Books 2021 Reading Challenge

[Janp]

I meant to write this few months ago, but there were some factors this year so far that kinda prevented me from fully participating in this challenge. I did read through several books to write my thesis, but I didn't read enough of them to justify putting them down on the list. I also wrote my own textbook and got it licensed and published, but I don't want to put that down on the list, since it's my book.

I also got hard into interactive game books like Journal 29 by Dimitris Chassapakis and Trip 1907 by Giorgos Kiafas. Those are fun, but there is barely any reading, so I don't think they would fit this challenge.

But, I was able to read few more books since the last update. Beware of spoilers...

A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin

Spoiler:

This book dragged. The main trio of characters, this time Jon, Daenerys and Tyrion barely do anything at all throughout the whole book. Jon is stucked at the Wall and every single chapter is the same until the end. There are few fun chapters with actual storyline, but otherwise all chapters can be summarized as "Jon do something for a greater good, no one agrees with him, he doesn't bother to justify his actions". Rinse and repeat. Same with Daenerys, but her chapters got old even faster. Her ruling Meereen just wasn't fun to read. Strangely, Meereen storyline got better once Daenerys left the city and there were chapters from Barristan's pov and that's about 700 pages in the book. When it comes to Tyrion, he was probably the most interesting out of the bunch, but he was always paired with some old grumpy brute, meaning he couldn't really use his best traits of persuasion, since the other person would just beat him into submission. But otherwise his chapters were the most fun. He never stayed at the same place for long and his journey through Essos was fun to follow.

I think it's the side characters, where this book shinies. I didn't mind Quentyn's storyline, but I feel like he got sidelined and discarded way too quickly. Davos storyline was a nice surprise. Winterfell and its surroundings was probably the most interesting place in the book. There were so many distinct characters and their interactions usually ended up pushing the story in unexpected directions. I also loved all Greyjoys chapters, especially Victarion's. I wonder how will his journey end. And Kevan Lannister chapter at the end of the book really hyped me up for what's next.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Nietzsche

Spoiler:

I'll be honest, I don't know what to say about this book. It was hard to read and I had to read some parts multiple times to fully understand what it was saying. I can't say I agree with every idea presented in the book, but it was interesting to experience such an influencial book on my own.

4/30

 

[Duck]

Here we go with the second fanfic dump truck, same rules as before.

Slipped Sideways by Romiress (AO3)
Word Count: 92,801

A sequel to Bury Your Sons / We Don't Raise Heroes in which Bruce and Slade go to the canon dimension, see how crappy parents their canon counterparts are and try to make things better. Cute, but much like the series overall, a bit forgettable. (29 / 25)

Liminal Space + Compression + Expansion by Calamityjim (AO3)
Word Count: 77,186 + 50,487 + 124,042

Liminal Space introduces a heavily abused Tim Drake who's convinced he's barely a person in a dimension with a very asshole-ish Batman. Good!Batman rescues (reads: kidnaps) him and helps him start the healing process.

Compression has the same Tim Drake be kidnapped by his evil future self and end up in his original dimension where things go badly.

Expansion has asshole Superman expose Tim's relationship with Conner and the whole fic is pretty much about that fallout.

Nice fics, but very heavy on angst. Also, beware of strong language - internalized homophobia is a heck of drug. I appreciate the tackling of queer themes in the third book, because it fits with the character - he would have a lot of internalized issues - but I feel like I could have done without that third fic because let my baby just be happy. (32 / 25)

Twilight by Jonaira & Kimi_f (AO3)
Word Count: 144,153

It's a Twilight parody no powers AU and I low key kinda love it. Conner was Bella, Tim was Edward and we end up the series with a nice expy for vampires. Heavy recc. (33 / 25)

Fly Before You Walk by MichaBerry (AO3)
Word Count: 60,220

Clark coming to terms with being a parent to Conner instead of lashing out like in canon. Conner is also 10 here.
Cute but pure fluff. Feel free to give it a pass if you don't wanna read not so super Superdad. (34 / 25)

 

[Janp]

I'm back surprisingly sooner than expected.

All Tomorrows by Nemo Ramjet
"Okay, this is interesting take on humanity's future. I can see that hapenning." -> "What the hell, this is disturbing! Why are there illustrations?" -> "Is there more?"

Eighteen Below by Stefan Ahnhem
This was my first book from this author and it takes place exactly in the middle of a 6-books series about Fabian Risk, which might seem like a bad idea to start, but in the end, the way it was written made it just fine to be read without the previous two books. There were few moments when I had no idea what are the characters talking about or what is their connection to the main plot, but otherwise all characters, their relationships and motivations were briefly (re-)introduced.

The plot is dissected into two separate cases that has nothing to do with each other, expect for the detectives of each case knowing each other and getting help from each other once or twice during the story. But both of them are captivating and present really cool mystery. Especially the "main" case's villains are basically one huge unkown for the whole book and even by the end, they are taken down mostly because of extreme luck Risk and his team has. They are lucky enough for a villain to bump one of the detective's car, leading to that detective go after them and be lucky enough to take a photo of them, then another detective goes to the victim's house and is lucky enough to find a guy, who can help them, then they are lucky enough to find a body of another victim, who is currently one of the villain's disguise, then they are lucky enough to find a correct crest in hundreds of crests... You get the idea. The investigation gets stucked many times during the book and it was only this luck that helped Risk to solve everything. But everything else about the story is perfect.

As I said before, it had one of the best villains i've ever seen. They have almost inhuman ability to steal someone's identity, are coldhearted, will kill anyone who could foil their plan and have been stealing identities for years without being caught.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and finished it in few days. It has a great pace, remarkable villains, the mystery surrounding them, the plot twists, the set up for the next book... It made me want to get the whole series right now.


Next up, I'll be reading The Stand by Stephen King. It has been a while since I've read anything from King and this book has been lying on my desk for a few months now, so why not give it finally a shot?

6/30

 

[Duck]

Here we go with some more fanfic and LitRPGs.

Bat in a Flash by siren_of_the_ocean (AO3)
Word Count: 52,327

Tim gets superspeed and the rest is angsty fallout. Not particularly greatly written Tim angst with asshole Batman. I'd give it a pass. (35 / 25)

Loss of Time by Lopithecus (AO3)
Word Count: 61,979

Batman gets de-aged and Superman (who has a massive crush on Batman) needs to take care of Bruce. Also there's some aliens invading or whatever for the framing device but really, we're not reading this fanfic because of the action, we're here for parenting fluff.

Kinda cute but ultimately forgettable. (36 / 25)

Mayor of Noobtown + Village of Noobtown
Your average isekai LitRPG. Has some interesting world building moments here and there but it falls into the trap that "the math is what keeps people invested", so it feels kinda padded at points.

It gets points for being the first isekai LitRPG I've seen where the main character's feelings for their partner doesn't magically fade / get pushed out of the way. It then loses point for casual biphobia (it could charitably be considered kink shaming instead of biphobia, which is ... better, kinda? In the same way 999 kg of crap is better than a full ton?).

It loses more points because of the demon sidekick who's just an overall a-hole and is just creepy in an uncomfortable, Mineta kinda of way. Although he is a demon, so I guess we're supposed to not side with him? Except except he's sometimes presented as a voice of reason and someone the MC is getting fonder of in a paternal kind of way? It's weird.

Still, if you have the energy to gloss over the few incidents where it does happen, I guess check it out? They're like 2 bucks each and they're on KU, so why not? (38 / 25)

 

[Soaring Sid]

HOO Can't believe half a year has passed since I've updated this. I hadn't read much in the first half anyway, but now am reading Slaughterhouse - Five by Kurt Vonnegut and Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Also picked up some non-fiction books because why not.

 

[Janp]

The Stand is huge book that I can't really carry around with me, so I decided to read two shorter books on my travels.

Sherlock Holmes: The Breath of God by Guy Adams and Sherlock Holmes: The Red Tower by Mark A. Latham
I'm reviewing hese two on the same time, because I think I'll compare them a lot, since they are both Sherlock Holmes stories and they have a lot of similarities. Both take time after Sherlock's "ressurection", both put him against magic and ghosts, both have Watson drugged, Sherlock is not present for most of the story and the list goes on.

The Red Tower takes place around 1896. Watson is invited to his friend Crain's manor for a spiritualist party. This book takes time, introduces every character in details, sets up their conflicts and motivations. Watson is portrait as a skeptic and even when he sees several ghosts, he still doesn't believe in magic. He's trying to figure out all the cheap tricks by himself and he's really close in the end. But then, Crain's sister is murdered and it's time for Sherlock to take a spotlight. This takes almost halfway through the book, but it doesn't feel like Sherlock was missing. Watson and the rest of the cast did a great work of carrying the story until that point by themselves and it never felt like I'm not reading a Sherlock story. After that, the story takes unexpected turns. And it's fun to read. The mystery (or to be more precise, mysteries) is really well thought-through and I often found myself in the same situation as Watson, when I tried to piece everything together and I came to premature conclusions. All the way, up to the final moment, I wasn't sure about murderer's true identity, even though I could bet I knew it from the start. It was so great.

The Breath of God on the other hand tries to do a lot of the same, but fails almost at everything. It takes place at the Christmas of 1899 and goes all the way to the early 1900. But Watson, who refused to acknowledge the existence of ghosts in The Red Tower 4 years ago, is now easily convinced they exist. And he's portrait as a simple idiot, who can't put 2 and 2 together. In this book, a ghost threatens to kill Sherlock (and some more people), but Sherlock is not having any of it. Throughout the whole book, he has a bad mood and is arrogant and mean to everyone. And I quite liked that. But there is one huge problem with the book. Both Watson and Sherlock are barely in it. There are 4 other characters, which are apparently all taken from other authors' series and they take spotlight, to the point that most of the book is just about their adventure with Watson being somewhere at the edge and Sherlock not being in the story at all. It kind of feels like a fan faction. Don't get me wrong, it was well written story about ghost and demon hunters, but it was not a Sherlock Holmes detective story. The main mystery could be solved without any problems somewhere in the middle of the book. There is almost no clue hunting or deducting the outcome, present in the story. Sherlock just appears at the end and solves already shallow mystery. Probably the weakest Sherlock Holmes adventure I've read so far.

8/30

 

[Duck]

Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko

The sequel to Raybearer (which I've also read and reviewed this year - do check if out, if you can), I found that it was ... an OK read. Some things felt very convenient, some other things were kinda glossed over when they really shouldn't. But overall, still a fun romp and a good enough message compared to the majority of the YA genre.

Do check it out if you liked Raybearer (39/25)

EDIT: I've also checked out the 10 volumes released of "I'm a Spider, so what?".

Starts out strong with interesting strategies but gets a ridiculous power creep, not fun OP skills and the world building didn't even go along to match. I'd maybe recommend the first half or so.

Gonna count as one entry for the purposes of this list. (40 / 25)

 

[Ivysaur]

Two last Spirous

45. Luna fatale
46. Machine qui rêve (Dreaming machine)

Another two detective novels

Ética para inversores - Petros Márkaris
Five Little Pigs - Agatha Christie

And a whole lot of essays

Dancing on the Ropes: Translators and the Balance of History - Nina Aslanyan
Travellers in the Third Reich - Julia Boyd
The Third Reich in Power - Richard J. Evans
Honourable Misfits - Marie le Conte
The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon became a conspiracy theory of everything - Mike Rotschild

86/100

 

[Ivysaur]

Two more!

The Prime Ministers We Never Had: Success and Failure from Butler to Corbyn, by Steve Richards: An analysis of the greatest political figures in British history that never got to become prime minister.

Bartleby, by José Luis Munuera: A comic adaptation of a short story by Herman Melville.

88/100

I'm currently reading three more books as we speak. And... I wonder if I'll get to 100? Number 89 is sure taking me a while...

 

[Ivysaur]

89: Sin noticias de Gurb - Eduardo Mendoza. A pair of aliens land in Barcelona. One of them disappears the second they go(es) on a mission. The other one sets out on a quest to find them, logging out all the weird behaviours of the species inhabiting the planet, and finding out they really would like to run a pub. A crazy slice of life comedy.

90: Enciclopedia del disparate - José Luis Rodríguez Plasencia. Inspired by a friend and workmate who is teaching International Relations at a university who sent me some ridiculous answers to some tests he was grading ("the prime minister of Italy is Mario Ravioli. The EU's chief diplomat is Pikachu"). This wonder compiles hundreds of insane answers from kids 6 to 15. I can't read more than four pages without howling from the laughter. Currently working through the sequel.

Can I read 10 more books/comics in a little over a month? And most importantly, will I keep the same formatting style for my next entry? The tension! The intrigue!

 

[Roni]

As of December 3, 2021, I still have not read a full book cover to cover this year :c The closest I got was "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" Last May I believe, but I only got to Chapter 8 or so before I put it down.

Although now that I think about it, I might be able to count this one book I'm recording for my audio narration gig atm. It's a Wattpad-esque story, but it's got over a hundred chapters so that's something. A little bit shy of being halfway done with it, but I should be able to finish it before the year ends!

 

[Ivysaur]

91: Enciclopedia del disparate 2 - José Luis Rodríguez Plasencia. More hilariously wrong answers.
92: Scoff: A History of Food and Class in Britain - Pen Vogler. A history book about food, and what it's meant over the centuries.
93: Las páginas de consultorio random que no entran en el libro por motivos pero igualmente son bastante graciosas y es una pena que se pierdan, y te las cobramos aparte por 4€ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - Rubén Fernández. Comic with the largest title of the year? Probably. Also only one with a shrug emoji. (Evidence the title is not a fever dream: https://i.imgur.com/OazTmH2.jpeg)

 

[Ivysaur]

94: Preguntas frecuentes sobre el siglo XXI - Rubén Fernández
95: Made in Spain - James Rhodes
96: Decline and Fail - John Crace

Four more books to go. 19 days. Let's do this.

 

[Ivysaur]

97- The Weak are a Long Time in Politics - Patrick Kidd

Currently reading two more books and a comic. Will I hit the magical 100 in about 10 days? The intrigue! The tension!

 

[Ivysaur]

98- Gente mierda de la Historia (y otros que no lo fueron tanto) - Don Julio. A comic about all that incredibly awful and probably insane people who, through some cruel twist of fate, were born into power and managed to get their name into History books, as well as some weird people who managed to become famous through sheer force of will, luck and a few accidents.
99- Oddball - Sarah Andersen.

One to go! Four days left!

 

[Janp]

I failed this challenge so much. Not that I didn't read, I just focused on scholarly and professional literature because of my md and phd. I usually picked one or two chapters that I needed from them, so I rarely read more than 40 pages from each. Meaning I couldn't count them. And then I wasn't really feeling like reading fiction books.

I did read more books that I didn't record here, like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin and some short Sherlock Holmes stories, so I ended up with 12/30.

So, for the next year, I'll go with less books and will make sure to balance professional and fiction literature.

 

[Ivysaur]

100 - La guía definitiva de Mortadelo y Filemón - Ramis, Ibáñez
101- The Windsor Knot - SJ Bennett

I'm going to finish just a few pages short of #102. Not bad, an average of two books/comics a week.