Books 2022 Reading Challenge

[Autumn94]

Just finished An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison, so I'm at 7/40 books so far

I'm still working my way through The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa and Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

 

[Ivysaur]

15.2 - Punch and Judy Politics - Ayesha Hazarika & Tom Hamilton
16.2 - Cualquier tiempo pasado fue anterior - Nieves Concostrina
17.2 - Fangs - Sarah Andersen

"Politics, history and a comic about vampires!", as I described them previously :P

Coming up next: A novel about WWII (this is certainly the time to read about this yes 100% certain), journalism and a comic about silly zombies!

 

[Autumn94]

Finished The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa so I'm now at 8/40 books, about to start The Iron Traitor by Julie Kagawa.

 

[Janp]

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

Spoiler:

So, this is the first novel from The Witcher universe. And to be honest, it just feels like regular collection of short stories. Chapters aren't connected more than the short stories in the second book were. And because of that, characters don't really get an arch or development. I get that this is the preparation for something bigger to come, but I'm starting to have doubts if it will pay off in the end. But each chapter of the book were enjoyable. I still don't like Sapkowski's lack of descriptions and having stuff happen in the dialogue without adressing it. But the writting was overall better. I especially liked that not every chapter was told from Geralt's POV.

[4/14]

 

[Autumn94]

at 9/40 books now, finished The Iron Traitor by Julie Kagawa

Next books I'm reading are The Binding by Bridget Collins, and Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

 

[Janp]

Things to think about by SimonWL

Spoiler:

I got this comic on itch.io as part of their recent bundle. It was surprisingly great. The ideas presented were fun and it evolved into a coherent story about people's lack of critical thinking and their unwillingness to solve earth/future-related questions. Art was also nice. I'll definitely check other comics from this author.

[5/14]

 

[tenfrogs]

I have not forgotten, I have just been super swamped! I finished Vol 1. and 2. of Tokyo Ghoul, still getting through Pokemon Adventures!

3/24

 

[Autumn94]

Finished Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

10/40 books read so far

 

[Autumn94]

Finished The Binding by Bridget Collins

11/40 books

 

[Janp]

Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski

Spoiler:

I don't want to repeat myself again, because this is same as the previous book. But this time, it actually feels like a novel. It has pretty selfcontained story that not only develops overall plot and characters, but also serves as the baseline for the next book at the end.

[6/14]

 

[Roni]

Very late to this, but I wanna join again, and this time, I finally have a book to show for it! Put me in for 5 atm heh

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Very lovely collection of strategies that I can easily apply to my life and build better habits, while making it harder for my bad old ones to continue forming. Every aspect introduced was discussed very thoroughly, and was super understandable and relatable, which was what mainly made wanna keep turning the page. Lots of inspiring anecdotes here and there too; clearly James was writing with a formula in mind, and it just so happens to work on me :D As I finish this book, I continue towards making right choices and votes onto being the kind of person I want to be <3 I'll do my best to make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying~

I bought about 3 other self help books that I'm planning to read the rest of the year, and def plan to order more <3

[1/5]

 

[Autumn94]

Very late to this, but I wanna join again, and this time, I finally have a book to show for it! Put me in for 5 atm heh

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Very lovely collection of strategies that I can easily apply to my life and build better habits, while making it harder for my bad old ones to continue forming. Every aspect introduced was discussed very thoroughly, and was super understandable and relatable, which was what mainly made wanna keep turning the page. Lots of inspiring anecdotes here and there too; clearly James was writing with a formula in mind, and it just so happens to work on me :D As I finish this book, I continue towards making right choices and votes onto being the kind of person I want to be <3 I'll do my best to make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying~

I bought about 3 other self help books that I'm planning to read the rest of the year, and def plan to order more <3

[1/5]

I love Atomic Habits, it's a great book. I'm a big fan of self help books as well :)

 

[Autumn94]

Finished reading The Originals: The Rise by Julie Plec. Now I'm onto the next book The Originals: The Loss by Julie Plec and finishing up the Iron Fey series with The Iron Warrior by Julie Kagawa

So now I'm at 12/40 books

 

[Duck]

Stepping back from the world of manga to novels, I've finished Physician, not a Consort, which is a Chinese transmigration story which was actually kind alright. I mean, it's a hot mess, but it's a fun hot mess in a telenovela kind of way, you know?

It started to drag when it got close to the end, though.

38 / 25

 

[Autumn94]

Finished The Originals: The Loss by Julie Plec

now at 13/40 books

 

[Ivysaur]

Okay, I have been putting this off for a while... expect a dump.

Comics

18.2 Spirou Magazine issues 4380, 4381, 4383, 4384, 4385
18.4 Les Géants Pétrifiés - Yoann & Vehlmann
18.6 Supergroom - Yoann & Vehlmann
18.8 Zombie Life - Igor
19 Giant Days 1 - Allison + Treiman + Cogar
19.2 L'Homme que ne voulait pas mourir - Morvan & Munuera

Books

20.2 The Compendium of Everything - John Elledge
21.2 Pleasant Dreams: The welcoming play of Kirby's Dream Land - Joel Couture
22.2 Fallen Down: Heartache & Compassion in Undertale - Joel Couture
23.2 Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language - Mark Forsyth
24.2 La vida secreta de las palabras - EtimosDirectos

Currently on my to-do list: a book about the fascinating place that is Argentina, economic theory about inflation, a few more comics and a crime novel.

 

[Duck]

So I've read the four volumes of Heartstopper that were published so far and I guess they're cute.

I've had people say they're very utopic and not particularly realistic, and I guess they are in certain aspects even if they do tackle issues that aren't light or trivially dismissable, but it's important to have stories that are more bubblegum fluff too.

I do think the story could have addressed some other issues that were, in my experience, at least, central to both the teenager experience and (male) LGBTQ+ spaces but I also understand why attempting to tackle them at this point in the story would be considered unsavory and would very likely create a rating bump that would be undesirable.

I've read fluffier stories but as far as coming out narratives go this one is pretty fluff. I'd recommend that if that's your thing.

42 / 25

 

[Ivysaur]

Books

25.2 Argentina: Un país inexplicable - Jot Down. A collecton of short stories about that country.
26.2 La inflación explicada a los ministros - José Luis Sampedro. Economic theory about inflation, written in the 70s and surprisingly prescient these days.
27.2 You don't want to know - James Felton. A book about creepy, morbid and dark (but real) tales of murders, insane science and some of the dumbest deaths ever recorded.
28.2 Cuarentena - Petros Márkaris. The yearly entry of the adventures of Inspector Jaritos, a Greek policeman with a penchant for political commentary.

Comics
28.6 Issues 4386 and 4387 of Spirou magazine. Sadly the serialisation of La Mort de Spirou has gone on a 6-week hiatus but I'm keeping myself entertained with the serialisation of Les soeurs Gremillet.
28.8 Atom Agency 1 - Yann & Schwartz
29 Giant Days 2 - Allison + Treiman + Cogar + Sarin. I'm really enjoying this series. I think I'm going to buy more.

Coming up next: a book about modern Germany, a historical novel and some Herlock Sholmes. Wait.

(I'm starting to worry I won't be on track for 80 at the end of the year... oh boy I might fall short at this rate!)

 

[Janp]

I've finished the Witcher series, except for Season of Storms, which is its own story. And to be honest, I have really mixed feelings about it.

Baptism of Fire by Andrzej Sapkowski

Spoiler:

I think this is where the story went downhill. Geralt's portion has this weird pacing. Nothing really happens during the book and then there is huge battle just randomly thrown at the end. Characters in Geralt's group have cool concepts, but are barely given any backstory or motivation to help Geralt. Ciri's portion was boring. I didn't find anything interesting about it. Characters are painfully cringy. Sapkowski has no idea how to write believable teen characters. Definitely the worst book in the series.

The Tower of the Swallow by Andrzej Sapkowski

Spoiler:

This book continues with problems presented in the previous one. Ciri's story is still boring and characters are painfully cringy. It feels like Sapkowski is writing some kind of power fantasy and rape porn. At least Geralt's story doesn't feel like copypasted from previous books. Sadly, this book is focused more on Ciri than Geralt.

The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski

Spoiler:

I'll start by saying that I like what Sapkowski tried to do with the storytelling. It's nice idea and works pretty well. Except this is the final book in the series and should be about the grand finale of the overall story, tying all the loose ends and bringing the reader some kind of conclusion. Well, this book had to create some loose ends first. It randomly re-introduces some C tier characters from first 3 books and make them main characters in storyline that has nothing to do with Geralt or Ciri. Well, like 70% of this book has nothing to do with the main story of Geralt and Ciri finally finding each other. And it doesn't help that the last 30% isn't that good. Like the main villain Vilgefortz was barely in the series and his motivation was extremely dull, but also the big reveal about the almighty emperor is out of place and feels like Sapkowski wanted to subvert expectations and add another "disturbing" layer to the Ciri's part of the story, but it failed misserably. While this was a bad finale to mediocre series, I'm glad I've read it, because now I know I wasn't missing much and can move on better fantasy series.

[9/14]

 

[Duck]

So ... I've read the 45 volumes of Haikyuu over the last few weeks. That's a giant bump, oops. I really should stop and read more longform prose.

87 / 25