Mid Year Check in Tag 2024
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- Опубликовано: 7 июл 2024
- We're halfway through 2024! Here's a casual chat about what I've read so far, what I'm currently reading and books I'm looking forward to next. Click ‘Show More’ for info & links.
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Join my bookclub: / thelonesomereaderbookclub
Bookstagrammers
Chris: / christophermetts
Bernie: / bernie.lombardi
Booktubers Jon & Sierra: / @andtheywerereaders
The Questions:
1. How many books have you read so far this year?
2. What's your favourite book so far this year?
3. What's the most disappointing book you've read this year?
4. What genre have you read most this year?
5. Name a new favourite author that you've discovered this year?
6. What's the most surprisingly good book you've read so far this year?
7. What are your most anticipated 2024 releases?
8. What's your next big priority for your reading?
9. What's been your bookish highlight of the year so far?
10. What's a book you started reading this year and still need to complete?
11. Who do you tag?
Books discussed & purchase links:
My Friends by Hisham Matar
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978024...
James by Percival Everett
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978103...
Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978034...
Not a River by Selva Almada
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978191...
A Flat Place by Noreen Masud
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978024...
White Nights by Urszula Honek
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978191...
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978057...
The Watermark by Sam Mills
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978178...
Entitlement by Rumaan Alam
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978152...
Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978139...
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978014...
Joyce Carol Oates: Letters to a Biographer edited by Greg Johnson
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978163...
Goodnight Tokyo by Aisuhiro Yoshida
uk.bookshop.org/a/9054/978178...
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I'm glad to see you enjoyed Selva Almada's book. I am Argentinian and read this book in its original language... this story (and the whole trilogy) is so deeply entrenched in the culture of this specific region in Argentina and the language is very 'slang-heavy', I am very curious to read it in English and see how the cultural aspects and the rural vocabulary was translated. The book I enjoyed the most in this trilogy is 'Ladrilleros' (Brickmakers), I highly recommend it!
When I was in High School, I started a practice of writing a journal, writing a short commentary of every book I had read. It was very fulfilling, in a way. It compelled me to read more, and was a nice reminder of books that I had read, but were fading in memory. Then, in college, the house I was living in was burgled, and they look my journal. (Also, my football, my high school ring, some silver coins). I regret that I did not continue the tradition of journalizing the books that I had read.
For young readers, I highly recommend this ritual.
I can't imagine how many books I have now read since then. Maybe 200. Maybe 400. Many of them fade from memory. But, I wish I had that journal. And my high school ring.
I really love your channel, Eric. I have read several books based on your lovely commentary. We seem to like the same things, so this really works. Anyway, cheers to you from San Diego!
How awful your journal was stolen! You should pick up the habit again. Thanks for your comment! 📚
I am really excited for My Friends
In and out of the hosp. for four months so for me not yet mid-year; only thing to say now is I'm happy with my newest read, The VAnishing Half, which features well-drawn characters and a sharp setting. It promises action to come, so fingers crossed. Thx for vid!
1. 49
2. North Woods by Daniel Mason
3. Ever After by Graham Swift (meandering with no structure. Ok at the sentence level)
4) Literary Historical Fiction/Gothic
5) Samantha Harvey
6) This Other Eden by Paul Harding (I was steeled for the incest and inbreeding but hadn't anticipated the innocence, tenderness and lyricism)
7) The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke (Out in October but I may save it to read over Christmas)
8) Complete rereading of William Golding's novels as Sci-Fi
9) Glutton by A. K. Blakemore
10) The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
11) Writing group friends
1. 119
2. Mothers and Sons - Adam Haslett (not out till 1/2025, but I got an ARC from Netgalley!)
3. The Sleepwalkers - Scarlett Thomas - dreadful!
4. Literary fiction and play scripts (about 50/50!)
5. Francis King - had never read him and wound up reading his entire canon of 32 novels! 😲
6. Same answer as #5! 17 of his books got 5 stars from me.
7. Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst and Gliff by Ali Smith.
8. The ENTIRE Booker Longlist (for the 11th years in a row!) 😁
9. Broken record time - same as #5 & 6.
10. Haven't DNF'd anything this year - so far! 🤞
11. Several of my reading buddies on Goodreads and/or Facebook.
Just to be selective, most anticipated remaining 2024 reads include the new Elizabeth Strout novel and Time of the Child, Niall Williams’ follow up to the spectacular This Is Happiness. My biggest surprise great read was I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. I do like this tag but the more books you’ve read in the first six months of the year, the harder it is to answer!
I have read this year a book with a similar approach to Goodnight Tokyo called Kamogawa Food Detectives. Interwoven stories about people coming into a diner looking have favourite dishes recreated. Just charming.
I have loved Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad and am just about to start My Friends. You are having an interesting reading year Eric.
1. 28 books ;
2. Beartown - Friedrick Backman (fiction); Infidel - Aayan Hirshi Ali (non fiction);
3. Kairos - Jenny Erpenbeck (not the worse but the one I had high expectations and didn’t like);
4. Historical fiction;
5. Friedrick Backman;
6. The Mountains Sing - Ngue Phan Que Mai;
7. Elif Shafak - There Are Rivers in the Sky;
8. Reading books from different countries (started counting from 2023 and so far, I have 45 countries);
9. I have read great biographies this year;
10. Harry Potter series :D, read the first 2 books so far;
my friends was a great read. thanks for the rec. currently ploughing through james...thanks for that rec too
1. 29
2. Siddhartha 🥹
3. The Glass Hotel - Emily St Mandel - I expected more based on the hype
4. Literary and speculative
5. Gene Wolfe
6. Strega by Johanna Lykke Holm was a surprising eerie gem of a novel
7. There are rivers in the sky- Elif Shafak
8. Finally finishing the Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk. What an intellectually rewarding read!
9. Savoring the poems in Devotions by Mary Oliver a little bit each
10. The bee sting - Paul Murray. I started this last year, but I'm using a library audiobook copy so I keep having to renew it and wait on the huge wait list. Maybe this round I'll finish it 😅
I'm also trying to read the Tokarczuk. My cookery book lectern helps 🙂
1. 95
2. Don't Let the Forest In by CG Drews
3. Bright Young Woman by Jessica Knoll
4. According to storygraph, Fantasy followed very closely by Literary
5. John Wiswell, Ia Genberg, Robin Sloan
6. Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly
7. She's Always Hungry (Eliza Clark), Wind and Truth (Brandon Sanderson)
8. Private Rites by Julia Armfield!! so excited + I'm trying to prioritize my ARCs more.
9. Rereading some old favorite this year has been lovely.
10. I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki - I keep forgetting to pick it up again.
Still cannot find "White Nights" for purchase anywhere in the USA.
I've discovered Blackwells ships to US for free.
@@julieaulava9567 Thank you so much!
Hisham Matar's A Month in Siena is outstanding. I am still not sure about My Friends which I have just finished. I have to think about it more. Why did he write this or why did he write that? Maybe I'll find the answers later...
Best Fiction: The Promise, Washington Black and Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain. Best Nonfiction The Silk Roads.
Regarding Nightwatch - it read like a trade-paperback VC Andrew’s book; additionally, if I hear the word ‘buckboard’ again it will be too soon
1.64
2. Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
3. Time Shelter. Not the books fault. I just felt stupid reading it. It went over my head.
4. Historical fiction?
5. Rebecca K Reilly - Greta & Valdin
6. Fayne by AnnMarie MacDonald ( the audio was excellent)
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Haworth ( debut Irish novel)
Service by Sarah Gilmartin
7. I’m reading a book I preordered months ago
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
8. So looking forward to the Booker long list
9. The Womens Prize Long list & shortlist
10. Too many to finish. It would be an embarrassing long list.
Ironically, I'm picking James as the most overrated book of the year. It's a good decent novel, brilliant in parts but not enough to be considered great. Perhaps it's Everett's style of writing -- it reads like a YA story. I kept hoping there is some new revelation that Everett can tell us about slavery and racism, about how its effects are still felt 150 years later, but there isn't There is little poignancy to the story, not more than Their Eyes Were Watching God or Beloved.
Wow! 60 in 6 months! I’m always amazed how many books people read! One of you commenters said 98?!? I’m a really slow reader & watch too much TV so I shouldn’t be ashamed to say I’ve read just 7 (🫣). My fav so far is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I rarely read new buzzy books bc I read a lot of classics but also bc I just can’t keep up. But I watch BookTube & read reviews to try to stay informed. I’m looking forward to My Friends & lots of P. Everett’s books! Thanks!!
I think people who read that much are the exception, not the rule. I haven't read Jonathan Strange, but Piranesi, by the same author is one of my favourite books of all time 😊