Aspects of Me

Tag: reading2020

  • Read: The Hospital

    The Hospital
    Keith C. Blackmore

    Format: Audible
    Cost: Free

    I gave this a go as it was free on Audible and I would say if it ever moves out of that and requires a charge/credit; don’t bother. From the very outset there was wave after wave of awful similes like an ocean of garbage breaking on the shore of your mind. If ever you took an English class on creative writing you will note a couple of things the author has done that your secondary school teachers instructed you to avoid:

    1. untamed similes running rampant that add nothing to the story
      1. Much more likely to jolt you out of the story by how bizarre some of them are: “storm clouds as depressing as suicide”
    2. repeated the same phrase within a short space of time/text
      1. “Back when the world was…” crops up three (3) times in the hour-long audio
    3. unnecessary swearing

    I’m all for swearing, I do it a lot, and there are times when it really adds just the right kick to the story or the dialogue. In this, however, there’s random swearing where it’s not really needed and largely makes no sense, which means when it comes to crunch time at the climax of the story the swearing doesn’t have as much impact.

    The audiobook only lasts one (1) hour, mercifully, and the narrator is almost as painful as the prose. The main ‘shock value’ zombie event is something that, if you’ve ever played Dead Space 2, has been done much better elsewhere.

    1 star because it’s free and short; otherwise, give it a miss.

     

    See this review in situ on GoodReads here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16123747-the-hospital

  • Reading Challenges 2020

    Here we have my 2020 list of prompts and a few reading-related challenges too. Prompts have been cobbled together from a variety of sources (mostly POPSUGAR, BookRiot and Modern Mrs Darcy) and a couple of my own devising.

    Rai’s Reading Challenge Prompts 2020:

    • A ghost story
    • A story with dragons
    • A book that’s published in 2020
    • A book by a trans or nonbinary author
    • A previous Goodreads Choice award winner
    • A sci-fi/fantasy novella (< 150 pages)
    • A ‘doorstopper’ (> 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman
    • A book you picked because the title caught your attention
    • Read a banned book during Banned Books Week
    • A book published in the month of your birthday
    • Read the last book in a series
    • Read a retelling of a classic, fairytale or myth
    • A book gifted to you
    • A book you chose because of the cover art
    • A book outside of your (genre) comfort zone
    • A book with a queer character/s
    • A book with a disabled character
    • A book with a 4 star rating on Goodreads
    • An audiobook
    • A book that has been on your TBR since 2017 or earlier

    Reading-related Challenges:

    • Only buy myself secondhand books
    • When buying a new physical book, ‘destash’ an equal number of books to make space on the shelves
    • Show up to a Book Club at least once

    Goodreads Challenge: 24 books

    6 ‘Must Read’ TBR 2020:

    • The Obelisk Gate (audiobook)
    • The Arkhel Conundrum
    • The Priory of the Orange Tree
    • Reality is not what it seems
    • Daughter of the Empire
    • The Twelve

  • Reading Challenge 2019: wrap-up

    Part way through the year I compiled myself a list of prompts and stipulations as reading challenges. Now that we’re at the end of 2019, it’s time to see how I did!

    Core Challenges: 5 points each

    • A book with ‘cat(s)’ in the title: ‘If Cats Disappeared from the World’
    • Set in space: ‘The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet’
    • Set in Scandinavia: ‘The Twisted Tree’
    • Published this year (2019): ‘I Know Everything’
    • Published before you were born: ‘The Wasp Factory’
    • A ghost story
    • A story with dragons
    • A non-fiction book: ‘We Should All be Feminists’
    • A comic or graphic novel: ‘Wolverine: Infinity Watch’
    • A translated book: ‘If Cats Disappeared from the World’
    • A book you know nothing about: ‘I Know Everything’
    • A book someone recommended to you personally: ‘The Wasp Factory’
    • Tagged LGBT on Goodreads: ‘They/Them’ & ‘The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet’
    • A debut novel: ‘The Wasp Factory’
    • A sequel: ‘Head On’
    • …with a two word title: ‘Ghost Wall’
    • An audiobook: ‘Lock In’
    • …from an author from Asia, Africa or Latin America: ‘If Cats Disappeared from the World’
    • A book over 500 pages long: ‘Killing Floor’
    • …that is also (or shortly will be) a movie/TV Series: ‘Sharp Objects’

    TOTAL: 90/100

    Bonus Challenges: 10 points each

    • A multi-author book (translators don’t count): ‘They/Them’
    • …in a genre you don’t normally choose
    • Read more than one translated or International book during the year: ‘If Cats Disappeared from the World’ & ‘We Should all be Feminists’
    • A book you’ve owned for more than 5 years (and haven’t read yet): ‘Play Dead’
    • A “book to read before you die”

    TOTAL: 120/150

    Know Thy Enemy Ultra Challenge: 50 points

    • Read a book by an author you actively dislike

    GRAND TOTAL: 120/200

    The two ‘Core’ challenges that I didn’t get done (ghosts and dragon) I will put into the list of prompts for a 2020 Reading Challenge along with whatever else I can think of or lift from other people’s challenge lists.

    I did have an author in mind for the Ultra Challenge and may try and read them next year.

    Overall I think I will ditch the multi-tiered approach with different point values and go for a much simpler, single list for 2020 as while 90/100 sounds good; 120/200 doesn’t sound as good.

    My Goodreads Reading Challenge target is 24 books and I’m going to pick 5 or 6 titles that I will say I definitely want to tackle in 2020. I plan to do a separate post delving more into the new challenge list and my reading aims for the year as I’ve got a couple of reading-related ideas to explore too. Good luck to everyone else out there with your reading goals for 2020!