the strictly come reading 2023 reading challenge thread

[inva]

1/35 Middlemarch by George Eliot
2/35 Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century: Through the Prism of Value by Guglielmo Carchedi and Michael Roberts
3/35 The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue
4/35 The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction edited by Michael Emmerich, Jim Hinks & Masashi Matsuie
5/35 Clipped Coins, Abused Words, and Civil Government: John Locke's Philosophy of Money by George Caffentzis
6/35 Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World by Adam Tooze
7/35 Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
8/35 Civilizing Money: Hume, his Monetary Project and the Scottish Enlightenment by George Caffentzis
9/35 An Untouched House by Willem Frederik Hermans
10/35 Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata
11/35 Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris
Not the sort of book that's usually my kind of thing but it was a thoughtful Christmas present so I read and it and enjoyed it quite a bit. Couple of men involved in the execution of Charles I on the run basically, loosely based on real people and events. The post civil war setting is interesting and immersive and the plot rattles along pretty nicely for the most part. Does start meandering in the last quarter of the novel, and then the ending felt rushed and unsatisfying, but yeah not bad.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

5/27 The Rings of Saturn - W G Sebald

a wonderful book

4/27 Maurice - E M Forster (re-read)
3/27 The Last Word - Hanif Kureishi
2/27 Alec - William di Canzio
1/27 Quichotte - Saman Rushdie

 

[Pickman's model]

3/50 reggie oliver, maze for the minotaur and other stories

4/50 daniel abraham, age of ash

 

[pseudonarcissus]

6/27 Singin' and Swingin' & Getting Merry like Christmas - Maya Angelou

This is not a seasonal book, it's the third part of Maya Angelou's 7 part autobiography...what an amazing life!

5/27 The Rings of Saturn - W G Sebald
4/27 Maurice - E M Forster (re-read)
3/27 The Last Word - Hanif Kureishi
2/27 Alec - William di Canzio
1/27 Quichotte - Saman Rushdie

 

[BoatieBird]

1/52 - Ruth Rendell - Tigerlilly's Orchids (re-read)
2/52 - Shehan Karunatilaka - The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
3/52 - Val McDermid - 1989
4/52 - Anthony Doerr - Cloud Cuckoo Land
5/52 - Ann Patchett - Commonwealth
6/52 - Peter James - Picture You Dead
7/52 - Donal Ryan - From a Low and Quiet Sea
8/52 - Patricia Highsmith - Deep Water
9/52 - Ian McEwan - Lessons

10/52 - Robert Galbraith - The Ink Back Heart

 

[PursuedByBears]

1/45 Joe Abercrombie - Half a King
2/45 Joe Abercrombie - Half the World
3/45 - George Orwell - Down and Out in Paris and London
4/45 Jack London - The Call of the Wild
5/45 Joe Abercrombie - Half a War
6/45 Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
7/45 Mark Cooper - Later... with Jools Holland: 30 years of music, magic and mayhem
8/45 Michael Molcher - I Am the Law: how Judge Dredd predicted our future

9/45 Sarah J Maas - A Court of Thorns and Roses

Enjoyable nonsense. Don't think I'll bother with the others in the series though.

 

[Signal 11]

3/10 - The Idea - Nick Heath
4/10 - The Last Stargazers - Emily Levesque
5/10 - Marxism in a Lost Century: A Biography of Paul Mattick - Gary Roth

 

[hitmouse]

1/45 - Katherine Angel - Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again (re-read)
2/45 - Martin Lux - Anti-Fascist (re-read)
3/45 - Hannah Kent - Burial Rites
4/45 - Margaret Atwood - The Robber Bride (re-read)
5/45 EP Thompson - The Making of the English Working Class

6/45 Henry James - The Princess Casamassima

Took me a fair while, this one. Long, interesting, bonkers book, looking at the years of "propaganda by the deed" at the end of the 19th century from a very bourgeois perspective. Makes my sentences look straightforward and to-the-point.
Next up, planning to start:

7/45 Nigel Flanagan - Our Trade Unions: What comes next after the summer of 2022?

 

[imposs1904]

1/36 Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go by George P. Pelecanos
2/36 Substance: Inside New Order by Peter Hook
3/36 How To Rob An Armored Car by Iain Levison (ReRead)
4/36 The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club by Peter Hook
5/36 The Arsenal Stadium Mystery by Leonard Gribble
6/36 No. 17 by Joseph Jefferson Farjeon
7/36 My Rock 'n' Roll Friend by Tracey Thorn
8/36 The Man Who Came Uptown by George P. Pelecanos
9/36 Good Behavior by Donald E. Westlake
10/36 The Hot Rock by Donald E. Westlake
11/36 Drowned Hopes by Donald E. Westlake
12/36 Quick Change by Jay Cronley
13/36 The Greatest Show on Earth: The Inside Story of the Legendary 1970 World Cup by Andrew Downie
14/36 Prick Up Your Ears: The Biography of Joe Orton by John Lahr
15/36 Thatcher Stole My Trousers by Alexei Sayle
16/36 Fletch by Gregory McDonald

17/36 Fletch Won by Gregory McDonald

 

[RedRedRose]

3/10 - The Idea - Nick Heath

Any good?

 

[Signal 11]

Any good?

Yes, I thought it was very good. hitmouse was a bit more critical here.

 

[hitmouse]

Yes, I thought it was very good. hitmouse was a bit more critical here.

I'd still say it's very definitely worth reading, mind!

 

[marty21]

1/59 The Rooster Bar - John Grisham
2/59 The White Album - Joan Didion
3/59 Storm Watch - CJ Box

 

[Biddlybee]

1/15 - We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson
2/15 - The Housekeeper and the Professor - Yōko Ogawa
3/15 - Slug - Hollie McNish
4/15 - Someday, Maybe - Onyi Nwabineli
5/15 - Tyger - SF Said
6/15 - Priestdaddy - Patricia Lockwood
7/15 - The Things I Would Tell You - ed. Sabrina Mahfouz
8/15 - The World's Wife - Carol Ann Duffy
9/15 - A Night Divided - Jennifer A Nielsen
10/15 - Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart
11/15 - Lyrics Alley - Leila Aboulela

 

[pseudonarcissus]

7/27 Sucking Feijoas - Jeffrey Buchanan

6/27 Singin' and Swingin' & Getting Merry like Christmas - Maya Angelou
5/27 The Rings of Saturn - W G Sebald
4/27 Maurice - E M Forster (re-read)
3/27 The Last Word - Hanif Kureishi
2/27 Alec - William di Canzio
1/27 Quichotte - Saman Rushdie

 

[nogojones]

1/45 Ken MacLeod - The Human Front
2/45 Edward Bunker - Death Row Breakout
3/45 Ian Bone - Bash the Rich
4/45 Joan Didion - The Year of Magical Thinking
5/45 Julia Nicholls - Revolutionary Thought After the Paris Commune, 1871-1885
6/45 Sarah Jaffe - Work Won't Love You Back
7/45 Ann Leckie - Ancillary Sword
8/45 David Graeber & David Wengrow - The Dawn of Everything
9/45 Ellen Meiksins Wood - Peasant-Citizen and Slave: The Foundations of Athenian Democracy

10/45 Hunter S. Thompson - The Rum Diary

 

[QueenOfGoths]

1. 'The Death of Mrs. Westaway" - Ruth Ware
2. "The Paris Apartment" - Lucy Foley
3. "Force of Nature" - Jane Harper
4. "Eight Ghosts: The English Herirage Book of New Ghost Stories"
5. "The Decagon House Murders" - Yukito Ayatsuji.
6. "The Four Legendary Kingdoms" - Matthew Reilly
7. "Girl A" - Abigail Dean
8. "What Lies Between Us" - John Marrs

9. "The Three Secret Cities" - Matthew Reilly. Utter but enjoyable tosh!

 

[imposs1904]

1/36 Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go by George P. Pelecanos
2/36 Substance: Inside New Order by Peter Hook
3/36 How To Rob An Armored Car by Iain Levison (ReRead)
4/36 The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club by Peter Hook
5/36 The Arsenal Stadium Mystery by Leonard Gribble
6/36 No. 17 by Joseph Jefferson Farjeon
7/36 My Rock 'n' Roll Friend by Tracey Thorn
8/36 The Man Who Came Uptown by George P. Pelecanos
9/36 Good Behavior by Donald E. Westlake
10/36 The Hot Rock by Donald E. Westlake
11/36 Drowned Hopes by Donald E. Westlake
12/36 Quick Change by Jay Cronley
13/36 The Greatest Show on Earth: The Inside Story of the Legendary 1970 World Cup by Andrew Downie
14/36 Prick Up Your Ears: The Biography of Joe Orton by John Lahr
15/36 Thatcher Stole My Trousers by Alexei Sayle
16/36 Fletch by Gregory McDonald
17/36 Fletch Won by Gregory McDonald

18/36 120, rue de la Gare by Léo Malet

The first actual physical book I've read this year. It made a nice change from reading books on my phone.

 

[nogojones]

1/45 Ken MacLeod - The Human Front
2/45 Edward Bunker - Death Row Breakout
3/45 Ian Bone - Bash the Rich
4/45 Joan Didion - The Year of Magical Thinking
5/45 Julia Nicholls - Revolutionary Thought After the Paris Commune, 1871-1885
6/45 Sarah Jaffe - Work Won't Love You Back
7/45 Ann Leckie - Ancillary Sword
8/45 David Graeber & David Wengrow - The Dawn of Everything
9/45 Ellen Meiksins Wood - Peasant-Citizen and Slave: The Foundations of Athenian Democracy
10/45 Hunter S. Thompson - The Rum Diary

11/45 Ann Leckie - Ancillary Mercy

Final book of the trilogy. Enjoyed it so much I'm off to find more by her.

 

[PursuedByBears]

1/45 Joe Abercrombie - Half a King
2/45 Joe Abercrombie - Half the World
3/45 - George Orwell - Down and Out in Paris and London
4/45 Jack London - The Call of the Wild
5/45 Joe Abercrombie - Half a War
6/45 Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
7/45 Mark Cooper - Later... with Jools Holland: 30 years of music, magic and mayhem
8/45 Michael Molcher - I Am the Law: how Judge Dredd predicted our future
9/45 Sarah J Maas - A Court of Thorns and Roses

10/45 David Graeber - The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy

 

[BoatieBird]

1/52 - Ruth Rendell - Tigerlilly's Orchids (re-read)
2/52 - Shehan Karunatilaka - The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
3/52 - Val McDermid - 1989
4/52 - Anthony Doerr - Cloud Cuckoo Land
5/52 - Ann Patchett - Commonwealth
6/52 - Peter James - Picture You Dead
7/52 - Donal Ryan - From a Low and Quiet Sea
8/52 - Patricia Highsmith - Deep Water
9/52 - Ian McEwan - Lessons
10/52 - Robert Galbraith - The Ink Back Heart

11/52 - Kent Haruf - The Tie That Binds (re-read)

 

[Winot]

1/29 The London Problem - Jack Brown
2/29 Ephemeron - Fiona Benson

3/29 NW - Zadie Smith

Haven’t read anything by her since White Teeth (not sure why as I loved that). NW was excellent - much better than the 2016 TV adaptation suggested. Didn’t like the ending though.

 

[Biddlybee]

1/15 - We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson
2/15 - The Housekeeper and the Professor - Yōko Ogawa
3/15 - Slug - Hollie McNish
4/15 - Someday, Maybe - Onyi Nwabineli
5/15 - Tyger - SF Said
6/15 - Priestdaddy - Patricia Lockwood
7/15 - The Things I Would Tell You - ed. Sabrina Mahfouz
8/15 - The World's Wife - Carol Ann Duffy
9/15 - A Night Divided - Jennifer A Nielsen
10/15 - Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart
11/15 - Lyrics Alley - Leila Aboulela
12/15 - Strange Flowers - Donal Ryan

 

[RedRedRose]

1/60 HP Lovecraft - Call of Cthulhu
2/60 HP Lovecraft - The Shadow over Innsmouth
3/60 Martin Pugh - We Danced All Night
4/60 Katherine Connelly - Sylvia Pankhurst
5/60 A.J.P. Taylor - Bismarck: the man and the statesman
6/60 Christopher Clark - Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947

Extensive history of the territory and period. Quite exhaustive in scope and detail covering everything from the 30 years war, to the wars of German Unification up to and including the Nazi period. Highly recommended, but at 800 pages, it's not a light read.

 

[belboid]

I'm not sure why I am posting in batches of three, but it appears I am.

1 - Noviolet Bulawayo - Glory
2 - Alan Garner - Treacle Walker
3 - Joe Thomas - White Riot (Book 1 of the United Kingdom trilogy)
4 - Robert Eric - My Own Worst Enemy

Enjoyable memoir of a bloke a decade older than me growing up just up the road, with all its joys and miseries.

5 - Cynthia Cruz - The Melancholia of Class: A Manifesto for the Working Class

Far more of a memoir than I was expecting. Quite interesting how she ties her experience (child of Mexican immigrants in a middle class school then part time uni lecturer) of being assumed to be middle class and how w-c artists are forced to either refute their background or make it strictly performative. Not really much of a manifesto tho.

6 - David Graeber & David Wengrow - The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

Magnificently written mix of genius and nonsense. Well worth a read. Much longer review of it The Dawn of Everything - the good, the bad and the ugly

 

[imposs1904]

1/36 Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go by George P. Pelecanos
2/36 Substance: Inside New Order by Peter Hook
3/36 How To Rob An Armored Car by Iain Levison (ReRead)
4/36 The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club by Peter Hook
5/36 The Arsenal Stadium Mystery by Leonard Gribble
6/36 No. 17 by Joseph Jefferson Farjeon
7/36 My Rock 'n' Roll Friend by Tracey Thorn
8/36 The Man Who Came Uptown by George P. Pelecanos
9/36 Good Behavior by Donald E. Westlake
10/36 The Hot Rock by Donald E. Westlake
11/36 Drowned Hopes by Donald E. Westlake
12/36 Quick Change by Jay Cronley
13/36 The Greatest Show on Earth: The Inside Story of the Legendary 1970 World Cup by Andrew Downie
14/36 Prick Up Your Ears: The Biography of Joe Orton by John Lahr
15/36 Thatcher Stole My Trousers by Alexei Sayle
16/36 Fletch by Gregory McDonald
17/36 Fletch Won by Gregory McDonald
18/36 120, rue de la Gare by Léo Malet

19/36 Bellies and Bullseyes: The Outrageous True Story of Darts by Sid Waddell (ReRead)

 

[inva]

1/35 Middlemarch by George Eliot
2/35 Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century: Through the Prism of Value by Guglielmo Carchedi and Michael Roberts
3/35 The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue
4/35 The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction edited by Michael Emmerich, Jim Hinks & Masashi Matsuie
5/35 Clipped Coins, Abused Words, and Civil Government: John Locke's Philosophy of Money by George Caffentzis
6/35 Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World by Adam Tooze
7/35 Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
8/35 Civilizing Money: Hume, his Monetary Project and the Scottish Enlightenment by George Caffentzis
9/35 An Untouched House by Willem Frederik Hermans
10/35 Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata
11/35 Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris
12/35 Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard
Quite liked the one of hers I read last year, didn't get on with this one at all. A fantasy romance where I was indifferent to the fantasy bit and the romance bit was just too thin so the whole thing fell flat really. Luckily was very short. It did make me think while reading it I could tell exactly the kind of internet circles the author moves in though.
13/35 Exiles from European Revolutions: Refugees in Mid-Victorian England edited by Sabina Freitag
Bit of an uneven collection of essays, some so short they're barely more than a list of names and groups but a few very good ones. Highlights were on German socialism in London, the relationship between chartists and political refugees, the legacy of '48er' exiles in the USA and a couple of interesting pieces focussing on women exiles.

 

[May Kasahara]

1. Melissa Harrison - All Among The Barley.
2. Armand Marie Leroi - Mutants.
3. Karen Joy Fowler - We are all completely beside ourselves.

4. Jing-Jing Lee - How We Disappeared.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

5/29 Wesley Doyle - Conform to Deform: The weird & wonderful world of Some Bizzare

As a teenager I was completely obsessed with Some Bizzare acts like Soft Cell, The The, Foetus, Psychic TV, Coil, and Neubauten. Still am. I was a bit sceptical about this book, but it's actually a brilliant read - a tonne of interviews (new and old) strung together as an oral history. Stevo Pearce the autodidact svengali manager looms large, with many tales of his exploits securing major label deals for improbable people like Cabaret Voltaire, PTV and Test Dept. And his increasingly erratic behaviour and accounting processes. There's a fair bit about MDMA use before it became illegal too.

The really interesting material is the accounts by the women involved with the label who have never really had credit. Musician Anni Hogan gets an opportunity to set out her contribution to Marc Almond's music post Soft Cell. Jane Rolink's story is revealing and hilarious in equal measure - she is thanked in the sleevenotes of most of my favourite releases on the label and it turns out that she basically kept the show on the road whilst the various eccentrics spiralled out of control. Nobody has a bad word to say about either Anni or Jane. (The latter went onto to be handbag house superstar DJ Mrs Wood). Alaura O'Dell (formerly Paula P-Orridge) has some very incisive things to say about the label and the general atmosphere of early Psychic TV too.

As with many music books, this starts with heroic, creative young people and ends with slightly embittered drug casualties, but if you have an interest in the acts it is definitely recommended.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

6/29 various - Commoning with George Caffentzis and Silvia Federici

This was one of them Verso downloads you get that sits around unread. It's an anthology of pieces by and about autonomoous marxists Caffentzis and Federici. A very mixed bag but some really good things in there including an interview with the pair of them, Peter Linebaugh's "Thomas Spence's Freedom Coins", "WTF is social reproduction" by Nic Vas & Camille Barbagallo (as well as various essays on family, women's work etc), a nice short story by PM of Bolo Bolo fame and a great piece on the history of Critical Mass and cycling as a commons in San Francisco by Chris Carlsson.

Some of the other pieces are a bit more technical/academic but it's well worth getting hold of in the next Verso sale and dipping in and out of.