tumbly. by dotsara!

Progress: 3 down, 37 to go (list)

Which: The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Nick Carraway is the first unreliable narrator that I can remember recognizing. Even before the eye-roller that is, “I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”

What made laugh this time around is… there’s really no one to root for (my chief complaint about and non-starter with Wuthering Heights [ugh]). They’re all careless and mostly unsympathetic, although Gatsby feels more hapless than malignant in his calculating.

But still there is the language. It is so concise even when it feels rambly, it’s worth putting up with Daisy’s stupidity.

I’m super-curious to see what Luhrman’s going to do with it; it can’t possibly be worse than the 1974 version, right? Don’t get me wrong: Redford in suits? Sure. But that movie is no good.

Progress: 2 down, 38 to go (list)

Which: Wonderstruck, Brian Selznick

When I first flipped through Wonderstruck at the store, the combination of text and full-bleed drawings almost had me plunked down in the aisle to read. Somehow I did the grown-up thing, bought it, and brought it home.

Wonderstruck’s a great lesson in pacing: even when you spot the next reveal, Selznick’s in no hurry to get you there, but he never drags his feet. It’s a hefty book at 600+ pages, but somehow it reads fast without rushing you along.

Progress: 1 down, 39 to go (list)

Which: How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming, Mike Brown

Well, I finished it this year, so…

You should read this book. Whether you think SPACE IS RAD (hi) or you have only a passing interest: you should read this book. Brown, I think because he’s not just a hardcore astronomer but also a teacher, tells a great story and in 257 pages is never dry about it. A feat, if you ask me (I’m pretending you asked).

Progress: 22 down, 18 to go (list)

21. A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage
Another survey class-like book. Lots of good and interesting stories, but after Salt (Kurlansky), I expected similar enthusiasm and never really found it. Still: it’s a fast read and I may be the last one on the planet, but now I know cola (kola) was/is an actual ingredient!

22. Lost in a Good Book, Jasper Fforde
Oh, Thursday: you will get into trouble, won’t you. I think what I like about Fforde so far is that he doesn’t provide (or indeed ever promise) tidy endings. That bothered me a tiny bit with Lost in a Good Book at first, but after a few days of thinking about it, it makes total sense—not least because now I’m on the hook to read the rest of the Thursday series. (:

Progress: 20 down, 20 to go (list)

I’ve kept up reading at a fairly brisk pace, but forgetting to note them or get pictures before lending the books out. Oops!

And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
As the first Christie book I’ve read, it’s a pretty good one. The reveal took me completely by surprise and stretched believability… a little bit. Lesson learned? If in receipt of a note inviting me to some dodgy island for a week… don’t go.

Salt A World History, Mark Kurlansky
Kurlansky’s storytelling and enthusiasm make Salt a fun read, one well-peppered with “how about that!” moments. I really enjoy these survey-class-like books when they’re done so well; I’ll be adding the rest of Kurlansky’s catalog to my list, now…

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
Less than 30 pages into the sample, I was hooked enough I bought the hardcover (I know). I really, really like Morgenstern’s style: The Night Circus isn’t strictly linear, but it’s never confusing and the timelines join up nicely.

The Mother Tongue, English and How It Got That Way, Bill Bryson
Another survey class that had me cracking up on the bus daily. This is definitely a book that will stand up to being re-read (and not just for the chapter on swearing).

Five Skies, Ron Carlson
I didn’t expect to like Five Skies as much as I do. I didn’t settle in until a quarter of the way through, but then I was all in. Carlson has a steady, purposeful pace for Darwin, Arthur, and Ronnie that works beautifully. I’d wish for the book to be longer, but it can’t be, y’know? This is definitely a favorite for the year.

The Heroes of Olympus, Book Two: The Son of Neptune, Rick Riordan
Percy! What keeps me coming back to Riordan’s books is how fun they are. Are they perfect? No. But what they might lack in literary polish, they more than make up for with consistently-written (and growing) characters and stories. Not to mention, here in Neptune, a foul-mouthed horse who doesn’t appreciate being underestimated.

The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater
I knew that I would like The Scorpio Races—I like Stiefvater’s style. What I didn’t know was that I’d like it enough to read it twice. In three weeks. I know! It’s graphic—water horses given to maiming riders—but she’s so good at developing distinct characters and letting the reader find the humor and making her stories earn everything they get. (It’s been optioned for a film, I think it would be ace in the style of “The Secret of Kells”.)

Dangerous. (Taken with Instagram at Elliott Bay Book Company)

Progress: 13 down, 27 to go (list)

Which: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John Le Carré

Another choice made when I was taken in by the trailer (previously: Wettest County) and officially the most challenging book of the year.

Challenging because Smiley’s headspace is dense. For most of the book, I felt I had no grasp of actual plot (Tiff warned me about this). I liked Peter’s sections better just for the comprehension! Oy.

And then? The last 60 pages move Tony Scott-fast and it turns out Le Carré did his job really well because everything is falling into place and I’m totally keeping up. (:

Progress: 12 down, 28 to go¹ (list)

Which: Jane Slayre, Charlotte Brontë and Sherri Browning Erwin

These mash-ups have to walk a fine line, I think. On the one hand: there’s the risk of boring the reader with too little monster oomph (I’m looking at you Pride and Prejudice and Zombies); on the other, there’s the risk of nauseating the reader with too much monstery squishiness (I’m glaring at you Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters [grr]).

Luckily for you (and me!) Browning Erwin does a nice job of not forgetting who Jane, Rochester, and St. John are when she folds in the vampires, zombies, and werewolves. The monster language is distracting a handful of times, but the rest of the time it was cracking me up. I mean, of course Mrs Reed was a vampire. (:

¹ Book 11 was The Girl in the Blue Beret by Bobbie Ann Mason. It’s all right, but I find I’m eh enough about it that it doesn’t warrant its own post. So there.