I haven't read any from your list! I only got through three books this month because one was Demon Copperhead and the other was The Secret History and they are behemouths. I was looking forward to reading some of the Booker shortlist but the reviews have been such a mixed bag.
They are SUCH behemoths, so another book alongside those is an achievement in my eyes! Yeh the Booker shortlist is a mixed bag of reviews - because the judges are different every year the prize never feels consistent. Which I guess has pros and cons! I felt that many of the books this year were too overly similar. The Bee Sting looks really good but I’m intimidated by the size (and hardback price haha). If I survive you is the only other shortlist I’d be interested in reading! Before the shortlist was announced I bought ‘The House of Doors’ which was on the longlist so I’m interested to read that and see how it compares! Maybe we need to read the bee sting together 😉🐝💖
If The Bee Sting wins the prize I am IN! Its so long :( lol I really want to read it but its hard when I could read two others in the same amount of time...
I have been wanting to read Blacktop Wasteland!! I read Razorblade Tears last year (or was it 2 years ago...?) and am excited to see your thoughts on it. Hopefully I'll have read BW by then!
Did you enjoy Razorblade Tears? Someone recommended me BW over RT because they said RT was quite violent. It’ll be interesting to compare and contrast though! Definitely get round to reading BW, it was fantastic!
I remember putting it down for a bit and picking it back up and ultimately enjoying it…I weirdly cannot remember why I put it down in the middle of reading. I don’t think it was the violence but maybe—it could have been that I wanted a break. I just remember that I was into it, I fell out of it, I got back into it 😂
I thought I had read most of Vonnegut’s novels years ago, but your description of Sirens of Titans doesn’t sound familiar, so probably I didn’t.
I had kind of forgotten about Vonnegut, but recently watched the new documentary, Unstuck in Time. A thorough, personal look at Vonnegut over the years and a little heartbreaking too. Recommended to anyone familiar with his work. It should be on Hulu.
The description might not sound familiar because the storyline was so confusing! I was disappointed I didn’t enjoy it as much as his other work. I still have ‘Slaughter House Five’ to read and I have ‘Welcome to the Monkey House’ on my shelf. I’m impressed you’ve read so much of him though. Which book of his is your favourite (if you have one?)
I hadn’t heard about this documentary at all thank you so much for telling me! I only know bits here and there about his personal life so I’d love to know more. He’s so incredibly interesting.
I suppose Slaughterhouse-Five is the most quotable novel and I know people who still reference that novel by quoting it (“If you’re ever in Cody, Wyoming, just ask for Wild Bob”). A young relative who was teaching 10th grade English thinks highly of this one too.
I’m not sure I’ve read all of Monkey House, although I did come across some of those stories in sci-fi anthologies when I was a kid.
This historical photo of Vonnegut with fellow writers is from when men, even postmodern writers, still wore neckties to dinner:
Yes, most quotable and most famous I guess. I think Monkey House has a great variety of stories in there, maybe one for you to revisit to get the full experience! And what a great photo, thanks for sharing!
Yes, re-reading is good to do from time to time, if only to see if you’ve changed any as a reader.
I did some of that during the pandemic with several books from childhood, including Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe (both hold up, even the unabridged Crusoe with its inconsistently spelled 300-year-old English).
I haven’t read much fiction published this century and was wondering if I should change that. I’m looking to blogs like this one for ideas.
Yes, seeing the way you've changed as a reader is so interesting. Re-reading childhood books as an adult is so fun.
Thank you Frank I hope my newsletter can be of help to give you some ideas of what to read! I can be an advocate of fiction published in this century - there are some really great books. It sounds like you like adventure centred books - do you like sci-fi at all? If you do - last year I read 'Project Hail Mary' by Andy Weir and it was absolutely fantastic.
I read sci-fi almost exclusively as a teenager, but lost interest at some point in college. Although I did read several of the classics during the pandemic: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (ie, Blade Runner), The Martian Chronicles, I Sing the Body Electric!, The Door into Summer (after seeing a new film adaptation: https://www.netflix.com/title/81517003). And of course The Three-Body Problem everyone was talking about. All very enjoyable.
I haven't read any from your list! I only got through three books this month because one was Demon Copperhead and the other was The Secret History and they are behemouths. I was looking forward to reading some of the Booker shortlist but the reviews have been such a mixed bag.
They are SUCH behemoths, so another book alongside those is an achievement in my eyes! Yeh the Booker shortlist is a mixed bag of reviews - because the judges are different every year the prize never feels consistent. Which I guess has pros and cons! I felt that many of the books this year were too overly similar. The Bee Sting looks really good but I’m intimidated by the size (and hardback price haha). If I survive you is the only other shortlist I’d be interested in reading! Before the shortlist was announced I bought ‘The House of Doors’ which was on the longlist so I’m interested to read that and see how it compares! Maybe we need to read the bee sting together 😉🐝💖
If The Bee Sting wins the prize I am IN! Its so long :( lol I really want to read it but its hard when I could read two others in the same amount of time...
Okay it’s a DEAL if it wins! And I completely agree such a long book takes a different type of commitment, almost have to mentally prep for it 😂
I have been wanting to read Blacktop Wasteland!! I read Razorblade Tears last year (or was it 2 years ago...?) and am excited to see your thoughts on it. Hopefully I'll have read BW by then!
Did you enjoy Razorblade Tears? Someone recommended me BW over RT because they said RT was quite violent. It’ll be interesting to compare and contrast though! Definitely get round to reading BW, it was fantastic!
I remember putting it down for a bit and picking it back up and ultimately enjoying it…I weirdly cannot remember why I put it down in the middle of reading. I don’t think it was the violence but maybe—it could have been that I wanted a break. I just remember that I was into it, I fell out of it, I got back into it 😂
I thought I had read most of Vonnegut’s novels years ago, but your description of Sirens of Titans doesn’t sound familiar, so probably I didn’t.
I had kind of forgotten about Vonnegut, but recently watched the new documentary, Unstuck in Time. A thorough, personal look at Vonnegut over the years and a little heartbreaking too. Recommended to anyone familiar with his work. It should be on Hulu.
The description might not sound familiar because the storyline was so confusing! I was disappointed I didn’t enjoy it as much as his other work. I still have ‘Slaughter House Five’ to read and I have ‘Welcome to the Monkey House’ on my shelf. I’m impressed you’ve read so much of him though. Which book of his is your favourite (if you have one?)
I hadn’t heard about this documentary at all thank you so much for telling me! I only know bits here and there about his personal life so I’d love to know more. He’s so incredibly interesting.
I suppose Slaughterhouse-Five is the most quotable novel and I know people who still reference that novel by quoting it (“If you’re ever in Cody, Wyoming, just ask for Wild Bob”). A young relative who was teaching 10th grade English thinks highly of this one too.
I’m not sure I’ve read all of Monkey House, although I did come across some of those stories in sci-fi anthologies when I was a kid.
This historical photo of Vonnegut with fellow writers is from when men, even postmodern writers, still wore neckties to dinner:
https://biblioklept.org/2020/01/29/photograph-from-the-postmodernists-dinner-jill-krementz/
Yes, most quotable and most famous I guess. I think Monkey House has a great variety of stories in there, maybe one for you to revisit to get the full experience! And what a great photo, thanks for sharing!
Yes, re-reading is good to do from time to time, if only to see if you’ve changed any as a reader.
I did some of that during the pandemic with several books from childhood, including Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe (both hold up, even the unabridged Crusoe with its inconsistently spelled 300-year-old English).
I haven’t read much fiction published this century and was wondering if I should change that. I’m looking to blogs like this one for ideas.
Yes, seeing the way you've changed as a reader is so interesting. Re-reading childhood books as an adult is so fun.
Thank you Frank I hope my newsletter can be of help to give you some ideas of what to read! I can be an advocate of fiction published in this century - there are some really great books. It sounds like you like adventure centred books - do you like sci-fi at all? If you do - last year I read 'Project Hail Mary' by Andy Weir and it was absolutely fantastic.
I read sci-fi almost exclusively as a teenager, but lost interest at some point in college. Although I did read several of the classics during the pandemic: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (ie, Blade Runner), The Martian Chronicles, I Sing the Body Electric!, The Door into Summer (after seeing a new film adaptation: https://www.netflix.com/title/81517003). And of course The Three-Body Problem everyone was talking about. All very enjoyable.
I’ve added Andy Weir to my check-into-it list.