Thursday, September 4, 2014

Required Reading: September 2014



It's difficult to categorize August as good or bad. The month started out fun and fast. We had a great F2F discussion last August 16, and I was able to finish two (2) David Mitchell books. Then, the flu decided to give me a break, which was really awful because I was not able to finish my reading requirement. But then, my friends (Monique, Angus, and Bennard) and I launched The Short Story Station -a blog solely dedicated to short stories. Please come and visit us. 

  • The Once and Future King by TH White - 4/5 stars - Ronnie dared me to read this book and even provided the audiobook. It turned out to be very engaging indeed, especially with Neville Jason's narration.
  • Fear of Flying by Erica Jong -3/5 stars - TFG August book, our F2F discussion was alive and very interesting.
  • number9dream by David Mitchell - 5/5 stars - It was a roller coaster ride, exhilarating and mind-boggling. 
  • Black Swan Green by David Mitchell 5/5 stars - Jason Taylor is nothing but adorable, and narrator Kirby Heyborne gave true justice to this story.

I still have to finish Ghostwritten and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, but that's okay. I am not lining up anything else for this month. Besides, we have Boys and Girls by Alice Munro and Jon by George Saunders for SSS this month. And I have to re-browse through The Storied Life A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin for the joint TFG-FFP discussion later this month.

The BER months are here, and September is just the beginning of some amazing things to happen. I have some surprises reserved for the month that I am excited about. 

Let me know what you have in mind this month.





12 comments:

  1. Can't wait to see you again by the end of the month, Louize! Haven't started reading the Zevin novel yet. Figured that I'll read it in just a few days before the event. That way, I'm in no danger of forgetting details, which usually happens when I read a book weeks in advance of the discussion. Hehehehehe.

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    1. It's a quick read, Peter. You'll breeze right through it.
      See you soon! :)

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  2. Yay for all the DM fans all over the world! :D And I'm SO glad that we created SSS. Another yay for us! :)

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    1. I'm really glad too. Everything is just so exciting, I have to remind myself to post gradually. LOL:)

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  3. Oooh David Mitchell <3. I am looking forward to reading hos other works too. I am now a fan! :)

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  4. Black Swan Green! I must listen to the audio. Also, I've read T.H. White years ago and the story of King Arthur is buried in my head hahaha.

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    1. All this time, I thought Kirby Heyborne is English because of his accent. I must say, someone that can narrate "Black Swan Green" and "Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After" as engaging as that is really good. :)

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  5. Oh wow, so all the Mitchell reads you have gone through so far are all rated 5 stars? Not surprising. Since after reading Cloud Atlas myself, I wanted moar! Haha. Will be on the look out for you thoughts on Ghostwritten and Jacob de Zoet. And your Saunders and Munro short stories, as well. :)

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    1. Hello, Tin! You've read Cloud Atlas, so you get the feel of pretty much how DM writes. His style is diverse and innovative. I don't claim him to be unique, nor do I deny him being gimmicky. What I do know is that whatever it is he is doing, it works and very readable. :)

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  6. You finished 2 more Mitchell books. Wow! I'm envious. We are aiming to read all his books too. :)

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    1. Am hoping to finish the last two -The Thousand Autumns and Bone Clocks this month.
      Good luck to you and your reading buddies. Happy reading! ♥

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