Month: January 2023

Without going into personal stuff details too much, 2022 was a more difficult year than I had anticipated. It’s been a rough time with COVID-19. I really hope that personally and globally, we all recover. On a book front, I was able to maintain my reading goal of reading over 52 books every year. It was a decent year for reading books. I read 60 books which is not as good as 2021’s 70 but a great year in terms of quality books and audiobooks. This is by no means exhaustive and I really could not list all the good books I read this year.

For 2023, I am aiming to read more from my collection so less new books and more classics.

Audiobooks and Non Fiction

2022 was a great year for audiobooks. I was able to appreciate it more and listen to them while I was sick, knitting, or puzzling. The following are great books and well narrated.

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett – Not non-fiction but narration by Tom Hanks really made this novel.

General Fiction and Literary

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

Young Adult and Children’s Fiction

Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster

Last Night at the the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

Graphic Novels/Manga

Satoko and Nada series by Yupechika

I picked this one up in a little library in Sydney. It’s by an Australian author and set in Melbourne. I knew from initial impressions and some light reading on good reads that it was a “domestic thriller” similar to the work of Liane Moriarty. I debated about bringing it back but eventually decided to try for it as my plane reading.

My expectations were low because I don’t really read a lot of these domestic thrillers. Upon reflection when I have read the popular ones, I don’t mind them as much as say modern romance novels.

I found myself liking this more than expected. I did figure our the twist half way. I didn’t love the romance or abuse survivor storylines. I think these thrillers use trauma too much as a plot device. The resolutions to these storylines was a bit too neat as well.

What was good is the author seems to really know middle class women and to a certain extent, a woman from a poorer background. Of course the women are all white and most of it happened in a very privileged setting. Still, I found myself actually liking and relating to the women in the book. They were all messed up but the author had a nice way of showing their relatability.

As a novel published in Australia by an Australian, I found moments and words which were for that audience and would likely have been changed for international readers. I liked that after my own experience travelling in the country.

Not bad pulp fiction. Didn’t regret reading it and it kept me occupied for a few hours. Sometimes these kind of novels are great for travel.

3.5/5 stars. Read January 13, 2023.

John Wyndham was an English sci-fi author known for his works published in the mid-20th century. I read The Chrysalids by John Wyndham as assigned reading in middle school and remember it leaving an impression. It was helped by the fact that I had one of my favourite English teachers at the time. In any case, I wanted to try more Wyndham especially since this book is in the 1001 Books list and I managed to get a copy.

The premise that a small town of women are suddenly impregnated after a day out through xenogenesis is horrible. The concepts in this book and in Wyndham’s books make him one of the most interesting of sci-fi authors. Having read David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas and Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, I can see how Wyndham influenced them more so with the Chrysalids though.

It has been decades since I read the Chrysalids so I can’t offer a great comparison on the writing except that the children in that book were the central characters. Here, the children are the antagonists. The writing feels a bit heavy handed since it’s a bunch of mostly male adults talking a lot. There are not enough from the female characters at all which is disappointing given that they suffer so much by the plot.

I do think the themes and the creepiness make this book and Wyndham’s interesting.

3.5/5 stars. Read January 3-4, 2022.

Rick & Morty Season 6 – This was the only show I was watching in the autumn.

Free Guy (13 11 22) – Fun. Sweet rom com. Great cast. Mindless entertainment

Knives Out: Glass Onion – Very fun! I thought Janelle Monae was great in this and I continue to adore Daniel Craig’s Blanc character. I am so happy that this series is living up to the first film.

My Kitchen Rules AU – I was actually really pleased by the winners.

Only Murders in the Building season 1 & 2 – Funny. We loved this. Growing up I remember watching a lot of Steve Martin movies and his comedy style is silly and often wholesome. A bit predictable for me as someone who reads mystery but the comedy is top notch. I also like the chemistry between the three leads.

Julia Season 1 (13 01 23)- Started on plane and finished at home. Very great plane watching as it has some of my favourite things: food, mid-century decor and fashion, female characters, and a great cast! Uplifting and sweet. Also as someone who loves Frasier, the many scenes between Bebe Neuwith with and David Hyde Pearce feels like a spiritual successor to Frasier. The show’s writing is not perfect and the artistic license taken with the lives of real people and the social issues is clunky. However, relationships and acting and design are one point.

I packed this classic and another for my time abroad. I’m trying to read from my stash and in particular, classics. This one was a quick novella that I should have read it sooner. It was an hour and some change in a beautiful park on a sunny day down under. Location was better than the novel. While not bad exactly, it was a parable novel which the short intro forewarns. It does not have rich character work. I read that it is taught widely in middle and high school and has that assigned reading feeling about it. I still like Steinbeck and should re-read East of Eden one day.

3/5 stars. Read January 1, 2023.

This review is overdue. I am writing and finishing it now in another country but posting it after my holiday. This novel was the last novel I read in 2022 and one of the best.

This is a true classic. It is well written with a large, diverse cast of characters, some that you root for and some that you love to hate. It feels humane and true to life. It’s very similar to classics such as War and Peace, Far from the Madding Crowd,, Middlemarch (which I haven’t read yet but it always feels like I have), and Jane Austen novels.

This is one of the longest single volume novels in English literature. I was fortunate to read this over the course of three days including Remembrance Day so I did not have to work. I was was feeling poorly due to my covid booster but it allowed me to get through most of this novel thankfully.

Like the war parts War and Peace, I did find the political aspects of the novel a tad boring and my attention waned. Other than that, everything else was engrossing. The characters are rich. Everything happens in the space of the year but it did not feel tedious or long. I did worry that things would not resolve quickly enough because the pace was not as quick as it could have been. Then again, that sort of reflects life.

There is some tragedy and I was surprised that I was triggered by a mentally ill character in this novel. One of the characters experiences episodes of psychosis. I’ve had experiences with someone very close to me who has gone through it. I felt very sad and disturbed when reading the passages.

I know a sequel was announced about 14 years ago, and I am looking forward to it whenever it does get published.

Reading this novel reminded how much I love classics and reminded me about the 1001 books list. I revived it and will aim to read more classical books fro my stash in 2023.

5/5 stars. Read November 10-12, 2022. Review finished January 1, 2023.