Do the 2008 TBR challenge

I’m not going to get through 5 more TBR books and I don’t want to try. I’d rather make an attempt to get through my comics.

So there it is!

Just a short story with a few cool inserts. A good read.

It made me realize how little detail I remember about The Amber Spyglass and The Subtle Knife. I listened to them at that breakneck pace you do when you absolutely must find out how something comes out.

But the emotions remain. I can’t quite remember how it ended but I know it was one of the most tragic endings I’ve read in a long time. And when I read this, even though it was pretty tangential to His Dark Materials, I found myself becoming deeply sad.

I’ve had this book unread on my shelf for over 20 years. Just saying.

I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much when I was younger. There are a lot of ideas about embracing life and challenging your own understanding of yourself that I think as a teen you take for granted. But as an adult, you see how you get trapped in situations you never intended – how easy it is to let fear take you over and destroy you.

Anyway, a really good novel but with deeper currents beneath. A bit hard to get through the early chapters of bleak and worthless life, but worth it once she starts to take control of her own life. Plus romantic and funny and tender in the way that Montgomery’s books always are.

I’m calling this done though I probably only read 3/4 of it, and that’s not including the complete screenplay of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, to which I just said no.

It was quite interesting. Perhaps a bit drier than I had expected after reading Goldman’s articles on the movie business in Premiere. A lot of really good fascinating stuff about how movies are made not on the set.

His observations were great, but I had to wonder how much the system has changed in the 25 years since the book was written.

I didn’t read the detailed discussion of specific movies if I hadn’t seen the movie in question. If I hadn’t already read 250 pages, I might have, but I was kind of over it.

What a well-timed choice. I had just been thinking again about the chum’s social stuff at school and wondering about the pretend fighting and other less than delightful things he’s been bringing home. This book really made me think about what the role of school is for him.

Paley is a genius. And I’m not just saying that, she got a McArthur Grant. She is so good at observing without judgment (or at least being honest about her judgment).

This book is about a three-year old (and peripherally 2 others) learning how to be social by learning how to negotiate dramatic play – entering narratives, understanding the difference between pretend and real, controlling the play, and understanding friendship, especially this strange 3-year old version.

Very enjoyable to read and very good information. Just in time for my current superhero siege. Before this book, the heroes might have bothered me, but now I remember the purpose of archetypes and can see how the chum needs them.

As always, I recommend Paley’s books highly.

I see why I have been avoiding this. Very very interesting. Amazing art, interesting exploration of the relationship between and responses of normal humans to superheroes.

Obvious why it’s considered a masterpiece. Pretty damn upsetting and depressing though. It says a lot of true and not very complimentary things about humanity.

The next book I read needs to not be filled with mystical metaphysical stuff, because I’m over it.

The best bits were some very interesting insights into Bantock’s artistic process. As the writer tells the story, he’s also rediscovering his artistic spark and you get to see the work he’s making in many different stages and hear his thoughts about that.

Otherwise, eh. I didn’t really like the protagonist and since it was pretty much all a character study of him and his musings and personal growth, it was a bit less than engaging.

OK, here’s the thing. If I’m reading a fairly suspenseful, mystery type book, I am not going to stop and decode a letter. I’m just not. So if you do put these letters in with important information, maybe a translation at the end, for me and others like me? And it’s not because I’m an adult, I wouldn’t have done it when I was 10 either. I’m reading a story, not doing a puzzle.

Aside from that, I enjoyed the book but I felt it suffered from too much mystical coincidence and non-standard thinking and not enough grounding in reality. Too much significance, too many notes! I get that coincidence and strange occurrences were the point of the book, but the preponderance of them made me kind of shake my head and say, “huh?”

Or maybe I should have just stopped and translated the code.

Based on last year’s experience, I’m trying to be realistic and tailor the goal so I can succeed. So I’m listing 20 books – and I’ll read 12 of them.
All of them are pretty wildly TBR piled (one I’ve had since I was a teen!) and I’m rolling over some of last year’s list and alternates – but not all. And I’ve classified them by how much of a challenge they appear right now as my eyes linger longingly on the trashy romances and mysteries that are too new to qualify.

Light – Ready to dive right in!
The City of Ember – Jeanne DuPrau
Lyra’s Oxford – Philip Pullman

Moderate – Challenging but thin or thick but accessible
Artist Descending a Staircase – Tom Stoppard
Lord of Light Roger Zelazny
Strip City – Lily Burana
The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins
Blessings in Disguise – Alec Guinness

Challenges Literature or potentially dry non-fiction
The Ground Beneath Her Feet – Salman Rushdie
Ten Tales Tall & True – Alasdair Gray
The North China Lover – Marguerite Duras
Rituals for Our Times – Evan Imber-Black & Janine Roberts
Ship of Fools – Katherine Anne Porter
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay – Michael Chabon

Done Phew.
Chasing Vermeer – Blue Balliett
Marvels – Kurt Busiek/ Alex Ross
The Forgetting Room – Nick Bantock
Mollie is Three – Vivian Gussin Paley
Adventures in the Screen Trade – William Goldman
The Blue Castle – L.M. Montgomery