2022 ONTD Reading Challenge discussion

Please feel free to use this thread to discuss the book(s) you read! Did you enjoy? Would you recommend?

I read Artemis Fowl for this month and I only kind of enjoyed it. I should have read this book when I was younger because I think I would have loved it. It just felt too convoluted to me as an adult. Interested to see how they're adapting it but it looks like Disney already changed the race of at least two characters so that does not fare well.

I read Pet Sematary for the first time a minor forever.

I think I'm just the wrong demographic for it. While I enjoyed the descent into madness well enough, the main charcater rationalising all the horrible stuff he ends up doing, the "real life scary thoughts" just don't grip me, likely because I'm still not parent.

Also it was curious to see how progress marches on. Seeing two ableist slurs on one page actually gave me pause, when twenty years ago I can't remember even noticing (and I've never been one to embrace hurtful language).

I read The Sun is Also a Star and I enjoyed it way more than I was expecting.

I had a lot of trouble deciding what to read this month bc none of the options particularly appealed to me. Was going to read Little Women because I hadn't read it since childhood, but I started and it was super slow, so I decided to pick a different book. I chose The Sun is Also a Star because it was available at my public library and I loved it. Kinda Scott Pilgrim + Before Sunrise vibes.

I read a few of the books

I enjoyed “The Woman in the Window.” I liked the inclusion of having the main character be addicted to old noir movies. I really enjoyed the audiobook, it was riveting and kept my attention.

I also loved “The Nightingale,” such a gorgeous read as long as you’re not a stickler about 100% historical accuracy. Which I kind of am lol but I still loved it a lot. I see why it was so hyped up.

I’m reading “The Rosie Project” now. So funny and cute and I def needed something light after “The Nightingale.”

I finished NOS4A2 on Saturday and I really liked it!! I gave it four stars (4.5, honestly) cause there was an element to the ending that was pretty unsatisfying after everything he put you / the characters through.

Not challenge-related (cause I had a hard enough time picking one for the theme) but I chose The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo over Fever Dream for my next read and wow, it's not doing it for me. I miss my twelve dollars.

I read All the Bright Places and it was ok, but i didn't love it. i think i would have enjoyed it more if the main relationship had stayed platonic. The romance felt a little forced to me.

I read The Woman in the Window and very much enjoyed it. I'm a sucker for that unreliable narrator trope but also apparently not so up on the genre because I didn't see half the twists coming. Recommend as a fun, quick read.

I read The Sun Is Also a Star and really liked it. I found a paperback of Artemis Fowl so I may read that too after I finish my current book.

I read The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.



I admit that I had really high expectations of this as I love gothic horror and while it was very good, it wasn't as excellent or engaging as I had hoped it would be. I think some of the plot was confusing in the way the writing explained it.

I read Can You Keep a Secret?. I wasn't in love, not in the slightest actually. I was hoping this would be similar to Watermelon, which is basically my standard for good chicklit, but it was nowhere near. Pretty disappointed to be honest. I might pick up something else for this month. I do think it will make a nice romcom though so I'll probably still watch the film.

I just finished Pet Sematary! It was pretty good but all the good stuff was crammed into the end so it didn't feel like a well paced novel. Guess I'll have to watch the new movie to see how true they are to the book.

I read The Underground Railroad and I really liked it! It was engaging but also really depressing (understandable). I liked the story, and though I also felt Cora was kind of a blank slate character, I read it extremely quickly and kept thinking about it.

I also read The Sun Is Also a Star and I thought it was okay. I think I'm maybe too old for YA shenanigans? I thought they concept was cute but the manufactured drama was very... teenage. I was like, "Teenagers lol very true" while also rolling my eyes (especially at the Central Park fight about 60% through.)

I read which I was nervous to read since I've read such mixed reviews. It was a catchy book so I read it in like 2 sittings but I only rated it 3 stars because ultimately I felt it was too ridiculous and I didn't feel super attached to it. But I don't regret reading it and it was fun.

I read Artemis Fowl and The Sun is Also a Star.

Artemis Fowl was not great, just okay. I didn't really connect with it. Probably would have enjoyed it when I was 10, but reading it for the first time as an adult, I was underwhelmed.

The Sun is Also a Star was surprisingly cute and I really liked it, despite YA romance not being my genre at all. I liked the "one magical day" kind of trope it employed though, and I liked that there was other stuff besides just the romance. Would definitely recommend this one.

I read Deadly Class Vol. 1. It was interesting, I'm definitely going to finish the entire series. The show looks great too. It has Lana Condor and has HP vibes??

I just finished The Woman in the Window. I had called one of the twists in the book early on and I found it really slow going when I started, especially as the 'unreliable narrator sees a crime' trope has been pretty well-trodden of late. However, the second half kept my interest and I didn't expect the last twist so it ended up being a bit more enjoyable than I expected it to be. Still a solid 3.5/5.

I finished the Sun is Also a Star last night. It was really good! I liked the characters and I loved the asides into the "background" characters, who of course are main characters in their own story. I liked that Natasha was so awed by science and the universe, it reminded me of how into astronomy I used to be. I love the idea that everything had to happen in exactly the right way and exactly at the right moment for the characters to have the day they did. I'm glad I chose this one! I might not read Where'd You Go Bernadette even though I got it from the library lol, I don't think I'll have time. Looking forward to February!

I read The Sun Is Also a Star and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I was scared of reading it because it feels too close to home (being an immigrant, not knowing where you truly belong, etc) but it was worth it to me.

I read The Goldfinch and this is my second time reading it. I really enjoyed it the first time around although it took me a few months to get through and I didn't care for Boris or the Las Vegas part of the story (mainly because I hated Theo's dad lol). The second time around, the Las Vegas part didn't seem as long as I thought it did when I first read it and I still don't care for Boris. I still love this book and it will be interesting to see how they'll be able to adapt without losing so much of the charm because most of the book isn't about the dialogue but the inner thoughts which I think can get lost easily in movies/tv shows. I'm still gonna check the movie out but I'm a bit weary about how good it will be.

hi all, i'm madwatch on ontd and this is my first time participating in the challenge. i read "the woman in the window" for january, and i enjoyed it, but i did correctly guess the killer about half-way in. still, it was a good book and i liked watching the story unfold as i was reading.

I read Artemis Fowl too and 100% agree with the other comments - I just didn't connect to it, and I know I would have if I was still a kid. The story was clever and fun, but, never really got me y'know?

Trying to get through Little Women too, l but I'm finding the exact same problem - would have loved it as a kid, but right now I'm soooooo booooooored.

I read Catch-22 and man do I regret not reading that book sooner in life. It was hilarious at times and beautifully written throughout.

I read the Sun is also a Star. I don't know how I felt about it, it was cute, but I don't read much YA. But the theme was sweet, and the ending was good. The only thing I didn't like was when the Jamaican characters spoke, their accents seemed weird when I read them. :/ But I am loving having this challenge.

tiny_winey87 is my ONTD user name! :)

I read the Woman in the Window, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I love unreliable narrators. I gave it 4 stars.

I read Lovecraft Country. I liked the book and I liked that it was a bunch of short stories tied together by this family/friends. What gives me pause, is the author... I didn't find out until half way through that the author was white, writing about racism in the 1950s and Eldritch horrors.

i read The Sun Is Also a Star and actually really enjoyed it! it's not going on my reread list, but it was a nice, easy read with fairly likeable characters. i'm not sure if i'll add Everything, Everything to my to-read list, but i'm glad i gave The Sun Is Also A Star a shot for this challenge.

i do need to get better at placing holds sooner at my library, though. hopefully this month i will actually finish the book on time!

Tried and failed to read Catch-22, which I thought was just awful.

So: what I ended up reading for this month was Svetlana Alexievitch's Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster. Which was the basis for HBO's Chernobyl miniseries.

Excellent book, and excellent adaptation of it as well.

Neither of my January choices came out this year, so I resolved to get through Little Women on the fifth or sixth try. I did it! It wasn’t that bad once I got past the saccharine beginning! Jo should be a lesbian!

I’ve seen most of the movies and my opinion of the story hasn’t changed (I like and have strong opinions about it, but it’s not a huge thing for me), and I had a good laugh at “Boys go nutting, and I don't care to be bagged by them," so I’m glad I finally got through it.