Making up for 10 Lost Years

ClydeTallyBump

Read a lot until I started working full time and basically went my 20s without reading many books.

The pandemic has given me time to read and I realise now what I have missed. My love for reading has totally been reignited.

This is what I have read since April:

The Beekeeper of Aleppo- Christy Lefteri
Salem's Lot- Stephen King
The Volunteer- Jack Fairweather
It's about bloody time. Period- Emma Barnett
Uncovered- Leah Lax
The Lord of the Rings- The Fellowship of the Ring/ The Two Towers/ The Return of the King- JRR Tolkien
The Disaster Artist- Greg Sestero
Their Eyes were Watching God- Zora Neale Hurston
The Guest List- Lucy Foley
The Marrying of Chani Kaufman- Eve Harris
So Lucky- Dawn O'Porter
Paper Aeroplanes- Dawn O'Porter
The Dressmaker's Gift- Fiona Valpy
The Hunting Party- Lucy Foley
Goose- Dawn O'Porter
Conversations with Friends- Sally Rooney
Normal People- Sally Rooney
The Librarian of Auschwitz- Antonio Iturbe
The Children's Block- Otto B Kraus

ClydeTallyBump

The 2 books I least enjoyed were the two Sally Rooney's.

I hated the lack of speech marks.

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How we disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee.

A very moving story about comfort women in Singapore during WW2.

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The Young Survivors by Debra Barnes.

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Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins.

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Renia's Diary by Renia Spiegel.

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Disobedience by Naomi Alderman

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My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell.

Black Sheep

ClydeTallyBump wrote: »

The 2 books I least enjoyed were the two Sally Rooney's.

I hated the lack of speech marks.

I haven't read any Sally Rooney, but this was a feature of Irvine Welsh when I read him.

Loathed it, makes it difficult to establish who is saying what, and just felt like a literary affectation.

ClydeTallyBump

Black Sheep wrote: »

I haven't read any Sally Rooney, but this was a feature of Irvine Welsh when I read him.

Loathed it, makes it difficult to establish who is saying what, and just felt like a literary affectation.

I remember struggling with Irvine Welsh too, many years ago. His dialectal style of writing was a huge struggle at times too.

However, I did enjoy his characters. Rooney's are so self-absorbed at times, that I detested all of them.

ClydeTallyBump

Dear Child by Romy Hausmann.

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Be More Keanu by James King.

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Educated by Tara Westover.

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Untamed by Glennon Doyle.

Asking For It by Louise O'Neill.

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Cows by Dawn O'Porter.

The Ratline by Philippe Sands.

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The Bigamist by Mary Turner Thomson.

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Pretty Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.

Needed a light read.

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The Witches-Roald Dahl.

The Twits- Roald Dahl.

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Witch by Finbar Hawkins.

IAMAMORON

Op I would like to try a few of these.

Any chance you could give us a really basic synopsis and rate them?

I haven't much time, you sound like you are not wasting any time on your catch up.

Some direction on depth would also be greatly appreciated, I have a poor attention span and sometimes I can struggle if I am not involved early enough. That usually means it ends up under the bed and I would hate to be missing anything decent.

ClydeTallyBump

IAMAMORON wrote: »

Op I would like to try a few of these.

Any chance you could give us a really basic synopsis and rate them?

I haven't much time, you sound like you are not wasting any time on your catch up.

Some direction on depth would also be greatly appreciated, I have a poor attention span and sometimes I can struggle if I am not involved early enough. That usually means it ends up under the bed and I would hate to be missing anything decent.

Of course! Out of everything I had have read so far, I would say my favourites are 'How we disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee', 'Educated by Tara Westover' and 'My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. I would definitely recommend these to you.

'How we disappeared' enthralled me. It moves from the past to the present, then back to the past and so forth, so I found myself constantly asking questions about the characters and why people were behaving in certain ways etc. I didn't know much about the actions of the Japanese in Singapore during WW2 and this book actually made me go look up articles pertaining to the main theme of the book.

'Educated' is a memoir. I found myself in disbelief, many times during it. I am the same age as the author (30s) so it was crazy to read about the life she was leading in the States, while I was here living in rural Ireland. Some of what happens in it is alarming and at times, uncomfortable. I found myself researching the family and the author afterwards as I really wondering whether some parts were truthful.

'My Dark Vanessa' is a fantastic example of grooming and manipulation. I found the main character infuriating at times, but I was desperate to read if she was going to reconcile with herself. It can be uncomfortable to read at times, a little like Lolita.

IAMAMORON

ClydeTallyBump wrote: »

Of course! Out of everything I had have read so far, I would say my favourites are 'How we disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee', 'Educated by Tara Westover' and 'My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. I would definitely recommend these to you.

'How we disappeared' enthralled me. It moves from the past to the present, then back to the past and so forth, so I found myself constantly asking questions about the characters and why people were behaving in certain ways etc. I didn't know much about the actions of the Japanese in Singapore during WW2 and this book actually made me go look up articles pertaining to the main theme of the book.

'Educated' is a memoir. I found myself in disbelief, many times during it. I am the same age as the author (30s) so it was crazy to read about the life she was leading in the States, while I was here living in rural Ireland. Some of what happens in it is alarming and at times, uncomfortable. I found myself researching the family and the author afterwards as I really wondering whether some parts were truthful.

'My Dark Vanessa' is a fantastic example of grooming and manipulation. I found the main character infuriating at times, but I was desperate to read if she was going to reconcile with herself. It can be uncomfortable to read at times, a little like Lolita.

These sound cool. I will pick one up this week, probably Singapore in WW2, sounds fascinating.

ClydeTallyBump

IAMAMORON wrote: »

These sound cool. I will pick one up this week, probably Singapore in WW2, sounds fascinating.

Cool! Let me know what you think of it. I don't know anyone who has read it yet apart from myself. So interested to hear others' thoughts.

ClydeTallyBump

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.

It had me hooked from early on. Ending left me wanting more.

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Caelainn Hogan's Republic of Shame.

Harrowing and tough to read at times. I'm in my 30's and I didn't realise that some of the homes were still open when I was a teenager.

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Witch by Finbar Hawkins.

A quick read that I read over Halloween. A little confusing at times but ultimately an interesting read.

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The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith.

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The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

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The Education of Little Tree by Forest Carter.

A beautiful, moving book. I can't believe it was written by a man whose morality I would really question.

If anyone is going to read it, read it and then look up Forest Carter after, not beforehand.

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Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang.

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So aiming to read at least 60 books this year in 2021.

1. The Dark by John McGahren. Very dark and desolate at times. I imagine it represents 1960s parochial Ireland quite well.

2. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. Honestly, I struggled to finish it. I just couldn't take to the insect characters at all.

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3. Esio Trot by Roald Dahl.

4. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett.

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5. A Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang.


6. The Conjurer by Luanne G. Smith.

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7. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Ju.

I couldn't put this down. I had no idea Korea ranked so lowly for gender equality.

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8. Columbine by Dave Cullen.

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9. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

I loved this book. I couldn't put it down. It is set in a dystopian world where children have 'AFs', artificial friends and where society is more inequitable than today.

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10. Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan.

Honestly, not an exciting read at all.

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11. Jew (ish) by Matt Greene.

An interesting read on what it means to be Jewish.

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12. The Last Girl by Nadia Murad.

Harrowing.

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13. My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress by Rachel DeLoache Williams.

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14. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman.


15. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.

y0ssar1an22

you could give wheel of time a spin. think there's about 13 (pretty chunky) books in it.

fantasy like LOTR, but moreso

ClydeTallyBump

y0ssar1an22 wrote: »

you could give wheel of time a spin. think there's about 13 (pretty chunky) books in it.

fantasy like LOTR, but moreso

Cool, thanks for the recommendation! Will definitely give them a look!

ClydeTallyBump

16. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell.

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17. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata.

Very quirky!

JustAThought

A lot of Genocide & Childrens books on these lists so not sure who is reading this & if mine is appropriate :

I’m reading ‘Devils Knot’ by Mara Leveritt. I’d seen a documentary on the subject a few years back but the book is just spine chilling.

Its a journalist writing about her/his (Mara!?) investigating of the arrest, subsequent investigation or lack thereof and trial of 3 teenagers - some with solid alibis - for the murder of 3 other little boys in a dirt poor part of West Memphis where most of the people had little education, less employment, and righteous commitment to the Church . A $35,000 reward was offered for any information leading to arrests and the police and local juvenile officer put out a rumour there was witchcraft involved...

True story and bone chilling. I’m going to need another kilo of chocolate or bucket of valium to try and get over it.

bamayang

You're burning through them! I really enjoyed Educated, crazy story. There are questions about the truthfulness of it, but for the sake of the read I just assumed it was all true.

ClydeTallyBump

18. The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-hwan.

ClydeTallyBump

JustAThought wrote: »

A lot of Genocide & Childrens books on these lists so not sure who is reading this & if mine is appropriate :

I’m reading ‘Devils Knot’ by Mara Leveritt. I’d seen a documentary on the subject a few years back but the book is just spine chilling.

Its a journalist writing about her/his (Mara!?) investigating of the arrest, subsequent investigation or lack thereof and trial of 3 teenagers - some with solid alibis - for the murder of 3 other little boys in a dirt poor part of West Memphis where most of the people had little education, less employment, and righteous commitment to the Church . A $35,000 reward was offered for any information leading to arrests and the police and local juvenile officer put out a rumour there was witchcraft involved...

True story and bone chilling. I’m going to need another kilo of chocolate or bucket of valium to try and get over it.

'Devils Knot' sounds interesting. I must add it to my list. I read about this story a few years ago and I did query the role of some of the parents in the murders.

ClydeTallyBump

bamayang wrote: »

You're burning through them! I really enjoyed Educated, crazy story. There are questions about the truthfulness of it, but for the sake of the read I just assumed it was all true.

I am very determined to try read as much as possible. I really feel I missed out over the last few years where I put work first.

I was questioning the veracity of parts of it while reading it. Though, if even half of it is true, it is still crazy! I'm around the same age as the woman so it was mindboggling for me to think her life was like that as a child and teenager in the same era as me.

ClydeTallyBump

19. The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili.