and tech devices


Fell off the wagon this month. Hope to pick things back up in March.

Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-03-01 00:01:25


At 2/27/21 12:29 PM, Jackho wrote: Almost forgot it's Short Month month. If anyone else has updates try to get em posted.


I almost have Game of Spies finished, should have it done this week. I don't remember if I had a goal this year, but I'll set it at 20 books.



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Response to ♣ Reading Challenge 2021 ♣ 2021-03-01 12:53:49


At 2/27/21 12:50 PM, Positron832 wrote: Chapter: 25/105. Book: The Da Vinci Code.

I think this is the first time a book has left me wanting to read more. It's like an action movie but much better, because adjectives are creatively used in books.


Yes, it is the best book of the series. Which isn't saying much, since the others are just flat-out stupid. I'm glad I didn't have to read it myself but could just listen to the audio books instead. Haven't even finished listening to "Inferno" yet, I am about 1/4 into the book, I think.


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