I would say-read what you feel like reading at the moment.
Welcome to the 75 group!
Welcome to the group!
Welcome! Nice list...
51- Nam by Mark Baker 4/5
After watching Band of Brothers and Generation Kill earlier in the year, I've started taking more of an interest in military history books. This is the first about the Vietnam war I've read, and I won't be forgetting it in a hurry. A collection of conversations with veterans- some of them horrifying, and some utterly depressing.
52-
American Gangster and other tales of New York by
Mark Jacobson 2/5
Picked this up in a charity shop because I've been meaning to watch the movie but never got round to it, so I thought this would be the next best thing. What I didn't realise is that the title story and the one I was most interested in is only 30 pages long and rather disappointing to boot, especially when it has the potential to be so much better- something I'm hoping the movie will be. The rest is a collection of newspaper stories about New York and its inhabitants which are well written, but I didn't find them particularly interesting.
53-
The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson 3.5/5
An interesting and at times unsettling book... I didn't find it quite as enjoyable as I'd expected from the overwhelmingly positive reviews online, but it was worth the read.
A quick one at 80 pages..
54-
Flatland by
Edwin Abbott ?/5
I'm not actually sure I can give a rating to this at the moment... a satire on the Victorian class structure through the principles of geometery (more interesting than it sounds, honestly)-a square inhabiting a 2D world finds the possibilities of other dimensions than his own. You don't have to be a maths expert- I'm certainly not and still enjoyed it. However, I think this is one I'm going to have to re-read in the future to get the full effect.
Hi, welcome from me too.
I felt the same about
The Killer Inside Me, I keep wondering if that's because of when it was written and also it has less impact because of the type of book I read now (I like the darker stuff). Still I am interested to read more of his stuff.
That's what I thought- I can imagine it was a very shocking book when it was first published but nowadays it seems relatively tame.
55-
Hidden Camera by Zoran Živković 2.5/5
An undertaker returns home to find an invitation to a screening at the local cinema wedged in his door. Upon attending the screening- with only one other person in the audience- he's suprised to see that the film shows him eating his lunch on a park bench. What follows is his journery from 'scene' to 'scene' convinced he's part of an elaborate hidden camera tv show. An interesting and rather surreal novel, but one that I found quite average.
56-
Watchmen by Alan Moore 5/5
I'd never really been interested in graphic novels before, but after I noticed this in my local library and being aware that it was on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list, I decided to give it a try- and I'm glad I did. I'm definitely interested in checking out more graphic novels- hopefully someone will read this and be able to recommend where I go from here...
Great non-fiction graphic novels include Art Spiegelman's
Maus, and Marjane Satrapi's
Persepolis. Also look out for Joann Sfar's
The Rabbi's Cat and Brain Talbot's
Alice in Sunderland which I've just read and loved. I'm no expert on this genre but Neil Gaiman's
Sandman is pretty legendary and probably a good series to start with. Raymond Brigg's social history starring his parents
Ethel and Ernest is also worth checking out.
I'm sure others will have suggestions too.
Excellent, thanks. My local library system has most of those, so I'll be requesting like mad when I get back from my holiday.
Even more, thanks... I'm going to have a lot to get stuck in to when I come back.
Not got round to requesting anything from the library, so I just picked up a couple of graphic novels that looked interesting...
57-
It's A Good Life, If You Don't Weaken by
Seth 3/5
Fairly interesting semi-autobiographical account of Seth's attempt to track down an obscure cartoonist by the name of Kalo.
Message edited by its author, Jul 29, 2009, 1:28pm.
58-
Ryanland by
Philip Nolan 2/5
Philip Nolan decides to fly to every destination served by the Irish budget airline, Ryanair. Its mildy amusing, but on the whole Nolan comes across as being a bit unlikeable and smug.
59-
Epileptic by David B. 5/5
Another graphic novel... this one more of a graphic memoir than a novel. The story of David B's childhood as he and the rest of family struggle to cope with his older brother's epilepsy. Beautiful art and a very moving story, this is a wonderful book and one which I will be revisiting in the future.
Hi David,
Epileptic looks really good, thanks for the review.
I second the Sandman series... if your library doesn't have the 1st
Worlds End is a good standalone one also I like
From Hell and the 1st two in the league of extraordinary gentlemen series from Alan Moore, very different from Watchman though.
Thanks for even more recommendations. Luckily my local council library system has almost all of the graphic novels I've been recommended in this thread, so now I have a lot of requesting to do...
60-
The Corner- A Year In The Life of an innercity Neighborhood by David Simon 5/5
Out of all the books I've read so far, this has taken me the longest- almost a month. I took it on holiday and planned to read it on the various train journeys involved, but ended up not doing much reading at all. After coming back it's taken me a fortnight to finish it off- not because it's bad, but because of the subject matter. Simon and his co-writer Ed Burns chronicle a year in the life of a notorious inner-city drug corner in Baltimore, and one family in particular. This is a fantastic book, but also at times a very depressing one- the reason it took so long for me to finish, as on a few occassion I went to read it but fancied something a bit more upbeat. Now to watch the tv adaptation....
61-
Y: The Last Man Vol. 1- Unmanned by
Brian K. Vaughan 4/5
Another graphic novel I picked up on a whim from the library, and I'm glad I did. This one tells the story of Yorick, an escape artist, and his pet monkey Ampersand, who happen to be the only male survivors of a planet-wide plague which instantly killed everything with a Y chromosome. This first volume is only really setting the story, but it's interesting enough to make me want to check out the rest.
Hi David -
Epileptic looks really good, the cover artwork alone makes it worth a closer look.
Y: The Last Man is another I'll have to check out. I like your reviews, brief and to the point.
The Corner reminds me of Richard Price's great novel
Clockers.
63- The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman 5/5
The Pulitzer prize-winning story of Vladek Spiegelman, the author's father, who survived the Holocaust in Poland and how his son, the cartoonist, comes to terms with his father and his tale.
There isn't much to say about this that hasn't already been said- I read it in one sitting because I couldn't put it down.
64-
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut 5/5
My first re-read this year, and it was every bit as enjoyable as I'd remembered. This was the first Vonnegut book I read (a good few years ago) and I've loved him ever since. If anything it was probably more enjoyable than my first read, as being a few years older I probably 'got' a lot more of the satire.
65-
V For Vendetta by Alan Moore 5/5
I'm glad I took Watchmen out from the library on a whim, because otherwise I would probably still not have a read a graphic novel. This is excellent, although maybe not quite as good as Watchmen... I think I'll have to give both a re-re-read to be sure. I also now have From Hell in my 'to be read' pile, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into that as well.
I read
Watchmen last year and my succinct review was "Wow!" I am definitely going to have to give
V for Vendetta a try. Thanks for the recommendation.
66-
Pyongyang by
Guy Delisle 5/5
Another 'graphic memoir', this time a record of the 2 months the author spent in the North Korean capital overseeing the production of cartoons outsourced by a French TV company. I already had fanciful ideas of visiting Pyongyang, and reading this book has actually increased my desires- despite it coming across as a very surreal and slightly sinister place. Delisle has also written a couple of similar memoirs, one based in the Chinese city of Shenzen, and the other in Burma- I'll be looking out for both of these.
Another one for me to look for!
Hi David, Just delurking to say I also quite liked
Pyongyang. Although for some unkown reason I was most shocked that certain nations put animation business their way!
I thought similar- of all the places to outsource work to, I wouldn't have expected North Korea to be high on the list...
67-
I Served The King Of England by Bohumil Hrabal 3/5
The story of Ditie, and his rise from busboy in a Prague hotel to millionaire... and everything that follows. Amusing at times, but at other times I felt it dragged slightly.
68-
Alice In Sunderland by Bryan Talbot 3/5
Another graphic novel, and a difficult one to describe... a history of Lewis Carroll and his connections to Sunderland, as well as a history of the area. Illustrated in a variety of styles, its quite entertaining- although, having never been to Sunderland, the endless amount of local history details did get quite tedious at times.
Message edited by its author, Aug 26, 2009, 8:34pm.
69-
Hella Nation by Evan Wright 3.5/5
A collection of articles about "outsiders" from the American mainstream, from internet fraudsters to neo-nazi preachers. There are a couple which are slightly boring, but the majority are good.
Message edited by its author, Aug 30, 2009, 5:15pm.
Pyongyang sounds interesting. I'm adding it to my wish list. You've read a lot of good graphic novels this month.
Luckily I have access to 2 library systems, and between them they have most of the 'must read' graphic novels, which is nice.
70-
The City of Dreaming Books by
Walter Moers 5/5
I don't normally read fantasy books, but over a period of weeks I kept noticing
The 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear in bookshops and it intriuged me- but I didn't buy it at full price incase I didn't like it. Not long afterwards I found a copy in a local charity shop for £2 and snapped it up, and it proved to be an excellent buy. This book is the 3rd in the series to be published in English, although they can really be read in any order. The story follows a young writer (who just happens to be a dinosaur) and his quest in Bookholm, a city of books, to find the author of an untitled manuscript bequeathed to him by his godfather. Very creative, very bizarre and well worth a read if you're a booklover, even if you don't normally read fantasy.
71-
The Book of Fame by
Lloyd Jones 3/5
A fictional chronicle of the 'Original All Blacks' world tour of 1906. Interesting enough but rather thin.
#34 Another good review of Walter Moers.. I am really going to have to pluck up the courage to try one. Thanks for the review.
Moers is well worth it.
73-
Novels in Three Lines by Félix Fénéon 5/5
This is a fascinating book- a collection of more than 1000 summaries of news events written anonymously by Feneon and published in a French newspaper in 1906. This probably sounds quite dull, but that's very far from the truth- I would never have expected myself to laugh out loud at stories of murder and mayhem, but I did here. Extracts from the book are available at
http://twitter.com/novelsin3lines74-
From Hell by Alan Moore 5/5
Another graphic novel, and easily the best yet- Moore's retelling of the Whitechapel murders of 1888. There's not much I can say about this that's not been said already- it's fantastic.
75-
With The Old Breed by
E.B. Sledge 5/5
A memoir written by an enlisted marine who fought at the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa. A fantastic (and rather graphic at times) book, this is probably the best WW2 memoir I've read. This is one of the books that HBO's follow up to Band of Brothers, The Pacific, is based on.
So that's all 75... What's next? I could probably push on and got for 100, but there's a few more challenging books (starting with Moby Dick) that I'd prefer to take my time over. I like the look of the 1010 challenge, but I'll need to think of some good categories...
Congratulations on hitting 75. I'm also looking at the 1010 challenge for next year as I'm finishing up on this year's 999 challenge slowly. The best books chat is probably here though on the 75 books group so keep posting what you are reading as it's been really interesting to follow your thread.
I got
From Hell out from the library to have a look at.
Congrats!
#39: I read that one last year and loved it. Have you read any Sledge's
China Marine? I have not had a chance to read it yet, I am just curious.
Congratulations on the 75!
I didn't know he'd written any other books actually,
China Marine will be going on my 'to buy' list.
76-
Some English Country Houses and their Owners by James Lees-Milne 3.5/5
A selection of entries from Lees-Milne's diaries, specifically relating to some of the country houses he visited during his time working for the National Trust. I've always been interested in these huge country houses and this collection gives an interesting glimpse into a way of life that was dying out even when Lees-Milne originally wrote the bulk of the entries in the 1940s.
Message edited by its author, Sep 25, 2009, 10:52am.
Just a note to let you know I'm really enjoying your thread. I liked
Pyongyang too. It was the first graphic novel I read and I was surprised to like it so much since I'm not much for animation or comic books.
#43: I will be interested in seeing your thoughts on
China Marine when you get a chance to read it.
77- The Glasgow Almanac by
Stephen Terry 4/5
An interesting book to dip into- full of interesting facts about my home city that I didn't know about. The editing could have been a bit better though- it was originally published as newspaper columns and on a number of occassions makes reference to pictures that were obviously in the original article but not printed in this book.
78-
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by
Reif Larsen 2.5/5
This is an odd book. The story of a 12 year mapaking genius who lives on a Montana ranch and his journey to Washington DC to accept an award from the Smithsonian Institute. Visually this is a beautiful book- it's set out in the style of one of T.S's notebooks and nearly every page is filled with drawings and diagrams in the margins. It starts strongly- but around the middle of the book it starts to drag and the diagrams etc become the main reason to keep going.
79-
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 1 by Alan Moore 3/5
Another Alan Moore comic book/graphic novel, this is quite fun but I didn't enjoy it as much the others I've read this year.
Almost ready to start a thread about my 1010 challenge...just need to think up some category names.
At this rate I will be making 100 before the end of the year..
80-
Just William by
Richmal Crompton 5/5
I've decided recently to revisit some of the books I loved as a child, and this is the first. Classic stories about a rebellious little boy, I still loved it as much as I did when I was younger.
81-
The Death of Grass by John Christopher 4/5
I've also been on a bit of a post-apocalyptic binge recently, and read this book and the next back to back, as well as picking up a couple of other similar books.
The Death of Grass tells the story of a group of people trying to make their way across England after a plant virus destroys all crops and grass. Gripping and at times quite brutal, it doesn't feel like it was written in the 1950s.
82-
Alas, Babylon by
Pat Frank 3/5
A man-made apocalypse this time- the story of a small community in Florida trying to survive in the aftermath of a nuclear war which has wiped out most of the planet. A lot less brutal than The Death of Grass, it does feel a little dated but it's still a good read.
83-
Things I Like About America by
Poe Ballantine 4/5
A collection of autobiographical stories by a 'modern day nomad' as he drifts from place to place by Greyhound bus. Travelling the States in this manner is something I've always daydreamed about. Realistically, it will never happen, so reading these stories is the next best thing.
Thanks for the review of
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. I've got it on the reading list for next year. I bought it mainly for the diagrams and drawings so I guess I won't be too disappointed when the book starts to drag.
The Death of Grass looks good. I'm adding it to the wishlist.
I'm pleased that John Christopher hasn't dated as I haven't read him yet, but have been collecting a few of his books and will read them next year.
#48: Some nice reads there. I am adding several to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendations.
84-
Moby Dick by Herman Melville 5/5
This doesn't need much introduction...
I had the urge to get stuck into one of the classics, and decided to go with this. I was a bit wary after warnings of whole chapters about ropes etc, but I actually really enjoyed it. I get the feeling that there was a lot that went over my head, so I'll be re-reading this in the future (and probably more than once).
>46: I agree -- I didn't enjoy LXG when I read it a few years ago. It was quite disappointing.
85-
Snow Crash by
Neal Stephenson 2.5/5
I'm not sure about this one. I enjoyed parts of it, but others had me rolling my eyes.
86-
The Wreck Of The Whaleship Essex by
Owen Chase 5/5
My edition of Moby Dick included an excerpt from this book and after reading it I picked this up from the library. Said to be the inspiration for the aforementioned book, it's a firsthand account of a whaling ship attacked and wrecked by a whale, and the months that follow as the survivors drift across the sea.
#54: I own
Snow Crash, so I hope I enjoy it more than you did (if I ever get to read it!)
In preparation for reading
Moby Dick next year, I am putting the Chase book in the BlackHole. I have already read the Philbrick book, although it has been several years now.
Just requested the Philbrick book from my local library, looking forward to it.
87-
The World According To Clarkson by
Jeremy Clarkson 3/5
The first volume of Clarkson's newspaper columns from the Sunday Times. If you know who he is you'll know what to expect. A quick read, and as with most collections like this a bit hit/miss.
88-
The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce 4/5
I've been dipping in and out of this all year and finally got round to finishing it. A satirical dictionary with Bierce's uniquely cynical commentary on the world around him. For the most part still as relevant now as when it was written.
89-
I, Lucifer by
Glen Duncan 1/5
Picked this up a few years ago because it sounded like an interesting idea- God offers Lucifer a second chance if he can live for one month on earth in the body of a suicidal writer. Unfortunately, the idea is the best thing about it.
Message edited by its author, Nov 18, 2009, 1:23pm.
90-
Metropole by
Ferenc Karinthy 4/5
Budai, a linguist due to attend a conference in Helsinki, somehow ends up on the wrong plane and finds himself in a city where he can't understand anything anyone says. This reminded me slightly of the time I visited Bratislava...
91-
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by
Brian Selznick 4/5
One from
1001 Children's Books: You Must Read Before You Grow Up. Part graphic novel, part novel, this follows Hugo, a young orphan living in the walls of a Parisian train station. What follows is a gascinating story involving a mysterious drawing, automatons and early silent cinema. Despite being 500+ pages, almost half are illustrations so this beautifully dsigned book is a relatively quick read.
#18 - hi David - I had to wait for my library to purchase a copy of
Epileptic so I finally got to read it this week. Thanks for recommending it, it's a great memoir.
I also have a copy of 1001 CBYMRBYGU and have enjoyed looking through to see what I should read. I'm using it as a category in my 1010 challenge.
#58 Ah you strangely make me wish I had visited Bratislava when I was nearby in Hungary! I though
Metropole was very odd book, intriguing but I could never work out if I was enjoying it.. his frustration just spilled over of the book!
#59 I really need to track down a copy.
#59: I never knew there was such a book as 1001 CBYMRBYGU, but I am glad to know that
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is represented. I loved it when I read it last year.
92-
In The Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick 5/5
As mentioned above, an account of the wreck of the whaleship Essex from a slightly different angle. I enjoyed this slightly more than the Owen Chase book, as it goes into more background detail etc.
93-
I Know You Got Soul by
Jeremy Clarkson 3/5
Another Clarkson book- this one a collection of writings about his favourite machines, from Concorde to the biggest battleship of all time, the Yamamoto. Amusing enough, easy to read and a good book for reading on the bus.
94-
The Graveyard Book by
Neil Gaiman 3/5
Another one for the 1001 CBYMRBYGU. Gaiman's reimagining of the Jungle Book. A decent enough read that started well but went downhill a bit after that.
95-
God Bless You, Mr Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut 3.5/5
While fiddling with my tags I noticed that I hadn't mentioned reading this book last month. Not his best work, but still an enjoyable read.
Thanks for reminding me about the Philbrick book. I read that one several years ago and have the Chase book home from the library now to read. I will re-read the Philbrook one as well.
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