Reading Log #2
10 January 2025 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pixie_ringsHuzzah! I made it through another year in my return to reading, and I am thrilled to say I actually read six more books in 2024 than I did in 2023! That means a grand total of 21. A much more mixed bag than 2023 (with a very egregious picture book among them) but overall a lot of good ones and two big stinkers.
A lot has changed in my life: I moved house, which means my commute to work is much shorter and my reading times have diminished because of it (ten minutes on the train in the morning, thirty minutes return in the evening) so I've been getting back into the habit of reading at home. I also left the country for the first time in ten years, and visited Dublin! It was great (and yes, I bought books, oops. I didn't get to see the most famous Irish book there is, but that's their fault for charging 25 FUCKING EUROS entry)!
So, under the cut, a general overview of the books I read in 2024:
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
I love the 1930 film and I adore the 2022 film, so it made sense to finally read the book itself. Overall exceptional. Remarque's descriptions are like raw nerve endings, they disquiet and strip pieces off you as you read. Potent.
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
I definitely count graphic novels and comics as books, so of course I'm including this. Fascinating and deeply enjoyable.
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
Harder to read than I expected because of the language used. An interest read. Overall it feels more matter-of-fact than the film, which I think is a good thing because it reflects the actual internality of a man like Ennis. Not bad.
Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition by Paul Watson
Really intriguing and enjoyable. Everyone gets a bit of a fascination for the Frankling Expedition once they find out about it (and after they've watched AMC's The Terror) so I wanted to learn more. I went into this expecting to learn more about the Expedition but instead what I came out with was a righteous anger about the treatment of the First Nations people of Canada (especially in this case the Inuit) and deep admiration for Louie Kamookak.
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
There comes a time in one's life when one must read the Boat Autism books. I have started. I enjoyed it, even though I have no fucking idea what on Earth was going on half the time. Most of the book is just *indecipherable boat noises* but it was still great.
The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
One of those books that must be read. It has to be. A foundational piece of literature. I think what is most important about it is its refusal to elevate anyone beyond the realm of humanity. There are no perfect survivors or purely evil perpetrators. In the end they are all, fundamentally, humans, which makes the whole thing so much more bitter. Suffering doesn't make people better, it just makes them suffer. I look forward to Spiegelman's work on the Palestinian Genocide.
Infidels: A History of the Conflict Between Christendom and Islam by Andrew Wheatcroft
Good God, where to fucking start with this one?
I'll give it its dues: its parts on al-Andalus are genuinely solid and informative and in-depth. The good stuff ends there. The rest of it is weirdly othering and superficial, with little to no Arabic-language sources used and its understanding of the Balkans is obnoxious in its ogling frivolity. The conclusion is a meandering, hideous pile of nonsense straight from the Imperial core of post-9/11 Americana.
Same-Sex Marriage in Renaissance Rome: Sexuality, Identity, and Community in Early Modern Europe by Gary Ferguson
Little did I know this would be the formative book of the year, for me. A chance buy in Gay's the Word in London led me down a strange, meandering path. It made me cry, which is wild for an academic history text. I wrote a fanfic for The Old Guard based on it called Even in Another Time, which I am immensely proud of and will shill forever more. Learning about these men, their community, and the horrific knowledge that the only way we could ever have known about them was through their arrests and deaths, moved me beyond reason. I plan to visit the specific church in Rome, San Giovanni a Porta Latina, later this year. This will stay with me.
Hurdy-Gurdy by Christopher Wilson
From lofty heights to abysmal lows. I had high hopes for this book and instead got something rather pathetic, a wet fart of a book. The start was good, reading about a monk was interesting and the prose somewhat witty, but then very stupid Donald Trump references ruined it and it was all downhill as soon as
Brother Diggory left the monastery. The ending was supremely rushed and just awful, and none of the female characters were anything beyond flat cardboard.
Cannibal Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag by Nicolas Werth
I'd been waiting for this in paperback since 2016, because the hardback is exceptionally expensive now. A very interesting read, more concerned with numbers than testimony than I expected, but perhaps another book will come out on that.
The Magic Carpet's Secret by Joanne Barkan
Listen. I know it's a children's picture book based on the Disney movie. BUT! I was going through a small Aladdin obsession around this time because I rewatched the movie, and was working on an as screen-accurate as possible Princess Jasmine doll. I was sewing a Magic Carpet for her, and this whole Discord server discussion culminated in me researching Carpet's origin, discovering this book, buying this book, and reading it. I sort of miss the cool lore they'd put into Disney movie tie-in media in the 90s. I don't know why the side characters are depicted as white.
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Just an excellent read. I'd seen the Daniel Radcliffe movie but the book still had me on the edge of my seat, thrilling the whole way through, but also sad, as all good ghost stories should be.
The Wager by David Grann
Possibly my favourite book of 2024. Just phenomenal. It flows fast-paced and enveloping, sucking you right in, and reads incredibly fast for a non-fiction book. Very exciting with, of all things, plot twists you will never imagine.
The Ghost Rider by Ismail Kadare
I feel slightly bad judging an important exponent of a country's national literature scene from one translated book, but this really sucked. I can't speak for the prose, which in English was flat and uninspiring, which could be a by-product of the insane decision to translate from French and not directly from Albanian, but the characters and themes were atrocious and the plot was inane. Also another one that's just disrespectful to any and all female characters, as well, with one being seen as nothing but an object of attraction, and the other - the protagonist's own wife! - nothing more than a nagging presence to be scoffed at. Nothing makes sense, nothing is elaborated properly, and the ending culminates in a whole heap of nothing. I might not know much about the political situation of Albania when this was written, but I do know a better job could have been done.
The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
What does it say about me that I'll praise a children's book more highly than literature by an esteemed foreign author? Anyway, this was a reread after more than twenty years, and I'm pleased to say it's still as delightful now as it was then. Some unseemly racism in the way Smith talks about the Romani people, but it was the 1950s, it sucked back then. The rest of the book was delightful and written with more respect for the child reader's skill than books for children today are.
A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
I really did read some duds this year, but this one takes the cake. This is why you can't fucking trust Booktok, they have no taste and no brains. The protagonist is one of the most insufferable, excruciating characters I've ever read, the plot meanders into screeching dead ends where the characters just do the stupidest shit instead of taking the matter seriously (like, why are you discussing your exes when you've just found evidence that blows the lid off the entire conspiracy? Are you stupid?). The only salvageable character is Evemer, who is trapped and deserves to be in a much better book than this, with a much less horrific love interest than Kadou the useless. A waste of time.
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
I think the last time I read a natural history book was David Attenborough's Life on Earth (which I loved) and I do think this was a lot of fun. I do second the other critiques of this book which basically amount to "he needs to stop name-dropping his cool friends" and Brusatte is, honestly, obnoxiously American, but other than that really good and fun. I'll give his book on mammals a go too.
The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington
I really liked this one, but not in the normal way. It was very well-written and the characters, by virtue of being utterly and completely repulsive, were fascinating. The Venice arc was quite boring and went on too long, and the lack of female characters was deeply excruciating, but tbh you wouldn't want the horrible brothers anywhere near real women for any period of time. The motivation to keep reading was definitely to see just how they would get their comeuppance. Nicolette the witch was my favourite character, her story was immaculately told and deeply sad at heart, and the scene with the brothers and the demon in the wood was genuinely quite terrifying.
Birds Through a Ceiling of Alabaster: Three Abbasid Poets by George B. H. Wightman
I am getting more into poetry as of late (I guess blame my current fandom fixation: one half of my OTP is a poet) and this was a very nice little collection of very pretty verse. I am just sad I can't speak and read Arabic, I would love to read these in the original language.
Holes by Louis Sachar
When I compare it to the aforementioned The Hundred and One Dalmatians it's remarkable how different the prose is, how much more simplistic, despite this being for the same age bracket, just decades apart. That said it's still a very good book, one I wish I'd been able to read as a child. I really would have liked it.
Symbols of Islam by Malek Chebel
Straightforward informative book. I learnt a lot. Lovely photographs, as well.
A lot has changed in my life: I moved house, which means my commute to work is much shorter and my reading times have diminished because of it (ten minutes on the train in the morning, thirty minutes return in the evening) so I've been getting back into the habit of reading at home. I also left the country for the first time in ten years, and visited Dublin! It was great (and yes, I bought books, oops. I didn't get to see the most famous Irish book there is, but that's their fault for charging 25 FUCKING EUROS entry)!
So, under the cut, a general overview of the books I read in 2024:
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
I love the 1930 film and I adore the 2022 film, so it made sense to finally read the book itself. Overall exceptional. Remarque's descriptions are like raw nerve endings, they disquiet and strip pieces off you as you read. Potent.
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
I definitely count graphic novels and comics as books, so of course I'm including this. Fascinating and deeply enjoyable.
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
Harder to read than I expected because of the language used. An interest read. Overall it feels more matter-of-fact than the film, which I think is a good thing because it reflects the actual internality of a man like Ennis. Not bad.
Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition by Paul Watson
Really intriguing and enjoyable. Everyone gets a bit of a fascination for the Frankling Expedition once they find out about it (and after they've watched AMC's The Terror) so I wanted to learn more. I went into this expecting to learn more about the Expedition but instead what I came out with was a righteous anger about the treatment of the First Nations people of Canada (especially in this case the Inuit) and deep admiration for Louie Kamookak.
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
There comes a time in one's life when one must read the Boat Autism books. I have started. I enjoyed it, even though I have no fucking idea what on Earth was going on half the time. Most of the book is just *indecipherable boat noises* but it was still great.
The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
One of those books that must be read. It has to be. A foundational piece of literature. I think what is most important about it is its refusal to elevate anyone beyond the realm of humanity. There are no perfect survivors or purely evil perpetrators. In the end they are all, fundamentally, humans, which makes the whole thing so much more bitter. Suffering doesn't make people better, it just makes them suffer. I look forward to Spiegelman's work on the Palestinian Genocide.
Infidels: A History of the Conflict Between Christendom and Islam by Andrew Wheatcroft
Good God, where to fucking start with this one?
I'll give it its dues: its parts on al-Andalus are genuinely solid and informative and in-depth. The good stuff ends there. The rest of it is weirdly othering and superficial, with little to no Arabic-language sources used and its understanding of the Balkans is obnoxious in its ogling frivolity. The conclusion is a meandering, hideous pile of nonsense straight from the Imperial core of post-9/11 Americana.
Same-Sex Marriage in Renaissance Rome: Sexuality, Identity, and Community in Early Modern Europe by Gary Ferguson
Little did I know this would be the formative book of the year, for me. A chance buy in Gay's the Word in London led me down a strange, meandering path. It made me cry, which is wild for an academic history text. I wrote a fanfic for The Old Guard based on it called Even in Another Time, which I am immensely proud of and will shill forever more. Learning about these men, their community, and the horrific knowledge that the only way we could ever have known about them was through their arrests and deaths, moved me beyond reason. I plan to visit the specific church in Rome, San Giovanni a Porta Latina, later this year. This will stay with me.
Hurdy-Gurdy by Christopher Wilson
From lofty heights to abysmal lows. I had high hopes for this book and instead got something rather pathetic, a wet fart of a book. The start was good, reading about a monk was interesting and the prose somewhat witty, but then very stupid Donald Trump references ruined it and it was all downhill as soon as
Brother Diggory left the monastery. The ending was supremely rushed and just awful, and none of the female characters were anything beyond flat cardboard.
Cannibal Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag by Nicolas Werth
I'd been waiting for this in paperback since 2016, because the hardback is exceptionally expensive now. A very interesting read, more concerned with numbers than testimony than I expected, but perhaps another book will come out on that.
The Magic Carpet's Secret by Joanne Barkan
Listen. I know it's a children's picture book based on the Disney movie. BUT! I was going through a small Aladdin obsession around this time because I rewatched the movie, and was working on an as screen-accurate as possible Princess Jasmine doll. I was sewing a Magic Carpet for her, and this whole Discord server discussion culminated in me researching Carpet's origin, discovering this book, buying this book, and reading it. I sort of miss the cool lore they'd put into Disney movie tie-in media in the 90s. I don't know why the side characters are depicted as white.
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Just an excellent read. I'd seen the Daniel Radcliffe movie but the book still had me on the edge of my seat, thrilling the whole way through, but also sad, as all good ghost stories should be.
The Wager by David Grann
Possibly my favourite book of 2024. Just phenomenal. It flows fast-paced and enveloping, sucking you right in, and reads incredibly fast for a non-fiction book. Very exciting with, of all things, plot twists you will never imagine.
The Ghost Rider by Ismail Kadare
I feel slightly bad judging an important exponent of a country's national literature scene from one translated book, but this really sucked. I can't speak for the prose, which in English was flat and uninspiring, which could be a by-product of the insane decision to translate from French and not directly from Albanian, but the characters and themes were atrocious and the plot was inane. Also another one that's just disrespectful to any and all female characters, as well, with one being seen as nothing but an object of attraction, and the other - the protagonist's own wife! - nothing more than a nagging presence to be scoffed at. Nothing makes sense, nothing is elaborated properly, and the ending culminates in a whole heap of nothing. I might not know much about the political situation of Albania when this was written, but I do know a better job could have been done.
The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
What does it say about me that I'll praise a children's book more highly than literature by an esteemed foreign author? Anyway, this was a reread after more than twenty years, and I'm pleased to say it's still as delightful now as it was then. Some unseemly racism in the way Smith talks about the Romani people, but it was the 1950s, it sucked back then. The rest of the book was delightful and written with more respect for the child reader's skill than books for children today are.
A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
I really did read some duds this year, but this one takes the cake. This is why you can't fucking trust Booktok, they have no taste and no brains. The protagonist is one of the most insufferable, excruciating characters I've ever read, the plot meanders into screeching dead ends where the characters just do the stupidest shit instead of taking the matter seriously (like, why are you discussing your exes when you've just found evidence that blows the lid off the entire conspiracy? Are you stupid?). The only salvageable character is Evemer, who is trapped and deserves to be in a much better book than this, with a much less horrific love interest than Kadou the useless. A waste of time.
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
I think the last time I read a natural history book was David Attenborough's Life on Earth (which I loved) and I do think this was a lot of fun. I do second the other critiques of this book which basically amount to "he needs to stop name-dropping his cool friends" and Brusatte is, honestly, obnoxiously American, but other than that really good and fun. I'll give his book on mammals a go too.
The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington
I really liked this one, but not in the normal way. It was very well-written and the characters, by virtue of being utterly and completely repulsive, were fascinating. The Venice arc was quite boring and went on too long, and the lack of female characters was deeply excruciating, but tbh you wouldn't want the horrible brothers anywhere near real women for any period of time. The motivation to keep reading was definitely to see just how they would get their comeuppance. Nicolette the witch was my favourite character, her story was immaculately told and deeply sad at heart, and the scene with the brothers and the demon in the wood was genuinely quite terrifying.
Birds Through a Ceiling of Alabaster: Three Abbasid Poets by George B. H. Wightman
I am getting more into poetry as of late (I guess blame my current fandom fixation: one half of my OTP is a poet) and this was a very nice little collection of very pretty verse. I am just sad I can't speak and read Arabic, I would love to read these in the original language.
Holes by Louis Sachar
When I compare it to the aforementioned The Hundred and One Dalmatians it's remarkable how different the prose is, how much more simplistic, despite this being for the same age bracket, just decades apart. That said it's still a very good book, one I wish I'd been able to read as a child. I really would have liked it.
Symbols of Islam by Malek Chebel
Straightforward informative book. I learnt a lot. Lovely photographs, as well.
