shuwanted reads instead of dutifully studying in 2018
Talk 75 Books Challenge for 2018
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1shuwanted
I've started this year with much more time reading than usual since I was taking advantage of a free Scribd 30-day trial to cut down on my reading costs (I'm a poor college student, gotta make the most of these deals). Here's an updated list of my readings this year!
1. The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura ★★★★★
2. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng ★★★★★
3. Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace ★★★
4. Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui ★
5. Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee ★★★★★
6. The Key by Junichiro Tanazaki ★★★★
7. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler ★★★★
8. Dear Ijeawele by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ★★★★
9. Reading with Patrick by Michelle Kuo ★★★★
10. Wabi Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets, & Philosophers by Leonard Koren ★★★
11. Of Thee I Sing by Barack Obama ★★★★
12. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss ★★★★
13. Starlings by Jo Walton ★★★
I've also decided to start a review blog, mostly so that I can remember more detailed thoughts about my books. Check it out here
A few of my goals this year are to:
1. read one book for every four that I add TBR haha
2. read more books by colored or female authors
Books I'm currently reading or will soon be reading:
1. Seven Japanese Tales by Junichiro Tanazaki
2. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
3. First Snow on Fuji by Yasunari Kawabata
Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is reading this year! Recommendations always appreciated :)
1. The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura ★★★★★
2. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng ★★★★★
3. Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace ★★★
4. Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui ★
5. Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee ★★★★★
6. The Key by Junichiro Tanazaki ★★★★
7. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler ★★★★
8. Dear Ijeawele by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ★★★★
9. Reading with Patrick by Michelle Kuo ★★★★
10. Wabi Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets, & Philosophers by Leonard Koren ★★★
11. Of Thee I Sing by Barack Obama ★★★★
12. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss ★★★★
13. Starlings by Jo Walton ★★★
I've also decided to start a review blog, mostly so that I can remember more detailed thoughts about my books. Check it out here
A few of my goals this year are to:
1. read one book for every four that I add TBR haha
2. read more books by colored or female authors
Books I'm currently reading or will soon be reading:
1. Seven Japanese Tales by Junichiro Tanazaki
2. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
3. First Snow on Fuji by Yasunari Kawabata
Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is reading this year! Recommendations always appreciated :)
3shuwanted
@drneutron lovely to meet you :)
4thornton37814
Looks like you are off to a good start on your reading. Hope you have many happy reads in 2018!
6streamsong
Wow! You've accomplished an impressive lot of reading already this year.
I've dropped a star to follow your thread.
Good luck with college and finding the perfect lab job.
I've dropped a star to follow your thread.
Good luck with college and finding the perfect lab job.
7shuwanted
12. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
For more of my thoughts on this novel and others, check out my blog here.
This is classical high fantasy at its finest. The Name of the Wind is set in an incredibly detailed world of medieval cities and arcane University courses, moonshadows and wandering minstrels, demonfire and love’s first glimmer. Rothfuss breathes life into this creation with beautiful, lyrical prose, punctuated liberally with songs alternately outrageous and mellifluous. The protagonist Kvothe (pronounced Quothe) is quick-tongued in humor and anger, ambitious and unafraid to break a few rules to get what he wants, and, despite his tragic youth and street-hardened instincts, sweet as a puppy in front of the girl he loves.
The adherence to the standards and cliches of high fantasy are also The Name‘s weakest points though. It was good; it kept me turning pages in bed until the quietest hours of night. But, in spite of its beauty and suspense (which was built rather heavy-handedly at times), The Name felt a little flat, like something was missing.
A few things flat-out annoyed me (the protagonist is the best at literally everything he does, female characters are allll beautiful and have little role past that), but honestly, I've just read too many incredible, genre-changing fantasy books this year. In fact, if I had read The Name of the Wind a year ago, before N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season and Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings, it would've been an easy five stars.
TLDR: I think Rothfuss is brilliant at wordsmithing, but I really wish he would have applied his skill to a different story.
For more of my thoughts on this novel and others, check out my blog here.
This is classical high fantasy at its finest. The Name of the Wind is set in an incredibly detailed world of medieval cities and arcane University courses, moonshadows and wandering minstrels, demonfire and love’s first glimmer. Rothfuss breathes life into this creation with beautiful, lyrical prose, punctuated liberally with songs alternately outrageous and mellifluous. The protagonist Kvothe (pronounced Quothe) is quick-tongued in humor and anger, ambitious and unafraid to break a few rules to get what he wants, and, despite his tragic youth and street-hardened instincts, sweet as a puppy in front of the girl he loves.
The adherence to the standards and cliches of high fantasy are also The Name‘s weakest points though. It was good; it kept me turning pages in bed until the quietest hours of night. But, in spite of its beauty and suspense (which was built rather heavy-handedly at times), The Name felt a little flat, like something was missing.
A few things flat-out annoyed me (the protagonist is the best at literally everything he does, female characters are allll beautiful and have little role past that), but honestly, I've just read too many incredible, genre-changing fantasy books this year. In fact, if I had read The Name of the Wind a year ago, before N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season and Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings, it would've been an easy five stars.
TLDR: I think Rothfuss is brilliant at wordsmithing, but I really wish he would have applied his skill to a different story.
8shuwanted
>4 thornton37814: Thank you! What's the one book that you're always eager to recommend?
>5 charl08: Looking forward to following all your reads this year :)
>6 streamsong: Thanks! It's my senior year, so I'm really getting into the job hunt right now.
>5 charl08: Looking forward to following all your reads this year :)
>6 streamsong: Thanks! It's my senior year, so I'm really getting into the job hunt right now.
9shuwanted
13. Starlings by Jo Walton
I didn’t start enjoying, or even really reading, short stories until last January. In general, I need an emotional connection to my characters to care what they’re up to, and I want my characters to stick around for long enough that building an emotional connection is worth it. For the same reason, I prefer watching a TV series rather than movies. I cry ridiculously easily when I’m reading or watching something; like, if someone’s crying on screen and there’s dramatic music playing, then there’s a 100% chance that I’ll have tears trickling out too, even if I know the conflict or whatever eventually gets resolved.
Last January though, I read Ken Liu's The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and realized that short stories can pack really thoughtful, clever plot twists in a way that a lengthier work wouldn’t support. And since the entire work can center very cohesively on one theme, a short story passes along a less muddled version of the author’s message.
Starlings is an eclectic, playful collection of short stories and poems, as well as a play. My favorite stories were “Three Twilight Tales” and “Turnover”. “Three Twilight Tales” weaves three deliciously ephemeral stories set in the same village. I felt like I was tiptoeing through a fairy tale and catching fleeting glimpses of its inhabitants. In contrast, “Turnover” is set on a glistening metropolitan spaceship as a scifi dinner-table debate about the ethics of fulfilling the current generation’s desires versus leaving the choice open to their descendants.
Mixed in are shorter pieces best described as story beginnings; they read like first chapters. These short shorts were intriguing, and I would have liked to live in them for longer; but, as a format, they soon lost my interest. There weren’t really snappy conclusions to these, and like I said earlier, these characters weren’t with me long enough to build any emotional connection, so I stopped caring what each new protagonist was struggling with.
For more of my thoughts on this novel and others, check out my blog here.
I didn’t start enjoying, or even really reading, short stories until last January. In general, I need an emotional connection to my characters to care what they’re up to, and I want my characters to stick around for long enough that building an emotional connection is worth it. For the same reason, I prefer watching a TV series rather than movies. I cry ridiculously easily when I’m reading or watching something; like, if someone’s crying on screen and there’s dramatic music playing, then there’s a 100% chance that I’ll have tears trickling out too, even if I know the conflict or whatever eventually gets resolved.
Last January though, I read Ken Liu's The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and realized that short stories can pack really thoughtful, clever plot twists in a way that a lengthier work wouldn’t support. And since the entire work can center very cohesively on one theme, a short story passes along a less muddled version of the author’s message.
Starlings is an eclectic, playful collection of short stories and poems, as well as a play. My favorite stories were “Three Twilight Tales” and “Turnover”. “Three Twilight Tales” weaves three deliciously ephemeral stories set in the same village. I felt like I was tiptoeing through a fairy tale and catching fleeting glimpses of its inhabitants. In contrast, “Turnover” is set on a glistening metropolitan spaceship as a scifi dinner-table debate about the ethics of fulfilling the current generation’s desires versus leaving the choice open to their descendants.
Mixed in are shorter pieces best described as story beginnings; they read like first chapters. These short shorts were intriguing, and I would have liked to live in them for longer; but, as a format, they soon lost my interest. There weren’t really snappy conclusions to these, and like I said earlier, these characters weren’t with me long enough to build any emotional connection, so I stopped caring what each new protagonist was struggling with.
For more of my thoughts on this novel and others, check out my blog here.
