sturlington Reads Month to Month in 2020

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sturlington Reads Month to Month in 2020

1sturlington
Nov 18, 2019, 3:17 pm

Hi, Shannon here. I like to read by theme, but I find that if I plan too far ahead, I never stick to it. So this year, I'm going to have a very loose challenge where I will read generally by theme, but I'll only decide on the theme (or two) at the start of each month. Themes may be related to the ScaredyKIT category for the month, or the RandomCAT, or cleaning off my bookshelves, or something completely different. I'll post the months up front, and then I'll also post again at the beginning of each month when I decide what the theme(s) for that month will be.

2sturlington
Modificato: Gen 16, 2020, 10:04 am



JANUARY

Theme: Paperbacks from Hell (1970s/1980s Horror for ScaredyKIT)
1. When Darkness Loves Us by Elizabeth Engstrom
2. The Reaping by Bernard Taylor
3. The Tribe by Bari Wood

Big Book of the Month: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

3sturlington
Modificato: Feb 28, 2020, 9:22 am



FEBRUARY

Theme 1: Myth retellings
Circe by Madeline Miller
Wake Siren: Ovid, Resung by Nina MacLaughlin -- still in progress

Theme 2: Haunted places (to continue into March)
The Twilight Pariah by Jeffrey Ford
The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan

ScaredyKIT (psychological thriller): This Sweet Sickness by Patricia Highsmith

Big book of the month: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (for book club)

4sturlington
Modificato: Mar 31, 2020, 8:03 am



MARCH

Themes: Continuing themes of Haunted Places from February for ScaredyKIT:
This House is Haunted by John Boyne
The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

Also read: All Systems Red (SFFKit), The Witchfinder's Sister

5sturlington
Modificato: Apr 22, 2020, 8:34 am



APRIL

Theme is reading books off the shelf since we're now stuck at home due to the coronovirus--it's the coronavirus big read!

ScaredyKIT: The Drowning Girl In the Night Wood
SFFKit: Version Control

6sturlington
Modificato: Mag 5, 2020, 11:00 am



MAY

ScaredyKIT: Wakenhyrst

7CarlisleMLH
Modificato: Nov 18, 2019, 3:22 pm

I love these posters! Where did you find them? Or did you create them?

8sturlington
Modificato: Giu 25, 2020, 12:10 pm



JUNE

ScaredyKIT: Crota, The Spirit
Off the shelves: The Last Days of Night

9sturlington
Modificato: Ago 4, 2020, 3:59 pm



JULY

ScaredyKIT: Laura
Off the Shelves: Now, Voyager

10sturlington
Modificato: Ago 4, 2020, 3:59 pm



AUGUST

ScaredyKIT: Darkly Dreaming Dexter

11sturlington
Modificato: Set 24, 2020, 8:37 am



SEPTEMBER

ScaredyKIT: The Devil Aspect
Other: Basic Black With Pearls

12sturlington
Modificato: Nov 5, 2020, 7:07 am

13sturlington
Modificato: Nov 28, 2020, 9:35 am



NOVEMBER

ScaredyKIT: If It Bleeds
Off the Shelves: The Loney, Dreams Before the Start of Time

14sturlington
Modificato: Dic 17, 2020, 7:23 am



DECEMBER

ScaredyKIT: The Uninvited

15sturlington
Modificato: Nov 5, 2020, 7:08 am

BingoDOG



4. Book about books/libraries: The Starless Sea
6. Epistolary novel: The Testaments
9. Mystery or true crime: This Sweet Sickness
10. 3+ Letters of Bingo: The ReapING
11. Mythology or Folklore: The Tribe
15. Color red: The Red Tree
18. Published in 2020: Solutions and Other Problems
19. Birth or death: This House Is Haunted
20. Proper name: Circe
22. Small press: Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing
23. Real historical event: The Witchfinder's Sister
24. LibraryThing author: All Systems Red
25. About a Journalist: If It Bleeds

16sturlington
Modificato: Dic 17, 2020, 7:25 am

Where in the World Am I?


visited 9 states (18%)
Buy Douwe's Machine Learning Book

Connecticut: This Sweet Sickness
Florida: Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Maine: If It Bleeds
Massachusetts: Now, Voyager
Missouri: Crota
New Jersey: Version Control
New York: The Tribe, The Last Days of Night, Laura
North Carolina: The Twisted Ones
Rhode Island: The Red Tree


visited 13 states (5.77%)
Buy Douwe's Machine Learning Book

Canada: The Testaments; Basic Black With Pearls
Czech Republic: The Devil Aspect
Greece: Circe
United Kingdom: The Reaping; This House Is Haunted; The Witchfinder's Sister; In the Night Wood; Wakenhyrst; The Loney; Dreams Before the Start of Time; The Uninvited

17sturlington
Nov 18, 2019, 3:25 pm

>7 CarlisleMLH: These are WPA posters that I found at the Library of Congress website via WikiCommons.

18LittleTaiko
Nov 18, 2019, 9:33 pm

Love the idea of monthly themes and the posters, especially the December one. Happy reading!

19rabbitprincess
Nov 18, 2019, 9:37 pm

March is my favourite poster. Have a great reading year!

20NinieB
Nov 18, 2019, 10:46 pm

Great design choice—sure to lead to excellent reading!

21Tess_W
Nov 18, 2019, 10:54 pm

Great posters and happy reading in 2020!

22JayneCM
Nov 19, 2019, 1:12 am

I love the posters! I recently bought a whole lot of postcards printed with different years Children's Book Week posters. One day they will be in my library (when I have one!)

23MissWatson
Nov 19, 2019, 3:53 am

Gorgeous posters! Have fun reading!

24sturlington
Nov 19, 2019, 8:17 am

Thanks, everyone! I'm looking forward to an easy reading year.

25Jackie_K
Nov 19, 2019, 8:39 am

Those posters are really gorgeous!

26DeltaQueen50
Nov 19, 2019, 5:11 pm

Love the posters! Here's to a year of excellent reading. :)

27hailelib
Nov 19, 2019, 8:44 pm

The posters are great!

28VivienneR
Nov 23, 2019, 12:38 am

Wonderful posters! My favourite is December.

29mstrust
Nov 23, 2019, 11:50 am

Very cool theme!

30majkia
Nov 23, 2019, 2:03 pm

nice posters! hope your reading in 2020 is terrific.

31This-n-That
Nov 26, 2019, 10:02 pm

Great theme and it sounds like a good way to stay on track. (This is something I might also consider doing in the future, as I do better deciding at the beginning of the month also.) Wishing you a fun year of reading.

32thornton37814
Dic 8, 2019, 7:40 pm

Hope you enjoy your 2020 reading!

33clue
Dic 10, 2019, 3:54 pm

I like the idea of the monthly theme. I'll be interested in hearing how you liked doing it...a whole year from now!

34sturlington
Dic 28, 2019, 5:05 pm

Happy new year a couple of days early everyone! I'm starting my 2020 reading now.

My first theme for January will be the Paperbacks from Hell series by Valancourt Books. These are reissued horror paperbacks featured in the book Paperbacks from Hell, and they will all nicely fit the month's ScaredyKIT theme of 1970s/1980s Horror.

I have also decided to read one big book a month, either for a book group or off the shelf. The book I have chosen for this month is one I received for Christmas: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern.

I'll post reviews as I finish up the books.

35JayneCM
Dic 29, 2019, 5:31 am

>34 sturlington: I have The Starless Sea and The Night Circus on my TBR. Look forward to seeing what you think.

36sturlington
Dic 29, 2019, 8:19 am

>35 JayneCM: I absolutely loved The Night Circus so I am really looking forward to her follow-up.

37mstrust
Dic 29, 2019, 12:30 pm

Happy New Year!
I'll be seeing you in the ScaredyKIT thread. I look forward to your Valancourt reviews.

38sturlington
Dic 29, 2019, 3:27 pm

>37 mstrust: I've already started When Darkness Loves Us and so far, it is a trip.

39mstrust
Dic 31, 2019, 11:18 am


Happy New Year!

40sturlington
Gen 1, 2020, 9:14 am

1. When Darkness Loves Us by Elizabeth Engstrom (4*)

Read for: January ScaredyKIT--1970s/1980s Horror; reissue in Paperbacks from Hell series by Valancourt Books

This is two novellas originally published in 1985. The first one, about a young woman who gets trapped in some tunnels underground, was just wild. The second one, about a woman born disfigured and developmentally disabled, was longer and overall a more psychologically disturbing story. I thought both were great and had some interesting underlying themes about women's lives and how they are treated by the men in their lives.

41RidgewayGirl
Gen 1, 2020, 3:18 pm

I love the vintage posters!

42lkernagh
Gen 2, 2020, 3:40 pm

What a great idea and I love how the posters work so well with your reading theme!

43sturlington
Modificato: Gen 16, 2020, 9:43 am

2. The Reaping by Bernard Taylor (3*)

Read for: January ScaredyKIT--1970s/1980s Horror; reissue in Paperbacks from Hell series by Valancourt Books

I have read Taylor's Sweetheart, Sweetheart, a pretty decent ghost story, so I knew about what to expect from this one: a lot of cheese and probably some embarrassingly written sex. The Reaping delivers on both counts. Most of the novel is a slow burn. A painter receives an overly generous commission for a portrait, but to do the work, he has to stay in an isolated manor in the British countryside where there are weird nuns marching around the grounds, weird manservants lurking around, weird noises in the night, a weird old lady wrapped in scarves... lots of weird stuff going on. Oh yes, and the sex. I enjoyed the build-up, but then the book takes something of a left turn, and when the ending comes, the payoff is just not there. It feels forced and rushed, and when it comes to the big reveal, we just don't care. To find this truly horrific, we have to know more about Ilona: who or what is she, what is she trying to accomplish (besides immortality), what is her cult? So many unanswered questions and missed opportunities. For me, this entry in the Paperbacks from Hell series was a big letdown.

44JayneCM
Gen 8, 2020, 6:18 am

>43 sturlington: That's a bit disappointing for your second book of the year. Let's hope the next one is an improvement!

45sturlington
Gen 8, 2020, 8:51 am

>44 JayneCM: Oh well, at least it was a quick read. Onward!

46sturlington
Gen 16, 2020, 10:04 am

3. The Tribe by Bari Wood (strong 3*)

Read for: January ScaredyKIT--1970s/1980s Horror; reissue in Paperbacks from Hell series by Valancourt Books

A compelling story about a small group of Holocaust survivors living in New York City who create a golem to protect them but it gets out of hand. The character development is good, particularly Rachel, the young widow who determines to go against her beloved father-in-law and stop the golem. This novel had some interesting things to say about the lengths we may go to feel safe after suffering great trauma. Although unfortunately coming off as a bit dated now, this entry in the Paperbacks from Hell series is worth reading for horror aficianados.

47Zozette
Gen 17, 2020, 2:06 am

>46 sturlington: sounds interesting. Over the last year or so I am trying to read some of the book mentioned in Paperbacks from Hell. I hope that more of them are reissued as the prices for some of the out of print books mentioned are quite expensive.

48LisaMorr
Gen 24, 2020, 5:24 pm

I love your set-up with the great posters! I'm looking forward to following along and appreciate your first theme!

I have a few books published by Valancourt press although I don't know if any are from Paperbacks from Hell; I'll have to take a look.

49sturlington
Gen 25, 2020, 8:22 am

>48 LisaMorr: The Valancourt books are great. The Paperbacks from Hell are a smaller size and have the original cover art.

50sturlington
Gen 26, 2020, 8:23 am

4. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (4 1/2*)

January's big book

With The Starless Sea, Morgenstern has written a deeply felt and beautiful paean to story. Every sentence is meticulously crafted to create stunning images. There is a scene in the book that describes a dollhouse sitting in a city crafted of paper and wine bottles on the shores of a confetti sea, each detail of this miniature world lovingly realized. That, in essence, is what this book is, five hundred pages of lovingly realized details constructing a world that is both familiar (at least to constant readers) and absolutely original.

The plot is an adventure and a romance, and probably is not as important as the craft. Interspersed between episodes in the main plot are interludes, fairy tales, and snippets of story that all eventually have bearing on the whole. I actually enjoyed these interludes and their side characters more than the main plot. For me, the characters in the main story seemed like set pieces, and although free will was emphasized, they did behave like pawns in a game. It was not these characters who were important but where they went and what they saw. This is a story about storytelling, and characters in stories do not have free will--only the author (or story sculptor) does.

Never mind about the plot, though. The exquisite writing, the imagery, and the imagined world of the Starless Sea are more than enough to carry this novel, at least for me.

51sturlington
Modificato: Gen 26, 2020, 1:40 pm

I've finished my categories for January, so now it's time to look ahead to February.

My theme for February is Noir Thrillers, and I'm going to start with a book I chose for the ScaredyKIT category of Psychological Thrillers: This Sweet Sickness by Patricia Highsmith.

My big book for February will be Circe by Madeline Miller, which I'm reading for my SF/Fantasy book club. I will also be reading The Testaments by Margaret Atwood for my other book club.

52rabbitprincess
Gen 26, 2020, 9:31 am

>51 sturlington: Sounds like a great month ahead! I loved Circe, and those are some good noir authors on deck!

53dudes22
Gen 26, 2020, 3:04 pm

>50 sturlington: - This was already on my radar. I think I saw a blip in Book Pages, the pamphlet carried by the library each month. And I love the cover.

54sturlington
Modificato: Feb 2, 2020, 4:18 pm

5. This Sweet Sickness by Patricia Highsmith (3*)

Read for: February ScaredyKIT -- Psychological Thrillers

As an author, Patricia Highsmith fascinates me. I have read several of her books, and I haven't really enjoyed many of them (with the exception of The Talented Mr. Ripley) because her characters are so thoroughly unsympathetic. They depict the worst of human behavior. I truly believe Highsmith just hated people.

This Sweet Sickness is no exception. The main character, David, is so completely obsessed with a woman he doesn't really know and who is married to someone else that he has invented a double life in which he is married to her that seems more real to him than his actual life. But when he calls or phones the woman herself, Annabelle, she really doesn't do much to put him off. Maybe she is just being polite, as she says, but she seems to me to be stringing him along (and she's also very quick to get married, in my opinion), and so she does not earn my sympathy as a stalking victim. Likewise, David's only two friends are equally pathetic. Wes is a drunken lech with not a lot going on upstairs, and Effie is so absurdly in love with David that she comes off as nutty as he does. But we spend all our time in David's head, and he becomes rather tedious in his unrelenting, impervious obsession after a time. There is no one here to like or root for or even try to understand, and I have found this to be quite typical of Highsmith's writing.

Compare with In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes, which has a similar antagonist and theme but is populated by women who have personalities, strength of character, and a sense of themselves.

55sturlington
Feb 2, 2020, 4:19 pm

6. Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing by Ursula K. Le Guin with David Naimon (3*)

Read for: This was a Christmas gift and a very quick read.

Nice little book of Le Guin wisdom. I'm not a fan of the interview format usually (especially when the questions are longer than the answers), but Le Guin has so many interesting things to say I didn't mind it here. I also appreciated the excerpts from her writing that accompanied the interviews.

56sturlington
Modificato: Feb 12, 2020, 9:48 am

7. Circe by Madeline Miller (4*)

Read for: SFF Book Club and February SFFKit -- Transformation

The story of Circe, the naiad witch best known for the part she played in The Odyssey but who was tangentially related to many other myths, including Theseus and the Minotaur, Jason and Medea, Daedalus and Icarus, and Scylla and Charybdis. So this novel also functions as a nice overview of Greek myth, yet from a different point of view. Circe's character drives the story, and her evolution from a young person just discovering her powers through to mature and self-reliant woman yet struggling with her immortality serves as its arc. Some of the people she encounters seem too good to be true (Daedalus), but the portrayals of Odysseus and Penelope in particular were very three-dimensional and human. The end surprised me, and I found it both beautiful and powerful.

57sturlington
Feb 10, 2020, 7:31 am

Reading Circe has made me want more myth retellings, so I am going to continue with that theme for February (rather than noir), and I may sneak in some early haunted house reads as well, which is March's ScaredyKIT theme.

58RidgewayGirl
Feb 10, 2020, 8:44 am

Have you read Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls? I very much enjoyed that retelling of the story of the Trojan War.

59sturlington
Feb 10, 2020, 9:34 am

>58 RidgewayGirl: No, but I've seen it around. I will add it to the ever-growing reading list.

60sturlington
Feb 11, 2020, 8:58 am

8. The Twilight Pariah by Jeffrey Ford (4*)

Read: off the shelves (looking forward to next month's ScaredyKIT theme of haunted places)

A group of college kids home for summer vacation drink way too much and investigate long-buried town secrets. This one started out pretty creepy but quickly evolved into more of a Scooby Doo-type adventure. Not deep, but fun. The hanging ending leads me to believe there might be a sequel.

61sturlington
Feb 20, 2020, 9:38 am

9. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (4*)

Read for: real-life book club

I generally distrust sequels, especially those published 35 years later on the heels of a successful television series based on the first book. But Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors, and I'm happy to say that she did not phone this in. It's very different from The Handmaid's Tale, which I think was the best choice. Set mostly in Gilead fifteen years later, it alternates between three points of view: a young girl being raised to be a Wife, another young girl living in Canada, and the infamous Aunt Lydia. How smart Atwood was to allow Lydia to tell her own story, as it humanizes her without watering down her character. She does the right thing, but--depending on your point of view--for the wrong reasons; revenge is what motivates her, and her long con is delicious. The Testaments takes a broader view of Atwood's imagined dystopia, showing us both how Gilead came to be and how it came to fall. While there were lots of parts that made me feel sick and angry--mostly because Atwood makes me believe this could really happen--this book also made me feel hope. And I appreciate that.

62RidgewayGirl
Feb 21, 2020, 5:05 pm

>61 sturlington: Yes, that hopeful note to The Testaments was so necessary!

63sturlington
Modificato: Feb 28, 2020, 9:21 am

10. The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan (3*)

Read: off the shelves (looking forward to next month's ScaredyKIT theme of haunted places)

In many ways, this is an old-fashioned horror story drawing heavily on the traditions of the New England gothic established by Poe, Lovecraft, Hawthorne, and Shirley Jackson, as well as folklore and Native American storytelling traditions. The allusions are thick and heavy, and will keep anyone who's interested in following them up busy for a long while. The main character, Sarah, is a writer who can't write, renting a very spooky and inhospitable-sounding house for the summer, where she discovers an unfinished manuscript in the basement by the previous tenant who hanged himself, about a sinister-looking tree out back and the strange happenings connected to it. It's quite a rabbit hole to fall down (and yes, there are plenty of Alice references too).

Sarah is grieving her ex-girlfriend Amanda's recent suicide, which is probably why she can't write. She begins keeping a journal about her research into the manuscript and the tree. After a while, another tenant moves into the house, a beautiful younger painter named Constance who takes the attic room. Constance seems to exist solely to remind Sarah of things she'd rather not think about. And here I'm going to get very spoiler-y, so maybe stop reading now if you haven't read the book yet.

It is clear, at least to me, early on that Constance does not exist. Sarah has a lot of issues: she has seizures, she has periods of missing time, she drinks, and Constance simply does not make sense as a person. She is a stand-in for Sarah's dead ex and the guilt Sarah feels about it. Based on the way Sarah reacts to Constance, it is my strong sense that Sarah was an abusive partner to Amanda. This is just a supposition I'm making, but it feels right to me, and even though I liked Sarah's narrative voice, I couldn't empathize with the character very much as a result.

The story itself is often vague and sometimes feels overstuffed. The tree itself does not seem that frightening to me. However, that basement is genuinely disturbing, and the two scenes set there were the two creepiest parts of the book. I am usually not fond of the whole found manuscript story-within-a-story trope, but I think it rather worked here, although it was sometimes hard to keep track of which spooky story was which. For me, the most effective piece of writing was Sarah's short story inserted into the middle of the novel, "Pony," which was bizarre as hell but very affecting, and shed a lot of light on Sarah and Amanda's relationship. All in all, this is a hodgepodge: good writing throughout, a thorough knowledge of the gothic tradition on display, a couple of truly creepy parts, an entirely expected ambiguous ending, and yet a sense of dissatisfaction--really, that's it? After all that?

64sturlington
Feb 28, 2020, 9:31 am

Looks like we are almost to March, and I'm not really in a planning mood, so I'm just going to continue on some themes I started in February:

Myths retold: I'm still reading Wake, Siren, which I'm enjoying but can only be read in short bursts.

Haunted places: This is the ScaredyKIT theme next month and one of my favorite kinds of stories. I also might continue with the Lovecraftian-style horror, which just seems unavoidable.

65mstrust
Feb 28, 2020, 3:38 pm

>63 sturlington: Thumbs up on that review!
I've started my March haunted places read, Twelve Nights at Rotter House.

66sturlington
Mar 9, 2020, 2:37 pm

11. This House is Haunted by John Boyne (3.5*)

Read for: ScaredyKIT's March theme of Haunted Places

An homage to the Victorian ghost story, especially The Turn of the Screw. Boyne runs with the classic tropes of a governess arriving at her mysterious place of employment, a ramshackle country estate, where she encounters two sometimes creepy children and many secrets to be uncovered. There's even a hint of romance as well as many other gothic elements I won't mention to avoid spoilers (but you'll certainly be reminded of Jane Eyre and Rebecca as well). I think this novel would make a good movie, especially the climactic scenes. While I found this short little yarn to be entertaining, I don't think Boyne was doing anything particularly new with the form. Still, I'm always in the mood for a ghost story.

67sturlington
Mar 14, 2020, 9:00 am

12. All Systems Red by Martha Wells (3*)

Read for: SFFKit's March series theme

I didn't think this lived up to the prehype. Perhaps it was because all of the human characters weren't fleshed out and seemed interchangeable. Or because I never got a good sense of the planet they were on. Or because I never fully felt invested in the plot or worried about the danger. The Murderbot's voice is fun and flippant, but that seems just a device, not really a character. Why does the Murderbot have a personality at all? What are the rules, and where does its autonomy come from? Normally, I like short novels, but I think this one needed a lot, lot more world-building and character development for me to really connect with the story.

68sturlington
Mar 22, 2020, 9:34 am

13. The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher (3.5*)

Read for: ScaredyKIT's March haunted places theme

The setup for this horror story is that Mouse returns to the home of her detestable but now dead grandmother in rural North Carolina to clean out her house--her grandmother was a hoarder. She finds her step-grandfather's diary and a manuscript he wrote about a missing book and mysterious white people in the woods. The story starts out very strong: Mouse's voice is engaging, she has a cute dog (maybe a little too cute?), and a couple of very creepy things happen. But things get progressively weirder and less scary as Mouse gets closer to the mystery of the White People. This story is of course inspired by Arthur Machen's "The White People," and I am not a fan of Machen anyway. I think Kingfisher did a good job reinterpreting him and Lovecraft's response to him, but she can only do so much when the material she is working with is already batshit crazy. Good setting, good monsters, good creep factor, but a bit too much in the end.

69sturlington
Mar 22, 2020, 9:38 am

I think my theme for April will have to be Reading Books Off the Shelf since we're basically stuck at home for who knows how long. I hope it won't be the whole month, but who can say at this point? I will try to find books on the shelf that fit the ScaredyKIT theme (Paranormal) and the SFFKit theme (Time Travel).

70Zozette
Mar 26, 2020, 4:23 am

>67 sturlington:. I think you summed up what we’re also my feelings concerning All Systems Red. I thought it was overhype and never felt the urge to read any more in the series.

71sturlington
Mar 26, 2020, 7:27 am

>70 Zozette: I'm glad it wasn't just me.

72sturlington
Mar 31, 2020, 8:00 am

14. The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown (4*)

An interesting work of historical fiction set during the time of the witch hunts in 17th-century England, with only ambiguous hints of the paranormal. The witchfinder of the title is a deeply disturbed man, literally and figuratively scarred, who enacts his long-ingrown hatred of women on the innocent women of nearby villages and, ultimately, on his own sister. Another historical story that makes plain how very few choices women had and how easy it was to destroy them. I admired Alice, the sister, and the resolution that carried her through the trauma she endured, even if her narrative voice was somewhat dry.

73sturlington
Mar 31, 2020, 8:02 am

Well, it is almost April, and my theme for next month shall be "Off the Shelves" since the library is closed, and I, like many of you, am stuck at home for the duration. I hope I'll get a lot of reading done and whittle down that TBR.

74rabbitprincess
Mar 31, 2020, 5:52 pm

>73 sturlington: It's funny, I managed to get a fair number of books from the library before it closed, but I've been totally ignoring them in favour of my own books.

75sturlington
Mar 31, 2020, 7:36 pm

>74 rabbitprincess: Isn't that the flip of what usually happens? :-)

76JayneCM
Apr 1, 2020, 1:08 am

>72 sturlington: Taking a BB for that one!

>74 rabbitprincess: I have been doing the same! I think it is because I know the library books are not due back any time soon, so I can spread them out a bit. The due dates have all been extended to 1st June.

77rabbitprincess
Apr 1, 2020, 6:04 pm

>75 sturlington: It totally is!

>76 JayneCM: Wow, 1 June?! Right now the books I have out are due back starting on 8 April, but I think they're going to have to be extended :-/

78dudes22
Apr 1, 2020, 6:27 pm

Our library deadline is 1 May right now.

79RidgewayGirl
Apr 1, 2020, 7:00 pm

My library keeps changing the due date. Now it's April 24th. We'll see if that's extended.

80sturlington
Apr 1, 2020, 7:28 pm

>79 RidgewayGirl: Just like everything else right now, nobody knows.

81sturlington
Apr 11, 2020, 8:15 am

15. Version Control by Dexter Palmer (4.5*)

Read for SFF Kit: April theme -- Time Travel

Palmer has taken the old time travel trope and done something completely different with it. The result is an absorbing story that is also about marriage, optimism, choice, and possibility. The time machine here is a physics experiment called the causality violation device, which in theory is connected to the past by a sort of wormhole. However, all of the experiments performed on it have failed. After experiencing a couple of tragedies in her life, the head physicist's wife, Rebecca, steps into the machine, and that's when things change. Yet, because of the nature of time travel, no none--including Rebecca--may realize that they are not living in the correct present.

82sturlington
Apr 22, 2020, 8:30 am

16. In the Night Wood by Dale Bailey (2*)

Read for ScaredyKIT: April theme - Paranormal

I had mixed feelings about In the Night Wood. For one thing, it's a gorgeous cover. I also really dug the setting: the crumbling house surrounded by a wall barely holding back a primeval wood. I liked the connection to fairy tales and the fey, the sense of something incredibly ancient barely glimpsed. However... the main characters are an estranged married couple, Erin and Charles, whose young daughter died a year before on her birthday. They have moved into Erin's ancestor's house in England to get away from the tragedy and for Charles to conduct research on the ancestor, since he lost his job by having an affair with his fellow professor. It's a lot for them, and it's a lot for us readers. Added on to that is that the primary POV character, Charles, is pretty much a shitheel. He's already had one adulterous affair, but his goofy grade-school-crush on the woman he's collaborating on the research with actually made me hate him. As the story goes along, Charles discovers an ancient curse/pact involving child sacrifice with the Horned King who inhabits the wood inside the wood. The plot is slow, consisting as it mostly does of research and Erin's slow disintegration because her husband is completely abandoning her, and the writing tends to get more than a little overblown. I think this is a novel that had great potential but laid it on a bit too thick and needed more character work. I wanted to rate it higher for the beautiful cover alone, but in all honesty, I can't.

83sturlington
Apr 22, 2020, 8:31 am

Anybody else having trouble focusing on reading? I thought I would get a ton of books read this month in lockdown, and I've only read two. Ah, anxiety.

84lkernagh
Apr 22, 2020, 1:59 pm

>83 sturlington: - I had a terrible time reading last month (too busy focused on the news), but I have now managed to settle into less news watching and more reading. The big change for me has been my weekend routines which now involve a lot more time for things like reading. Pre-pandemic, half of my weekend was typically spent running errands and shopping.... not any more.

85clue
Apr 22, 2020, 2:46 pm

I've definitely had trouble reading. After a couple of weeks putting book after book down I went through my TBR, both shelf and Kindle, and made a list of smaller books with a simple plot. That has worked better, I've read 4 this month and I'm halfway through another one. I may not participate in all of the CATS as I usually do, I'm not intentionally trying to read for them now but I'm enjoying what I'm reading more and getting TBR read.

I've also limited my news viewing and my time on the computer. I can get out in my yard and piddle and I can always find something in the house (or garage) that needs doing and activity seems to be better for me than sitting.

86dudes22
Apr 22, 2020, 6:23 pm

I've been having trouble also. I keep feeling like there's so much I should be doing while I'm inside so I can't settle on anything.

87thornton37814
Apr 23, 2020, 8:33 am

>83 sturlington: I'm way behind on my reading, and I may not finish all my challenges. Still hoping to do so. I am keeping up with my daily devotional reading--Bible reading according to a plan, daily devotional book, and a chapter or so from another book. The current book in that "other" rotation is Augustine's Confessions, which I read in 2017, but I'm reading a different translation this time. I am listening to the Donna Leon for the group read, but I keep forgetting to turn it on because I'm not used to listening while I work. I'm also reading the Viveca Sten for the group read right now. If I can get to the true crime and travel books, I'll be happy. I just don't know if I can finish them all this month. Those are the ones remaining for the CAT/KIT challenges. I haven't even looked to see if anything fits my BINGO card.

88mstrust
Apr 23, 2020, 5:05 pm

I've just finished my first book in over a week, but it's because I'm doing so much other stuff. Yardwork, a little redecorating in the living room, lots of cooking and working on my own writing. I've also watched three movies in one week, which is unusual for me.

89sturlington
Mag 5, 2020, 11:00 am

We are now in May, and my theme of "off the shelves" continues for the foreseeable future.

90sturlington
Mag 5, 2020, 11:02 am

17. Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver (4*)

Read for ScaredyKIT: May theme -- Occult

An old-fashioned gothic tale set in the early 1900s in an ivy-shrouded English manor at the edge of a wild, marshy fen, Wakenhyrst centers on Edmund Stearne and his teenage daughter Maud. The framing device reveals that Stearne was committed to an insane asylum and after his death his grotesque paintings of demons became famous, bringing unwanted media attention to the reclusive, now-elderly Maud; this is how her story comes to light. After her mother dies in childbirth under horrific circumstances, teenage Maud becomes de facto mistress of the house and secretary to her father, a medieval historian. Stearne is obsessed with the story of Alice Pyett, a 16th-century resident of the area who thought she had visions of Jesus and who was believed might be possessed by demons. When Stearne discovers a medieval painting called the Doom in the local churchyard, his obsession grows, and he begins to believe there are demons invading his house from the fen. Maud, who is growing independent and rebellious, discovers through reading her father's journals and her own investigation a secret her father has been hiding since boyhood and gradually unravels her father's madness. Wakenhyrst is a slow-moving but highly atmospheric gothic story that is also a coming-of-age story, an absorbing character study, and a love letter to wild and untouched places that may or may not harbor ghosts. It was a slow read, but I very much enjoyed it.

91sturlington
Giu 1, 2020, 9:47 am

18. Crota by Owl Goingback (3*)

Read for ScaredyKIT: June theme -- Cryptids

I had heard about this book for a while, which was originally published in the 1990s. My overall impression was that it was adequate but not particularly gripping horror. The story is about an ancient creature of evil called the Crota, which had been trapped underground but was released by an earthquake and went on a killing spree. There is a lot of gore and Native American mysticism, based on the author's native heritage. While I liked the premise, I found the story overall to be flat and the characters to lack depth. I never got invested in the characters' outcome or felt really scared by the Crota.

92Zozette
Giu 6, 2020, 10:18 pm

>91 sturlington: my favourite sub genre of horror is killer creatures. However I admit that few of them come close to being great works of literature. As Crota is available on Scribd and will not cost me anything beyond my subscription I have put it onto my very long saved list and I might get to it one day.

93sturlington
Giu 8, 2020, 10:31 am

>92 Zozette: I am reading a better one now. It is called The Spirit by Thomas Page. Almost done, review forthcoming. You may also want to add that to your reading list. :-)

94sturlington
Modificato: Giu 25, 2020, 12:09 pm

The Spirit by Thomas Page (4*)

Read for ScaredyKIT June theme -- Cryptids

This is a book about Bigfoot. I enjoyed it a lot. The Bigfoot creatures themselves are treated as actual creatures, but people's responses to discovering them are complex and illuminating. There is also some suspense and horror. This book delivers.

95sturlington
Giu 25, 2020, 12:09 pm

The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore (4*)

Read for: Selection from ALA Reading List that I happened to have on my shelves

This was an interesting story about the lawsuits between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, as told from the point of view of Westinghouse's young and ambitious lawyer, Paul Cravath, also an historic figure and innovator of the modern law firm. Although I felt the story was an absorbing one with some interesting history to it, the writing seemed a bit academic at times, short on in-depth characterization and emotion that a novel needs. This felt somewhere between fiction and narrative nonfiction. The chapters were also short, and I found their titles and all the quotes that opened each chapter to be a bit distracting. This edged into four-star territory by virtue of the overall interest factor, though.

96sturlington
Lug 7, 2020, 11:31 am

Laura by Vera Caspary (4*)

Read for: ScaredyKIT July 2020 theme: Femmes Fatales

If you are familiar with the film version of this novel, then you know the story. The film is pretty faithful, although the afterword of the Femmes Fatales publication provides an interesting account of how the author disagreed with the director on certain decisions he made. What interested me in reading this was the insight into Laura's character, particularly found in the section that is written in her voice, which was the best part of the novel, in my opinion. She is not a femme fatale as we may think of that stereotype, but rather a woman who believes in independence as achieved through work, and a woman who can take a frank look at herself and see her own flaws and mistakes, but also who knows what she wants from life and doesn't apologize for it. Her character was more in-depth and multilayered than I was expecting, and it elevates this novel above mere pulp noir.

97christina_reads
Lug 8, 2020, 10:43 am

>96 sturlington: Love the book and the movie!

98Zozette
Modificato: Lug 15, 2020, 4:35 am

>94 sturlington: I have now pencilled in The Spirit To read next year as I will most likely have a Paperbacks from Hell category. Trashy horror is such fun to read.

99sturlington
Lug 23, 2020, 10:08 am

I'm about to post a bad review of a story that may be beloved to some of you--fair warning, and feel free to skip it!

Now, Voyager by Olive Higgins Prouty (2*)

Read for: ScaredyKIT July 2020 theme: Femmes Fatales (although it doesn't really fit the theme)

Honestly, I didn't care for this story. I don't think I've seen the movie--or it's been so long ago I forgot it--but of course I recognized that famous last line. And that sums up my issues with it. I know this is supposed to be a story of transformation and of a woman making her own life for herself, but transformation doesn't seem so challenging when you've got tons of money, and I still felt that in the end, Charlotte had constructed her life around a man--a man she couldn't have. We have the stars--be happy with that! Hopeless love, isn't it romantic? No, it's not; it's depressing. I didn't like how the betrayed wife was portrayed: so one-dimensional and unattractive in every possible aspect that she didn't seem real but rather a construct to make us more sympathetic to her adulterous husband. Finally, Charlotte taking in her lover's youngest child didn't bother me so much as her belief that the child was actually hers and her lover's--that seems more than a little pathological to me. I'm surprised this is part of the Femmes Fatales series as it doesn't read like pulp to me at all.

100sturlington
Ago 4, 2020, 3:59 pm

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (4*)

Read for: ScaredyKIT August 2020 theme: Serial Killers

Not deep or challenging, but entertaining. If you are familiar with the show, you know the story. Dexter is a serial killer with a moral code: he only kills other serial killers. He is helping his sister, a cop, track down one such and discovers his own origin story. I thought this had a sense of humor and a good pace. I was not surprised by the twists since I've already seen the series, so I can't comment on that. I thought the characterization, except Dexter himself, was very thin, though, and the portrayals of the women were especially shallow. Although since this is first-person narrative, it's hard to tell whether that's lazy writing or just Dexter's filter.

101dudes22
Ago 5, 2020, 6:10 am

>100 sturlington: - I've had this on my TBR for a while. (Along with a second ? one). We started to watch the series but only made it through a few before we decided that maybe it wasn't for us. So I'm still debating whether to read the book or not. I'll probably give it a try at some point.

102sturlington
Ago 5, 2020, 7:54 am

>101 dudes22: It's fairly short, so it's not much of an investment if you don't like it. I think the tone of the book and the show are pretty close.

103dudes22
Ago 5, 2020, 8:04 am

>102 sturlington: - Well I didn't love the show nor did I hate it. I think it just seemed repetitious.

104sturlington
Ago 5, 2020, 8:16 am

>102 sturlington: I'm going to hazard a guess that this will not be a book you will warm to. It could also safely be called repetitious. I haven't been focusing too well lately, so I found it easy to read and not too challenging, which was what I needed at this point.

105Zozette
Ago 9, 2020, 3:30 am

>91 sturlington: I read Crota and I think I enjoyed it a little more than you did.

106sturlington
Ago 9, 2020, 10:40 am

>105 Zozette: I'm glad you did!

107sturlington
Set 8, 2020, 11:38 am

The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell (4*)

Read for: ScaredyKIT 2020 September theme: International Horror

There's quite a lot going on in this book. It draws on a wide number of familiar horror tropes. On the eve of world war, a serial killer who seems to be emulating Jack the Ripper is terrorizing Prague. A young psychoanalyst has taken a position at a remote asylum in the Czech countryside where the country's most notorious serial killers are all housed to test his theory of psychosis that he calls the "devil aspect." The asylum itself is as gothic as it can be as it is housed in an old castle that itself is built on top of a network of tunnels in the mountain and the site of a legendary evil. Of course, these two story lines are brought together and of course there is a twist at the end. I thought this was quite entertaining, even if it did have a sense of "everything but the kitchen sink" being thrown in, and like many modern novels, it seems a tad overlong. I wouldn't look to this novel for anything particularly innovative or new, but if you enjoy sinking your teeth into highly gothic horror with a lot of madness and storms and talk of evil, this will be a good read for you.

108sturlington
Modificato: Set 24, 2020, 8:39 am

Basic Black with Pearls by Helen Weinzweig (3*)

Well, I did read this. I didn't have much of a reaction to it--not even enough to write a real review. Wrong book at wrong time, or perhaps I am just struggling in general with reading right now. I don't seem to have a lot of focus. In any event, this book did not speak to me, I'm sorry to say.

109EdwardMcLean
Set 24, 2020, 9:02 am

Questo utente è stato eliminato perché considerato spam.

110sturlington
Ott 20, 2020, 11:04 am

Ghostly: A Collection of Ghost Stories edited by Audrey Niffenegger (4*)

Read for: ScaredyKIT 2020 October theme: Halloween

As with most collections of this sort, some of the stories I had read before and some were new to me. There is a mix of classics and contemporary, and I had previously read many of the classics, or at least they seemed familiar, so I enjoyed the contemporary stories more. Standouts were the stories by Audrey Niffenegger ("Secret Life, with Cats"), Kelly Link ("The Specialist's Hat"), Neil Gaiman ("Click-Clack the Rattlebag," a reread), and Rebecca Curtis ("The Pink House"). Of the classics, Ray Bradbury's story ("August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains") is still a beautiful read, and P. G. Wodehouse's story ("The Honeysuckle Cottage"), while dated, was hilarious. There really isn't a bad story in this collection, although I keep wishing that new anthologies wouldn't have so many repeats. Niffenegger's wonderful illustrations that precede each story make this a beautiful book to own.

111This-n-That
Ott 23, 2020, 6:26 pm

>110 sturlington: This sounds like a good collection of stories. I love "Click-Clack the Rattlebag" and enjoyed listening to Gaiman read it via a YouTube video.

112sturlington
Ott 25, 2020, 1:59 pm

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh (4*)

Read for: real-life book club

My reading has been way down this year. If you're in a reading slump, I think this book will help. And if you are feeling lonely and isolated, it will help you feel less alone in that. The last story, "Friend," really got me where I live. The two "Pile Dog" stories and "The Ugly Duckling 2" were hilarious, but I enjoyed the whole book.

113rabbitprincess
Ott 25, 2020, 3:09 pm

>112 sturlington: This is a must-buy for me! Or a must-ask-for-for-Christmas.

114sturlington
Ott 26, 2020, 11:15 am

>113 rabbitprincess: It's a gorgeous book. Would make a very nice Christmas present.

115RidgewayGirl
Ott 26, 2020, 1:49 pm

>112 sturlington: I was so thrilled to discover that this had finally been published as I loved both the Hyperbole and a Half website and the book by the same name.

116sturlington
Nov 5, 2020, 7:06 am

If It Bleeds by Stephen King (2*)

Read for: ScaredyKIT November theme - Stephen King and family

I thought this latest collection of novellas from King was just meh. Nothing truly awful, but nothing really stood out for me either. If I'm being honest, the collection feels rushed. It feels like an early draft that King didn't take the time to hone before pushing out to publication.

The best story was the title one, which featured Holly Gibney from the Mr. Mercedes books and The Outsider. While the plot was similar to The Outsider, it was an interesting idea and had a lot of suspense. But again, it felt rushed. I think that one had the potential to become a full novel, if King had wanted to develop the ideas and themes more and spend more time making the monster in this one distinct from the on in The Outsider. A novel featuring Holly would have been a good thing. I would have loved to see her character developed more and changing.

Overall, this collection was a disappointment for me, but the previous few King books have been great. You've got to expect a dud every once in a while.

117Zozette
Nov 11, 2020, 1:52 pm

Holly Gibney is one of my favourite King characters.

118mathgirl40
Nov 15, 2020, 5:58 pm

>116 sturlington: I've liked all the King novels I've read so far, but I've heard that there are some duds in the collection. I picked up Rose Madder from a Little Library a little while ago, but when I saw a review ranking it 64th out of 64 of his books, I decided to replace it unread.

119RidgewayGirl
Nov 16, 2020, 12:15 pm

>118 mathgirl40: I remember liking Rose Madder, but I did read it years ago. I like his mammoth books the least, and those are the most popular so I clearly do not have my finger on the pulse of Stephen King's fandom.

120sturlington
Nov 16, 2020, 6:18 pm

>118 mathgirl40: I have read all of his books, and Rose Madder is just meh for me, but I wouldn't put at the bottom, by any means. There are definitely some I hate (*cough* Dreamcatcher), and I think after his accident, he went through a period where his books just weren't very good. But I have highly enjoyed his more recent releases until this last collection, and as I said, my main beef with it is that it just felt rushed. Of course, when you put out a book or two every year, they can't all be great!

>119 RidgewayGirl: You might enjoy Elevation, if you haven't already read it. It is a very slim book, and I thought it was very moving. It is not horror.

121mathgirl40
Nov 17, 2020, 9:15 pm

>119 RidgewayGirl: >120 sturlington: Good to know that Rose Madder is not as terrible as that reviewer had suggested. Maybe I will get to that one day, but there are a lot of other King books I'd like to read first.

122sturlington
Nov 22, 2020, 8:01 am

The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley (4*)

Beautifully written, this novel is suffused with gothic atmosphere. It is set in the 1970s on the sea in England, in a place called the Loney, which is constantly shifting as the tides come in and go out, so it seems both ephemeral and menacing, as the place you are standing could shift under your feet. There are two houses, both very old and incredibly creepy. In one house, a group of Catholic pilgrims are staying, three couples and a priest there for Lent and to visit the local shrine. One couple has two sons, the narrator and his older brother, who is mute and mentally disabled; the parents hope to cure him at the shrine. The other house is across the Loney, sometimes cut off, where the two boys encounter a strange couple and a young pregnant girl. The villagers are acting odd and threatening, weird things are found in the woods, the woods themselves are changing in ways they shouldn't. What is happening here? We are not to really know, not fully.

The setting is so well drawn that it suffuses the reader. The characters are equally compelling, as we are gradually drawn into their history and their quest at the Loney. This is a slow burn altogether, and while reading it is a pleasure, the payoff is not all that satisfying. The book has a lot to say about faith and the powers at work in the world, but much of what it has to say is vague, and the reader must make their own way without a lot of landmarks to guide them. What happens at the end, and why, is left very ambiguous--frustratingly so, in my opinion. But we do see the effects of that Easter visit on the two boys when they are grown, especially what has happened to their faith, and I think that is rather the point.

Despite these drawbacks, the book is well worth a read just for the strength of its writing. This is the author's first book, and I will be looking for more from him.

123sturlington
Nov 28, 2020, 9:35 am

Dreams Before the Start of Time by Anne Chanock (3*)

An odd book--not a novel, but not short stories either; rather, a collection of vignettes moving forward 100 years into the future, loosely interconnected by character and the theme of pregnancy. The stories begin with the pregnancies of two friends, Millie and Toni, and returns to touch on their lives and their families, while also taking detours into the lives of other people connected to them. The technology of pregnancy and childbirth evolves throughout, as does attitudes toward having children, and I suppose that is the main theme of the book, but what I enjoyed was the quiet, subtle writing that was more character study than anything else. There wasn't much plot to speak of, and many stories were left unresolved, just a moment in time and then the book moves on. While I found the technology fairly believable--not just pregnancy-related but also everyday technology--I would imagine that tech would be much less recognizable 100 years a now, especially when thinking back on what the world was like 100 years ago. And I found the complete omission of climate change--even just a side note about how it had been mitigated--took away from the believability. Overall, though, I think this was well-written if lacking some imagination.

124sturlington
Dic 17, 2020, 7:22 am

The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle (4*)

An old-fashioned ghost story originally published in 1942, The Uninivited for me was not particularly scary, but rather strangely charming. It was quite talky--no surprise that the narrator is a playwright--and I could easily imagine the spirited, oh-so-British young people at the center of the story. The setting of an abandoned house on a cliff overlooking the sea with its maze of rooms and windswept garden comes alive wonderfully through Macardle's prose. I have not seen the movie, but it's obvious how well this book would translate to film.

125sturlington
Dic 17, 2020, 7:39 am

Looking back over the year, I see I read a lot less than I usually do. I was expecting to read a lot more, having been in lockdown for most of the year, but I think the stress of the pandemic and American politics trashed my ability to focus. I have faith that next year will be better.

I chose the five most memorable reads for this year, the ones that still stand out in my mind. They were:
1. Version Control by Dexter Palmer
2. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
3. Circe by Madeline Miller
4. Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh
5. Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver

126dudes22
Dic 17, 2020, 10:15 am

>125 sturlington: - I have Circe on my horizon for next year. Most reviews I've seen have been positive and I'm looking forward to getting to it.

127mstrust
Dic 17, 2020, 12:00 pm

>124 sturlington: I've seen the movie (very good) but didn't know it was a book first. WL!
I thought I would read much more than usual this year but came in right about my usual.

128DeltaQueen50
Modificato: Dic 17, 2020, 1:06 pm

>124 sturlington: I think I rated this book so highly because of my love for the film. If you ever get a chance to see it, it's a good one with Ray Milland in the lead and Ruth Hussey as his sister.

>125 sturlington: I love Michelle Paver's ghost stories! Unfortunately Wakenhurst doesn't seem to be available for the Kindle here in Canada so I will have try and find it elsewhere.

129sturlington
Dic 17, 2020, 3:46 pm

>128 DeltaQueen50: I'm definitely going to look for the movie now.

130sturlington
Modificato: Dic 17, 2020, 4:17 pm

Here is the traditional end-of-year meme with the answers all being titles of books I've read this past year.

Describe yourself: Basic Black with Pearls

Describe how you feel: All Systems Red

Describe where you currently live: This House Is Haunted

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: The Starless Sea

Your favorite form of transportation is: The Spirit

Your favorite food is: In the Night Wood

Your favorite time of day is: The Twilight Pariah

Your best friend is: The Witchfinder's Sister

You and your friends are: The Twisted Ones

What’s the weather like: The Last Days of Night

You fear: The Devil Aspect

What is the best advice you have to give: Now, Voyager

Thought for the day: Version Control

What is life for you: Dreams Before the Start of Time

How you would like to die: This Sweet Sickness

Your soul’s present condition: Ghostly

What was 2020 like for you? The Uninvited

What do you want from 2021? Solutions and Other Problems

131christina_reads
Modificato: Dic 17, 2020, 6:03 pm

>130 sturlington: I LOLed at The Uninvited. So true for 2020!

132sturlington
Dic 18, 2020, 7:17 am

>131 christina_reads: Right? Go back from whence you came, 2020!

133DeltaQueen50
Dic 18, 2020, 1:33 pm

You had some great meme titles!