Books Read
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The Vegetarian
The Vegetarian by Han Kang Published: 2007 Translated By: Deborah Smith (from Korean in 2015) Length: 192 pages The Vegetarian is this year’s Man Booker International Prize winner, but I’ve seen very mixed reviews since it was awarded the prize last May. I like to watch BookTube videos, and that community seems to be simultaneously obsessed with the Man Booker prize and disapproving of every novel that is shortlisted for it, so I never know what to think. I saw the name so often in the last few months that I picked it up during my Powell’s shopping spree at the end of the summer just to see what the…
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Off to Be the Wizard
Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer Published: 2014 Series: Magic 2.0 #1 Narrated by: Luke Daniels Length: 10:15 (372 pages) This has been on my Audible recommended list for quite a while. I happily judge books by their covers when browsing for something to read, and I have to admit, as a life-long lover of video games, I was suckered in by this cover. It’s almost unfair, really. This was written by Scott Meyer, who has a web comic I was unaware of called Basic Instructions. This is about an unhappy programmer named Martin Banks who, out of boredom, spends time digging through random files on random file…
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A Prayer for Owen Meany
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving Published: 1989 Length: 617 pages This is the story of two young friends, beginning from their childhood as schoolboys in a New Hampshire classroom and continuing through their adolescence and into adulthood. John Wheelwright, the narrator, is from a wealthy and respected family. He is a surprisingly ordinary and passive character, at least in his younger years, but serves well as a lens from which to view Owen Meany. Owen is a physically underdeveloped but deeply intelligent boy with an unchanged high voice, like one stuck in a permanent scream (and written IN ALL CAPS like Pratchett’s Death). He is from a…
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The Sea
The Sea by John Banville Published: 2005 Narrated by: John Lee Length: 06:54 (200 pages) Max Morden is a middle-aged man who has just recently lost his wife to illness, and in his grief has returned to the Irish seaside town where his family used to holiday in his youth. During his time there reflecting on his relationship with his wife, and those awkward final days, his mind goes back to his first childhood relationship that took place in that town many years ago. This is a beautifully written novel, and I do enjoy a despicable and depressed protagonist, so the combination of the rich descriptions, morose attitude, and nasty…
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Double Cup Love
Double Cup Love by Eddie Huang Published: 2016 Narrated by: Eddie Huang Length: 05:48 (240 pages) I really enjoyed parts of Eddie’s first book, Fresh Off the Boat, but it annoyed me quite a bit in places as well. He’s a gifted writer when he’s writing about food, and he has some great insights into culture identity and self-discovery, but I really lost interest when he started bragging about his rebellious youth. His early life story was interesting, but I just couldn’t stand the way he decided to tell it. This was much more up my alley. After the success of his first book, the restaurant, and the various food…
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The Lost City of Z
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann Published: 2009 Narrated by: Mark Deakins Length: 10:06 (352 pages) Still on my adventure kick, I decided to turn to non-fiction this time. This is the story of a rumoured lost city, deep in the Amazon jungle, that captured the minds of explorers for years. Up to a hundred people have disappeared or been killed while searching for Z. I think this was described somewhere as a true to life Indiana Jones tale, which meant I was immediately on board. You can get me to do anything if you hint at the slightest similarity…
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Poems That Make Grown Men Cry
Poems That Make Grown Men Cry: 100 Men on the Words That Move Them by Anthony Holden Published: 2014 Length: 336 pages This hyperbolic title reads a bit like Internet clickbait, but Anthony Holden explains in the introduction that the idea grew from discussions with his male friends of poems they couldn’t recite without choking up. Whether all of the men in this book wept at their choices, I cannot say, but I feel like some of them may have just chosen their favourite sentimental poem. Poems That Grown Men Quite Like doesn’t have that same punch, however. It’s an interesting project, with the taboo of men showing emotion tackled…
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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Published: 1979 Series: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy #1 Narrated by: Stephen Fry Length: 05:51 (216 pages) It’s been two decades since I first read this, and I think I enjoyed it even more the second time. I thought I’d listen to the audiobook despite having the hard copy on my shelf, just because it was narrated by Stephen Fry. Anything Fry narrates is fantastic, and since he was such good friends with Adams, you can feel a little of the love in his performance. The Random House production does have some quirks, with weirdly abrupt chapter transitions, but I still…
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Quiet
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain Published: 2012 Narrated by: Kathe Mazur Length: 10:39 (352 pages) A lot of people seem to assume that introversion is a synonym for shyness and extroversion for sociability, which is an oversimplification. It’s more about how sensitive someone is to being overstimulated by their environment. Introverts are easily overstimulated, by socializing and noise and light, and extroverts are less sensitive to that. As a result, introverts tend to withdraw from that stimulation. Extroverts, on the other hand, can easily become bored without it. Someone can be introverted and still enjoy speaking publicly or having a…
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Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Published: 1818 Narrated by: Dan Stevens Length: 08:35 (280 pages) It’s been about fifteen years since I first read this. It was required for a first-year English course at university, and I rushed through it rather quickly, as one sometimes does for assigned reading. During my final exam for that course, which involved an impromptu essay on the book, I managed to include an event from Kenneth Branagh’s 1994 adaptation that did not occur in the novel itself, despite having finished the book, having discussed the event at length in class, and having not seen the movie for half a decade. I remember burning with shame…