LittleTaiko - 2023 TBR Challenge

Primary List
1. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (2021)
2. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (2021)
3. Sanditon by Jane Austen (2018) - May
4. The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan (2022) - January
5. Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova (2021) - February
6. Journals of a Novel by John Steinbeck (dad) - October
7. The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman (pre-2013)
8. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (dad)
9. Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown (2021)
10. Honolulu by Alan Brennert (2020) - October
11. Earthlings by Sayaka Murata (2021) - January
12. All the Names by Jose Saramago (2020) - April

Alternate List

1. The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani (2022) - November
2. Tears of Amber by Sofia Segovia (2021)
3. Stars Over Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner (2021) - June
4. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson (2019) - April
5. The Fallen Architect by Charles Belfoure (dad) - December
6. Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson (2019) - August
7. Long Bright River by Liz Moore (2021)
8. Bittersweet by Susan Cain (2022) - July
9. Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu (2022) - March
10. Under the Sea Wind by Rachel Carson (2021) - April
11. The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton (2020) - October
12. Leave it to Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse (2019) - February

Read: 17
Remaining: 7

For the most part I channeled Marie Kondo and tried to pick books that “sparked joy” when I thought about reading them. Books that made me happy when I bought them but yet have been sitting on my shelves unread.

Larson is great, Toole in my TBR, and Steinbeck is a favourite author of mine. I'd like to read Austen's six major novels (I'll be halfway after S&S), mostly saving that until Dickens is done, but I know there's some oddities (like Dickens) such as Sanditon that make it tough to ever say one's read "all" of hers. Some of that I'm just gonna let slide (e.g. skipping Edwin Drood) so I can move on to other things, but you've got the right attitude: if that's where the excitement comes from, that's the direction to go!

Under the Sea Wind and Facing the Mountain sound fantastic. I'll be following the Japanese experience in the war too, in the internment camps with Obasan, but yours explores a side of the story I knew nothing about; I didn't realize any Japanese-American men were allowed to serve!

I’ve read a couple of Larson’s books and have been left thinking I should read him more often. A friend of mine highly recommended the Toole so I’m looking forward to it. The Steinbeck is to pair with a rereading of East of Eden this year for my book club. This is the journal he kept while writing it.

I’ve technically read Sandition, but this is supposed to be the “finished” version that someone else completed. We shall see how it holds up. I’ll probably give Edwin Drood a try next year.

Looking forward to Under the Sea Wind and Facing the Mountain as well. It’ll be interesting to compare our Japanese war experiences throughout the year.

lovely reading list! i like too many to single out just a few ^.^ sandition and the wedding dress sewing circle caught my attention specially, though.

Interesting list! Happy reading in 2023 :)

1. Earthlings by Sayaka Murata (2 stars)

This may be the weirdest book I’ve ever read. A young girl who is trying to cope with various forms of abuse decides that she is actually an alien. Her imagined magical powers help protect her when the adults in her life fail so miserably at it. Her philosophy about society being the Factory and families being Baby Factories was an interesting look at how those who don’t feel, so called normal, are constantly being coerced to fit in. Where the book lost me was in the last third when the final break with reality came. So many disturbing themes and images from this book. Definitely proof that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.

So, not off to the best start for 2023, but at least that is one book down. Feel like I need a cheerier book for my next read.

>7 LittleTaiko:, wow. All I've done so far is read the introduction to Confessions. I'm such a slacker, lol.

>7 LittleTaiko: Ooof. Yeah, that cover looks cute and the book sounds not like something I'd enjoy. Congrats on finishing your first TBR for the year though.

>8 Cecrow: I finished and started another book, neither of which were part of my challenge lol Oh well :)

>8 Cecrow: - Well, I did choose one of the shorter books to start off with. It helps to feel like I’ve accomplished something. :)

>9 Narilka: - Thanks! Yeah, cute and whimsical it was not.

>7 LittleTaiko: wow, one book ticked off already!!! what am i doing with my life??? ^_^

Murata is one of those authors I'm really interested in, but kind of afraid to read because I've heard of similar reviews to her other works. I still want to read her...but I think I need to prepare myself first. Specially for this book...sounds like it has a lot of potential trigger warnings...

>11 riida: - So many trigger warnings - incest, sexual abuse, cannibalism, etc...

It was surprising because I really did enjoy one of her other books Convenience Store Woman. Similar theme regarding someone who feels outside of the norm but more pleasant.

>12 LittleTaiko: omg...i dont think i will ever be ready for that...i'm really interested with this author though, so maybe i'll try Convenience Store Woman instead. but not any time soon!

I loved Earthlings way more than I did like Convenience Store Woman. I do agree wholeheartedly with the trigger warnings and that it's not a book to be enjoyed, at least not by the majority of people, however.
Maybe, if my life and childhood/teens hadn't been as chaotic as they were, I'd feel lost by this book as well. As it is, I do somehow 'get' this book and the way it turned out. I don't agree with the conclusions and decisions of the MCs, but I feel them... Does that make me VERY weird? :'D
>13 riida: Be assured, Convenience Store Woman is much more 'harmless' in the way of storytelling and in the topics it touches!

>14 Yuki-Onna: nope, not weird at all ^_^ i think there are 'difficult' books that you just know has value in reading anyway just by the aura the book/author has built up...i try(!!) not to avoid these, but i do approach them with caution :p

>14 Yuki-Onna: - I love that you posted so I can get a different perspective. It's what makes reading great. Definitely not weird at all, I felt for Natsuki and the fact that the adults in her life really failed her. I think it's because that I was rooting so much for her that I was disappointed by the last third of the book.

2. The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan (4 stars)

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle wavered on being a 5 star but overall I went with a 4 - loved the story but there were a few pages that felt repetitive and some character changes happened so quickly. She does such a great job of picking out a not as familiar aspect of WWII in England and bringing it to life. This time it’s about how women coped with the rations on clothes and how they were encouraged to mend and reuse everything that they could, including wedding dresses. Three women at different points in their lives and facing dilemmas headline the story and I quite enjoyed the journey with each one. Probably a tad predictable but it was what I needed and wanted it to be.

>17 LittleTaiko: i like the premise of this book. sounds like something nice to read in the bath. with candles. and wine ^_^

3. Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova (5 stars)

Man I loved this book. Learned something on almost every page. It’s almost impossible to distill it down to a few thoughts, but I can try. Memory is important and the business of creating those memories is complicated, you need to pay attention, it helps for what you are trying to remember to be meaningful, you are still you regardless of what you remember, be positive, don’t worry about not being able to remember someone’s name - it’s not a sign of anything bad and is completely normal, getting enough sleep is crucial. I could go on and on.

Finally finished another from the list. Just got it in by the end of the month. Working on the Wodehouse book so should have that completed soon.

I should read a book like that, I've a few pet theories that I'd like to compare with the actual research. I definitely believe the part about getting enough sleep, and the requirement to be attentive.

In another topic in a different group (The Green Dragon) my attention was brought to Lost and Found: Why Losing Our Memories Doesn't Mean Losing Ourselves. The conversation centered on its claim that memory is essentially unreliable since we reshape our memories over time, each time we remember them, and eventually they can cease to resemble the actual original event. That was a scary concept.

>19 LittleTaiko: ive been back and forth deciding if i should get this book...ive stacked my shelves with non-fics i havent gotten to reading and am trying to be more picky ^_^ trying...

id really love to improve my memory...i have lots of things i want to learn, lots of books i want to re-live in my head...and my head is not cooperative at the best of times :p

>20 Cecrow: - Funny you should mention that - it was a key part of one of the chapters. It is frightening at how easily our memories change over time. Each time we bring up a memory it can change with new information received or other perspectives. Then we save the memory with the new information.

It's also quite scary how our memories can be easily swayed by other people. For instance test subjects watched the same video of a car accident and then were asked to estimate how fast the cars were going. The subjects who were asked how fast they were going when they smashed into each other remembered the cars going about 10 mph faster than the people who were asked how fast they were going when they contacted each other.

Needless to say after reading this book I highly distrust eye-witness accounts of events.

The most fascinating study to me involved reactions to the Challenger space shuttle explosion. Twenty-four hours after it happened, a couple of psychologists had their students answer some questions about where they were, who were they with, how did they feel, etc...Then 2 1/2 years later they were asked the students the same questions. 25% of the students had completely different answers. Half of the students only remembered the answer to one question. Even crazier, only 25% of the students even remembered answering these questions the first time and were quite befuddled to find out that their answers were different and were adamant that the later answers were correct.

Lots of food for thought with this book.

>21 riida: - If it helps, it's a short book - about 250 pages and is easy to read. It's not necessarily about improving your memory, but it does make you feel much better about what you forget. It's more about explaining how memories are made and then about how they aren't always reliable.

4. Leave it to Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse (4 stars)

When all else fails in life, read a P.G. Wodehouse book. It’s pretty much guaranteed to put you in a good mood. I’m finally branching away from the Wooster/Jeeves books since I’ve read all of them. I was delighted with the absurd coincidences in the book and charmed by Psmith. Usual Wodehouse fair with a castle, mistaken identities, romance mishaps, etc...

>20 Cecrow: & >22 LittleTaiko: That's fascinating. I may need to add those books to my wish list.

5. Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu (3 stars)

Historical novels spanning three generations must be tricky things to write. If it's too long you risk having the reader get bogged down partway through the story and losing interest. Make it too short and it's hard to feel vested in the characters and their struggles.

This book fell more in the second camp. I enjoyed it but never felt completely caught up in the story. It opens in China during 1939 with Japan threatening to continue invading China. Meilin and her young son Renshu are forced to flee along with other family members. The book quickly moves through specific struggles that they have and before you know it Renshu is graduating from school and heading to the United States for college.

The remainder of the book follows Renshu, now known as Henry, and his life and family, especially his daughter Lily. Henry doesn't want to associate with anything Chinese related and would prefer that Lily ignores that part of her heritage. She doesn't understand his reluctance and he doesn't help since he refuses to discuss his past.

In a nutshell I liked it and learned more about a part of history that I'm unfamiliar with.

Sounds alright to me, if the time periods are interleaved. Sequential wouldn't work in short format for sure.

6. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson (3 stars)

As mysteries go it's not fabulous, too many coincidences for my taste. However, the characters were so enjoyable that it was hard to put down. One thing I can always count on with Atkinson is that I'll enjoy the subtle humor in how her characters view life.

Almost finished with All the Names and have started Under the Sea Wind.

7. All The Names by Jose Saramago (stars)

I had forgotten that one of the challenges of reading Saramago is the lack of punctuation within the dialogue. It doesn't bother me but just requires more concentration on my end. I quite enjoy his observations on life and society.

This book follows Senhor Jose, a low-level clerk with Central Registry. He is responsible for updating life and death information for the citizens. Problems arise when he inexplicably decides to start researching the life of an anonymous woman and upsets the status quo. The beauty is that it's set in an unnamed country and city and could be a stand-in for almost any place. The bureaucracy of the Central Registry is fully on display in the following two paragraphs.

"The first row of desks, parallel with the counter, is occupied by the eight clerks whose job it is to deal with the general public. Behind them is a row of four desks, again arranged symmetrically on either side of an axis that might be extended from the main entrance until it disappears into the rear, into the dark depths of the building. Theses desks along tot he senior clerks. Beyond the senior clerks can be seen the deputy registrars, of whom there are two. Finally, isolated and alone, as is only right and proper, sits the Registrar, who is normally addressed as "Sir."

"The distribution of tasks among the various employees follows a simple rule, which is that the auto of the members of each category is to do as much work as they possibly can, so that only a small part of that work need be passed to the category above. This means that the clerks are obliged to work without cease from morning to night, whereas the senior clerks do so only now and then, the deputies very rarely, and the Registrar almost never."

8. Under The Sea-Wind by Rachel Carson (4 stars)

This was smartly broken up into three sections, the first focused on life on the shore, the second on the open sea and the final section on the bottom of the sea. Each section highlights several different types of animals. The author also gives names to some of them which makes their journeys even more interesting. You can't help but root for Scomber, the mackerel, who we see from the time he was an egg to his maturation.

The circle of life is in full force and highlights the brutality of nature. A ghost crab searches and finds beach fleas to eat. Later the ghost crab gets alarmed by all the birds flying about overhead as well as a fisherman walking about and takes refuge in the surf. However there it is quickly eaten by a bass who is later eaten by a shark. The remains of the bass come on shore for the beach fleas to dine on.

9. Sanditon by Jane Austen (3 stars)

This was Jane Austen's last novel. She only managed to complete 11 chapters before she died. Another author completed the novel in 1975. It's a sign of how much the new author was able to capture Austen's voice in that it was a smooth transition from the original chapters to the new ones. Unfortunately the first eleven chapters weren't as strong as the setup of characters was slow to unfold. Once everyone was in place then it picked up and was quite enjoyable. Not sure I thought the events in the end were very Austen-ish and in fact were a tad silly. That being said, the heroine Charlotte, was very much an Austen type character and I loved her balance of sensibility and romance.

>31 LittleTaiko:, I've been on the fence about reading it, sounds like I can stay there for now, lol

Yes, I would keep it very firmly on the fence.

10. Stars Over Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner. (3 stars)

The first half of this book was exactly what I wanted it to be - two young women who meet in Hollywood 1938 where they both work for the studio filming Gone With the Wind. Loved the little glances into what was going on behind the scenes. Violet and Audrey are completely different people with their own dreams and desires but they mesh nicely as friends. Violet is the out of town innocent and Audrey is the ambitious girl who knows more about life.

The book lost a little steam as the women grew older and the choices they make at various points in their lives have serious consequences. I think that we are supposed to feel most sympathetic towards Violet, but by the end, her tunnel vision and stubbornness regarding her decisions was irritating. Audrey ended up being the more mature and well-rounded adult.

>32 Cecrow: may i join you on the fence? ^_^

11. Bittersweet by Susan Cain. (2 stars)

This was so not for me. I really should have paid better attention to what the book was about before purchasing. I was solely going on the fact that it was by Susan Cain who wrote Quiet a book I related to.

The problem for me is that it turns out that while I’m an introvert which explains why I liked her first book so much, I am not much of a bittersweet person by nature. Kind of surprising since I’m the type to cry at commercials, TV shows, movies, but after taking the quiz in the book and being confused that there are people who would actually answer yes to most of the questions, I quickly figured out that this might not be for me.

I tried but it read like a self help book which is not a genre I generally enjoy. Lots of generalization, not much science. The chapter about people who are trying to stop death from ever happening really had me rolling my eyes.

Anyway, at least that is done. Onward ho!

>36 LittleTaiko: oooh...that surprised me, i loved Quiet too. good to know i can skip this one.

maybe i'm touchy-feely, but not bittersweet (?) too...now i'm really curious about that quiz! ^_^

Here’s a link to the quiz from the author’s website. Apparently I’m cheerfully optimistic. That sounds like it could be annoying to be around. 😂

https://susancain.net/susans-bittersweet-quiz/

>38 LittleTaiko: thanks for the link! turned out that i am in between sanguine and bittersweet...which perfectly reflects the persistent numbness i feel inside 😂

we should get together sometime, cheerful and numb, and annoy/perplex people around us 😂

>39 riida: - Love the idea! We'd make a nice balanced team.

12. Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson (3 stars)

Perfectly nice mystery set in the most northern part of Iceland. It's sort of a police procedural since the main character Ari Thor is a detective, though very much fresh out of school and this is his first job. Ari Thor is very much at that stage of life where he hasn't realized that the whole world doesn't revolve around him. He gets slowly better over the course of the book, but I'm assuming there will be more growth over the rest of the series.

Once the book got past setting up his move and first few days on the job, it settled into the actual mystery with alternating points of view. There was something off about the way the story was told, but I'm chalking this up to the translation maybe being a bit lacking.

Not sure if I'll read more in the series or not. Probably one where I won't go out of my way to pick one up, but wouldn't say no if somebody gave me one. I am sort of curious as to how the series progresses.

>41 LittleTaiko: interesting. i remember a few years ago there was a boom of scandinavian crime fiction books, but i don't think i've read one (or one i care to remember?). it feels like a shame cause i imagine i'd love the atmosphere of a mystery set in the region.

A good one of its type that I've read is Smilla's Sense of Snow.

>43 Cecrow: oh wow...

"She thinks more highly of snow and ice than she does of love"

auto-add to TBR 😂

oh, i just realized (cause the books are staring me in the face right now), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was Scandinavian, right? I loved those books and I want to re-read them before reading the new books added after Larsson passed away.

>45 riida: - Yes, the Stieg Larsson are very much part of the Scandinavian series. There's a series a different series set in Iceland that I enjoyed by Arnaldur Indrioason. Lots of atmosphere, plus lots of drinking of coffee and smoking of cigarettes. It almost made my lungs burn just reading the books. :)

>46 LittleTaiko: ooooh yes, i'm up for lots of coffee drinking ^_^ i'd be looking mr. indrioason up!

also, i was looking through my old unread books last night, and i discoverred a copy of Snowblind 😂 might as well read it now (since it seems i'm starting to build a scandi-TBR)

>43 Cecrow: just bought me a copy of Smilla's Sense of Snow ^_^

I’m actually about to do a real life Scandinavian tour (plus Finland). We leave Sunday for a two week trip through Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, and Helsinki. Can’t wait!

Very nice. Finland isn't part of Scandinavia? My grandfather's family came from Finland, would be nice to see it.

Apparently not. Up until recently I had assumed they were. Once I started planning our trip I discovered that they weren’t. They are part of the Nordic region but aren’t considered part of the Scandinavian region.

>48 LittleTaiko: wow! i'm sure you'll enjoy it! only been to finland once (to attend a friend's wedding) and i loved it ^_^

13. Journal of a Novel by John Steinbeck (4 stars)

Read this in tandem with a rereading of East of Eden. Quite enjoyed seeing behind the scenes.

• The man really loved his pencils. There were multiple mentions throughout the book about his pencils getting too short and how he preferred the long pencils. Also how they needed to be round. I just find it hard to believe that he wrote the whole book by pencil.
• Writers are normal people. He had things going on his personal life that disrupted his writing. He had doubts, procrastinated some days, got sick, etc...
• He put so much thought into writing this book and had very specific reasons for his choices.
• The Hamilton portion of the book is based on his family. He even makes a very brief appearance towards the end.
• The difficult parts of the book were hard for him to write and he had to sort of prepare himself to get through those sections.

>52 LittleTaiko:, nice; I've never read East of Eden but would like to within the next couple of years. That sounds like great companion reading.

>52 LittleTaiko: as a girl who collects pens and pencils, its insta love when you wrote that steinbeck loved his pencils ^_^ now im compelled to pick one of his books!

Missed that part. Reminds me of my thoughts about Dickens. That dude used pen and ink to write his serial novels, chapter after chapter. Pretty crazy by today's standards.

14. The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton (4 stars)

Why oh why did I wait so long to read this book? Bought it back in 2020 because I loved the author’s first book, The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Didn’t quite understand everything in that book but enjoyed it even so. Maybe I was afraid of a similar lack of understanding. Fortunately that wasn’t the case. I had a hard time putting this down - it’s part historical fiction and part mystery with a hint of fantasy and a sprinkle of Sherlock Holmes. Such good characters, especially Sarah. I almost felt like I was on the ship and quite relieved that I wasn’t, given the stark conditions of a ship in 1634. There is a bit of a fantasy/religious element that normally isn’t my cup of tea, but ended up being a realistic part of the story.

>56 LittleTaiko: ooooh this makes me excited for this book ^_^ i, too, have put reading this off, cause i loved the 7 1/2 death's so much but there was not that much hype for dark water, and i was afraid for getting disappointed i guess...

>57 riida: - He has a new book coming out next year - I am determined to not wait three years to read that one!

>58 LittleTaiko: seems i need to read dark water soon!

15. Honolulu by Alan Brennert (3 stars)

Moloka'i, by the same author, is a favorite book of mine so perhaps I went in with too high of expectations. While I still enjoyed this book it just didn't wow me. The story is told by Regret, so named because there was a time when Korean parents didn't feel the urge to name their daughters and instead gave them a nickname which reflected the feelings of the parents about having a girl.

Regret changes her name to Jin when she leaves her family as a picture bride and heads to Hawai'i in 1914 for what she hopes is a better life. Once there her life intersects with key figures from that time. It's a little too amazing how many significant events and people were part of her life. It sometimes felt like the author was so focused on telling the history that her story was forced to fit. That being said it was very informative and I learned quite a bit about life in Hawai'i in the early 1900's.

So, I have started Guns of August from my list as well as The Good Left Undone in an effort to balance my fiction/non-fiction remaining books. Hopefully I'll be back here in a few days with at least one of them finished.

>60 LittleTaiko: sounds like a tragic story that reminds me too much of similar real life stories i heard growing up. i somehow want and not want to read it at the same time. (i love the linked book's cover)

>60 LittleTaiko: - I guess it is a tragic backstory but somehow with his books there is a lot of hope and optimism.

16. The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani (3 stars)

Confusing, touching, educational are just a few words to describe this book. It's primarily a WWII novel set primarily in Italy with a brief trip to France and Scotland thrown in. The story is related during the present day as an older woman nearing the end of her life feels an urgency to share her family history with her children and grandchildren. The confusion comes from hints about a big secret but there were not big reveals. Adding to the confusion were the random characters who would appear for a chapter and then overall disappear. The connections weren't clear.

I was unaware of the Scottish/Italian conflict during the war where Italians were rounded up and shipped out since it was assumed that they were the enemy. Overall I liked the portion of the book set during the war better than the modern section.

Sounds like there's parallels to Obasan which I read earlier, a prejudiced knee-jerk reaction in wartime. Important subject matter, sorry the execution was lacking.

17. The Fallen Architect by Charles Belfoure (3 stars)

Interesting premise - an English architect has built a grand theater in 1900. When it collapses on opening night and several people are killed, he is found guilty of murder and sentenced to five years in prison. The story starts when he gets out of prison.

He knows that his design wasn’t flawed but has no way to prove it. The story is part mystery as he tries to figure out what really happened, part rebuilding of a life and family, and a whole of variety theater details since he gets a job painting cloths for a leading variety show producer.

Not sure the book ever felt like it knew what type of book it wanted to be, but I enjoyed it overall and was a bit surprised by the end.

>66 LittleTaiko: very interesting premise! i wonder if its based on a true story...i seem to have read of a similar event in a history trivia quiz or something...

>67 riida: - I wondered about that too so checked his author notes. He says he was actually inspired by a bridge collapse that killed several people.

>1 LittleTaiko: just thought I'd let you know that I finally started reading your recommendation, The River People and I absolutely love it.

>69 fuzzi: - Yay! I'm glad you're enjoying it.

omg ... this is last year's challenge, I thought it was for 2024 because of the new posts, lol. I was like ... 17 read already???

I wish! I've been stalled lately on the challenge. Currently in a long book so it's slowing down my pace.