2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

I only just joined this site a few weeks ago, so I'm a bit late into the year. I've set my goal to 27 books - I figured one book for each year I've been alive. I'm behind but have a bit more free time now to read, so I am hoping I can still reach my goal.

This is my list of possible 'to reads' and then I will post each one I have completed with the finished date in an individual post. The first 3 dates are estimates.

Possible 'To Read':

1. The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen
2. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
3. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith lol J. K. J. K. Rowling
4. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
5. After the First Death by Robert Cormier
6. Love Life & Circumstance by V.L. Moon
7. The Brothers Torres by Coert Voorhees
8. The Meryl Streep Movie Club by Mia March
9. The Art of the Steal by Christopher Mason
10. The Value of Art: Money, Power, Beauty by Michael Findlay
11. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
12. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

1. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins Finished 1/23/13

2. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins Finished 2/5/13

3. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke Finished 3/2/13

4. The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling Finished 7/18/13

5. Deep Meditation - Pathway to Personal Freedom by Yogani Finished 8/5/13

I am now reading:
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

I've read 1984 and the Hunger Games trilogy, so this classic dystopian vision of the future seemed like an obvious choice. First time reading it, halfway through - so far, not bad...it doesn't disturb me as much as I think it's supposed to though. It's actually been sort of a chore to get through, but thankfully it is a short book.

Brian wrote: "I am now reading:
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

I've read 1984 and the Hunger Games trilogy, so this classic dystopian vision of the future seemed like an obvious choice. First time reading i..."

Really? It disturbed me enough to stop not even half way through :/ Let me know what you think at then please (:

Haha it's taking me a lot longer to get through still because I am also in the middle of packing up my apartment and moving, so a lot less time to read, much less a book like Brave New World which is by no means a page turner.

I think it just tries too hard to be disturbing and is extremely repetitive to the point that it becomes annoying to get through. "I get it, society is messed up, everyone is programmed to belong to a certain caste, people take a drug soma to forget all problems, being alone with your thoughts - bad. everyone belongs to everyone else blah blah" ... It doesn't seem to be going anywhere, at least nothing I haven't seen before. Although I think so many books and movies have probably borrowed from this classic that I probably should have read this a long time ago.

I really wouldn't know with that book since I didn't finish it but I do understand what you mean. I feel like the same thing happened with me with 77 Shadow Street where it tries to be "scary" too much. It was frustrating -__-

You know if you want to read a book that's a little more subtle with it's disturbing/scary factor you might want to try something by Robert Cormier. After the First Death is pretty creepy but of course it depends on you.

I'm reading It's Kind of a Funny Story in the next couple of weeks. Would you like to do a buddy read on it? We would read it around the same time then discuss in a thread here. Others could join if they wanted to.

6. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Finished 8/31/13.

Finally. Honestly, this took me forever to get through for such a short book. I'm glad it's over with...The only part I really loved was around Chapter 17 - the really philosophically deep conversation between John the Savage and the Mustapha Mond that will have me thinking a lot for a few days.

I wish the rest of the book had focused more on those intellectually deep concepts instead of taking forever to build up to that one scene with the ad nauseam and repetitive descriptions of the depressing anti-utopian world, which is basically the rest of the entire book. So I give it 3 stars.

The next book I will be starting in a few days with Kara, my TBR Twin for September:

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

Hoping I'll like this one better :) It did receive recognition as a 2007 Best Book for Young Adults from the American Library Association and sounds promising from the reviews :D

Adriana wrote: "You know if you want to read a book that's a little more subtle with it's disturbing/scary factor you might want to try something by Robert Cormier. After the First Death is pretty creepy but of course it depends on you. "

Thanks for the rec! I'll check that out and possibly replace one of my other ones from the list above with it. A couple I'm thinking I won't be able to get through to reach my goal by the end of the year haha.

Starting It's Kind of a Funny Story today for TBR read.

Also very strongly considering buying

The Secret History

so that I can join in the September group read discussions :D

7. It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini Finished 09/10/2013

Very quick read. I say - just read this. Seriously, and especially if you suffer from depression or know someone who does. I'm sort of processing it and at a loss for words right now, so maybe I'll review it in more detail later, maybe not, It's poignant, authentic, hilarious, and it will give you a real and intimate understanding of mental health issues. The character's progress from mental break-down to management/recovery to discovering and accepting himself is a moving and enticing journey that will resonate and inspire you and me for many years to come.

8. Art and Culture: Critical Essays by Clement Greenberg Started sometime in May 2013. Finished 09/16/2013

I found all of my college books, papers, and notes in the basement of my parents' house in May - something from each of the four years I studied at Vassar. I last read this collection of Clement Greenberg's essays 7 years ago. I was an Art History major and remember being obsessed with this book and the course that assigned it (Modern Art and the Mass Media), so I decided to go back and digest the essays slowly over the past few months.

My two favorite essays are "Avant-Garde and Kitsch" (1939) and "Abstract, Representational, and So Forth" (1954) because of Greenberg's struggle to separate art from representation - to have art that is nonrepresentational.

In the first essay, he argues that the avant-garde is a return to the purest form of art: completely irreducible and devoid of any meaning, context, or tradition. He believes that the avant-garde's focus on pure medium and its opposition to content is a necessary artistic response to prevent the dissolution of society. In 1939, he declared that the academic and kitsch had become interchangeable, which would undoubtedly result in the destruction of true culture (50 years later he's actually taken back this strict and harsh opposition to the kitsch and admits that he wrote in this kind of revolutionary tone because it was 'trendy' at the time - the beginnings of World War II).

He assaults kitsch so vehemently in order to produce a new ideology - targeting kitsch and challenging modern artists to completely ignore any kind of representation in their art. The essay sparked the beginning of the Abstract Expressionist movement - he considered representational kitsch a threat to culture because of how popular it became with the 'masses'. Modern artists and the public in general became self-conscious about what constituted art and what was kitsch - as he claimed abstract, nonrepresentational art would save society from moral deterioration during the backdrop of World War II.

In the postwar essay from 1954, at the height of Abstract Expressionism popularity, he still declared that the general public assumed representation an essential and superior aspect of art, when in fact, many people by then considered abstract art to be the major and most acceptable form of art. Although he tries to distinguish between medium and representation, in this essay, he has modified his language, as the concept of the avant-garde had changed dramatically (he actually stops using the term avant-garde). He no longer assaults representational art but mildly critiques it.

His earlier essay arguing that one must completely separate representation from medium proves to be impossible in the post-war environment. Abstract Expressionism, through its medium and abandonment of any traditional cultural values, became representational in and of itself . Since abstract expressionist art was becoming very 'trendy' and talked about by the 1950's, the so-called 'masses' were very familiar and comfortable with art that was 'nonrepresentational' - primarily because it was talked about, giving it significance, meaning, and value that can be placed within the social context - therefore the forms, media, and techniques were themselves representational of the time. He avoids addressing the growing popularity and love of abstract art because it would have debunked his previous view that abstract art can and must always be nonrepresentational only, and I'm sure he probably predicted or hoped that the hype would eventually die out.

Whatever his real feelings were in the end, Greenberg's language and labeling of what constitutes 'pure art' over time show that his ideology had transformed in response to how the social perception of art evolved. My guess is he was self-consciously trying to preserve his authority as the most influential art critic of the time and avoid strong viewpoints on representation and instead continue to focus on the nonrepresentational qualities of art. He probably also felt the more urgent necessity to confront the new ideology that had emerged and was developing in this post-war environment. Through all his essays though, he is steadfast in his belief that modern art must be separate from tradition, culture or context - new, pure and fresh artistic expression is required in order for society to advance.

9. The Secret History by Donna Tartt Finished 09/17/2013.

I've said enough in the discussion boards about how I feel about this book. It's evident enough from my posts in the september monthly book read forums how my response evolved as I read through this book. I went from loving almost everything about the book in the first few chapters to then feeling slightly uncomfortable by the intentional time distortion and not knowing when to place the characters, to eventually finishing the book. To be frank, I don't see what all the hype is about - there is almost a cult following for Donna Tartt and this book all over the Internet that is akin to the main characters cult-like following to their classics Professor and ancient Greek rituals - a slightly creepy thought when you see what cultish behavior causes people to do in the book - but obviously these are just fans who really love and identify with the cool, aloof, and precocious nature of the book. There is some dark humor to be had for sure, but I wish people could see through the bows and gift wrap of embellished overwritten florid narrative and see the inside of the package - a suspenseful and promising story that goes downhill in Book II with underwritten character development with a disappointing and unmemorable denouement.

I honestly have no idea what if any point the author tried to make with this book - I am having trouble finding a deeper meaning and honestly struggle to find very many themes. I wish there had been more social, psychological, and true intellectual analysis instead of just asocial, psychotic, and unrealistically intelligent kids who don't care about anyone or anything, least of all each other.

That being said, I am happy that I read it, even though I had to force myself through those last couple hundred pages, and I think it was the perfect selection for book of the month group discussions. I look forward to seeing more people's opinions of the book over the next couple of weeks before we begin our October cozy mystery read!

Wow, I just realized how long those posts were.

About to start two new books tonight:

The Maze Runner by James Dashner - because I loved The Hunger Games trilogy (minus the third book) and people compare them and seems to garner generally positive feedback. Also it's coming out as a movie in February 2014, and I think it's awesome when I get a chance to read, sorry - hear a book before seeing the movie (I say hear because I have the audiobook version - this will be my first ever audiobook experience).

and

Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety by Daniel B. Smith because I heard the author in an interview on NPR, and it sounded really interesting. I really related to the guy Daniel Smith in his interview. It's also a New York Times bestseller with really positive reviews similar to the ones for It's Kind of a Funny Story, which I read a week or two ago, I am now kind of into these memoir type books that are both serious accounts - shedding light on the realities of struggling with mental health disorders - and some hilarious and good storytelling that isn't self-pitying or über-depressing. It's inspiring to see people courageous enough to write so openly about themselves with a great sense of humor.

Would love to hear your thoughts on Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety once you get started--it sounds fascinating (and, like you said, a nice followup to It's Kind of a Funny Story).

Of course! I hope I haven't been a terrible TBR twin...I meant to get back to you after finishing but have spent the past week packing and moving all of my furniture and belongings in a rental truck from Atlanta to New York (first time driving a truck and it was terrifying), so I'm all over the place. I'll let you know in a message how this book goes and then bring up any themes that relate to It's Kind of a Funny Story that we can discuss :]

No worries! The month isn't even close to over yet, and life happens. Looking forward to the discussion.

10. First I gave it two but I dropped it to one.

I'm not sure why it is a bestseller. It wasn't even remotely funny, as the quotes from critics would suggest...it was just really, really uncomfortable. Maybe introducing the story with so much awkward sexual imagery killed it for me. I'm not at all prudish about that stuff usually - Ned Vizzini was pretty open discussing girls and sexuality in his book, but it didn't bother me at all compared to...this. This was just like AHH! Too much. I had to warn my mom not to read it.

So yes, I abandoned my challenge folder. I quickly lost interest in tracking my "yearly goal" because I didn't even have a goal until August and only in the past couple of months did I start to get more into it.

It's not really a legitimate excuse, I know. I was really just kind of lazy because I already post quite a bit about what I read (and about things totally unrelated to what I read) in other threads within this group, and I found it too tedious to have to re-post anything I wrote about my finished books again here. And maybe a little bit self-conscious.

Now, I faced a 'moral' dilemma today: I'm still 5 books short of my 27 book goal.

5 books, 5 days, and very little time to read in those 5 days. I'm taking a road trip tomorrow to visit one of my best friends and college housemates - and I haven't seen her in EXACTLY 3 years to the date. My brother is catching a ride with me, so I may force him to listen to an audiobook with me.

The problem is I seriously hate audiobooks. I stop registering what the narrator is saying after about 5 minutes. My mind wanders everywhere all the time in all situations, but it's especially bad when I'm driving. That sounds dangerous - but it's actually not. When I'm doing something that should require my full attention, like driving, I fully focus on it and so I'm a really cautious driver and concentrate on not letting my mind wander my car off of a cliff. Audiobook narrators' voices make me lose that focus. So yeah, we'll see. Maybe my brother should drive.

Okay, so then I spent like 2 or 3 full hours today scouring every bookshelf and collection of books within boxes and bags in my parents' house. These included very large bookshelves in my brother's room, my sister's room, the guest room, my room, 3 bookshelves in the basement, the biggest bookshelf in the living room, and the 2nd biggest bookshelf in the family room.

What was I searching for you ask? Books that will tak me less than 1 hour (preferably 30 minutes!) to finish.

I feel kind of dirty, but I must reach my goal or else I'll be sad and mopey. And, these books count! I scanned their ISBN codes onto Goodreads, and Goodreads says "go ahead, accomplish your 2013 goal! But next year, next year...you better not pull that stunt again."

I can't wait for next year. I'm done with this thread, though I may post the books I read to finish off my goal just to prove they count and showcase how short they are, for entertainment purposes ;]

Good Luck Brian

Casey wrote: "Good Luck Brian"

Just saw this, thanks Casey! Managed to reach it just by a hair :D