Reading Challenge
Tara was asking me to update everyone on what I've been reading this year, so here we go.
What I've read so far this year (in order):
1. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This is a great memoir, I recommend it. It's sad, but also very well-written. This gal had a rough upbringing and parts of it are heart-wrenching, fascinating and beautiful.
2. The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevedo. This guy writes a great action/mystery novel. His main character is an Iraq war veteran who was turned into a vampire. It's very modern and funny, and doesn't make me feel too creeped out by being someone who's reading a vampire book.
3. Point of Impact (The Mark Wahlburg movie "Shooter" was based on this book) by Stephen Hunter. Much, much, much better than the movie. Follows a Vietnam War sniper who gets duped by the CIA. Lots of action, intrigue, mystery, suspense - just an overall good read.
4. Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. A nice non-law-related fiction novel from Grisham. It tells the story of a washed up football player (who blew a Super Bowl for the Browns) who gets a second chance to be a football hero in Italy. Easy to read and pretty entertaining, I enjoyed it.
5. Serpico by Peter Maas. The great true story cop novel. Got a bit slow in the middle, but the story overall was very interesting and had some good action.
6. X-Rated Bloodsuckers by Mario Acevedo. The second novel in the series, almost as good as the first one (#2 on my list).
7. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Despite Frey being forced to admit that he made up and embellished a lot in this story of his drug rehab, it was still really good. The writing style is jarring, but I think it helps tell his story. I just really enjoyed it and it opened my eyes to a lot about drug rehab.
8. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Oh god creepy. I stayed up very late two nights in a row to finish this sucker. It's really, really good. The writing is amazing and dark, almost haunting. It's about a father and son walking a road to who-knows-where in a post-apocalyptic world.
Two books that I just started trying to read but could not get past page 30:
-Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore and Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. I thought I would like the Moore novel because I loved his book Lamb, which was all about Jesus' childhood pal Biff. I was wrong - this book was trying way too hard to be Moore's style of quirky and silly.
As for the Palahniuk book, I like most of his books (Choke, Survivor, Fight Club and Invisible Monsters are all awesome), but this was was also trying too hard to be edgy like his other books. The writing style had real potential - it was about the life of a guy who was now dead, all told through interviews with his friends, family, acquaintances and more. The story was just too lame, though.
I am currently reading three books:
Powder Burn by Carl Hiaasen, A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf by John Muir, and the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu.
The Hiaasen book is really good. I was worried it would seem dated because it was written in 1981, but it's not. It's all about this regular guy in Miami who gets caught up in the crossfire of the cocaine dealing world.
The Muir book is because of where I work, and it's pretty good. I could stand to be without his racist descriptions of black people he encounters, though.
The Tao te Ching I'm reading because James Frey alluded to it frequently in his book A Million Little Pieces. He reprinted some of its sayings and I found them quite intriguing. Of course, the religion of Taoism is based on this book, too. In any case, it's all very thought-provoking and paradoxical. I think I will soon start occasionally putting some of the sayings on here along with my thoughts on them. It's just really interesting.
This is not the first time I've read one book because it was referenced in another. I also read The Way of a Pilgrim (which is very interesting) a few years because it was frequently alluded to in Salinger's book Franny and Zooey.
So yeah, I'm already blowing away last year's number of books read by March 7, meaning I'm well on my way to beating last year's grand total of 46. Anyone else reading anything good?
Tara was asking me to update everyone on what I've been reading this year, so here we go.
What I've read so far this year (in order):
1. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This is a great memoir, I recommend it. It's sad, but also very well-written. This gal had a rough upbringing and parts of it are heart-wrenching, fascinating and beautiful.
2. The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevedo. This guy writes a great action/mystery novel. His main character is an Iraq war veteran who was turned into a vampire. It's very modern and funny, and doesn't make me feel too creeped out by being someone who's reading a vampire book.
3. Point of Impact (The Mark Wahlburg movie "Shooter" was based on this book) by Stephen Hunter. Much, much, much better than the movie. Follows a Vietnam War sniper who gets duped by the CIA. Lots of action, intrigue, mystery, suspense - just an overall good read.
4. Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. A nice non-law-related fiction novel from Grisham. It tells the story of a washed up football player (who blew a Super Bowl for the Browns) who gets a second chance to be a football hero in Italy. Easy to read and pretty entertaining, I enjoyed it.
5. Serpico by Peter Maas. The great true story cop novel. Got a bit slow in the middle, but the story overall was very interesting and had some good action.
6. X-Rated Bloodsuckers by Mario Acevedo. The second novel in the series, almost as good as the first one (#2 on my list).
7. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Despite Frey being forced to admit that he made up and embellished a lot in this story of his drug rehab, it was still really good. The writing style is jarring, but I think it helps tell his story. I just really enjoyed it and it opened my eyes to a lot about drug rehab.
8. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Oh god creepy. I stayed up very late two nights in a row to finish this sucker. It's really, really good. The writing is amazing and dark, almost haunting. It's about a father and son walking a road to who-knows-where in a post-apocalyptic world.
Two books that I just started trying to read but could not get past page 30:
-Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore and Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. I thought I would like the Moore novel because I loved his book Lamb, which was all about Jesus' childhood pal Biff. I was wrong - this book was trying way too hard to be Moore's style of quirky and silly.
As for the Palahniuk book, I like most of his books (Choke, Survivor, Fight Club and Invisible Monsters are all awesome), but this was was also trying too hard to be edgy like his other books. The writing style had real potential - it was about the life of a guy who was now dead, all told through interviews with his friends, family, acquaintances and more. The story was just too lame, though.
I am currently reading three books:
Powder Burn by Carl Hiaasen, A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf by John Muir, and the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu.
The Hiaasen book is really good. I was worried it would seem dated because it was written in 1981, but it's not. It's all about this regular guy in Miami who gets caught up in the crossfire of the cocaine dealing world.
The Muir book is because of where I work, and it's pretty good. I could stand to be without his racist descriptions of black people he encounters, though.
The Tao te Ching I'm reading because James Frey alluded to it frequently in his book A Million Little Pieces. He reprinted some of its sayings and I found them quite intriguing. Of course, the religion of Taoism is based on this book, too. In any case, it's all very thought-provoking and paradoxical. I think I will soon start occasionally putting some of the sayings on here along with my thoughts on them. It's just really interesting.
This is not the first time I've read one book because it was referenced in another. I also read The Way of a Pilgrim (which is very interesting) a few years because it was frequently alluded to in Salinger's book Franny and Zooey.
So yeah, I'm already blowing away last year's number of books read by March 7, meaning I'm well on my way to beating last year's grand total of 46. Anyone else reading anything good?
posted by H at
1:21 PM
1 Comments:
wow. you are definitely kicking my butt. I started reading "Beast of No Nation," which is told from the pov of a child soldier in an unnamed African country. It was just kinda too sad to get through. I am almost done with "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson, which if you've never read, you'd probably like. Fun story about two middle aged out-of-shape men trying to hike the AT, but there's a lot of natural history and American history thrown in too.
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