13 New Authors Reading Challenge

[Bustrofedon]

Aspects of the Novel E.M. Forster
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers
Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai
Blindness of the Heart Julia Franck.
Awakening by Kate Chopin
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
House of Leaves Mark Danielewski.

Finished Play It As It Lays Joan Didion. 2/4. A good quick read. A tale of a woman's wanderings in an decadent, vacuous world and the effects of her experiences. For some reason I assumed Didion was prim. She's not.

[Yaur]

On the one hand I am way late to the party, on the other I just got the "serious reading" bug this summer so I might make it.

This year:
1. Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, first 150 pages of Gravity's Rainbow -- Interesting, but not my cup of tea.
2. Ron Curie Jr, Everything Matters -- Cheesy at the end, but the end makes the book.
3. Charles Bukowski, Post Office, Factotum, Ham on Rye, and Women -- Bukowski is Bukowski, I dig it but there is too much other amazing stuff to read to come back now that I have read the essentials.
4. Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the end of the night -- Bukowski is also an echo of Céline, but Céline brings a lot more to the table in terms of charachter development and life experiences. The main problem with this book is that the translator gets in the way some times.
5. Vladimir Nabakov, Lolita -- I came to this book with high expectations, but not high enough. Well written, intense, and, in some ways, surprising. Definitely want to read more of his stuff when I get through the "survey" period of my reading experience.
6. James Purdy, Cabot Wright Begins -- A writer's writer. I'll stop short of amazing and say "very good." Somewhere between Bukowski and Celine.

7. Jean-Paul Sarte, Nausea -- I approached this as literature, and as a work of pure fiction it fails IMO. Had I approached it more as a book of philosophy wrapped in a novel I would have been less disappointed, though some of his insights seem somewhat trite.
8. James Conrad, Heart of Darkness -- At his best Conrad is incredible at his worst he is pretty good. Definitely on the "read more" list.
9. Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises -- His characters seem terribly one-dimensional and the plot somewhat predictable. I'll likely give him another shot, but my first impression is "overrated".

in progress: William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch

[Bustrofedon]

9. Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises -- His characters seem terribly one-dimensional and the plot somewhat predictable. I'll likely give him another shot, but my first impression is "overrated".

It's been a long time since I read any Hemingway and back then I really liked what I read. But I think a rereading might put me in agreement with you after years of reading other stuff. I liked For Whom the Bell Tolls better than SAR so you might try that.

[erikarae]

As it turns out, I have read over 30 new authors this year. I've been making an effort to branch out and pry myself away from my favorites, and it worked! I don't want to post all of them, so I'll just post my top 13 of the year (in no particular order):

We, the Drowned - Carsten Jensen 10/10
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruis Zafon 9/10
The Orphan Master's Son - Adam Johnson 8/10
Room - Emma Donoghue 7/10
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver 8/10
Cutting for Stone - Adam Verghese 9/10
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card 7/10
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood 7/10
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel - Susanna Clarke 9/10
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 7/10
World War Z - Max Brooks 7/10
A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan 7/10
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami both 8/10

[Bustrofedon]

Aspects of the Novel E.M. Forster
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers
Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai
Blindness of the Heart Julia Franck.
Awakening by Kate Chopin
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
House of Leaves Mark Danielewski
Play it As it Lays Joan Didion

Adding The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2/4, I think. Quite a dysfunctional family here but Franzen makes you see everyone's point of view. A nice satire on contemporary culture.

12 down 1 to go.

[Bustrofedon]

Finished Visit from the Goon Squad. Gimisun may have started with this one if I remember correctly. A good book. Read it straight through. I got side tracked by Shakespeare half done and I think i lost something as I finished. But it is entertaining. I think Egan is still a short story writer but she brings the chapters together in a weird enough cross-stitch to make a good novel. 2/4.

2013 challenge complete. 2014 is Elizabethan so good night and good luck for you novel readers next year.

[Yaur]

This year:
1. Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49, first 150 pages of Gravity's Rainbow -- Interesting, but not my cup of tea.
2. Ron Curie Jr, Everything Matters -- Cheesy at the end, but the end makes the book.
3. Charles Bukowski, Post Office, Factotum, Ham on Rye, and Women -- Bukowski is Bukowski, I dig it but there is too much other amazing stuff to read to come back now that I have read the essentials.
4. Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the end of the night -- Bukowski is also an echo of Céline, but Céline brings a lot more to the table in terms of charachter development and life experiences. The main problem with this book is that the translator gets in the way some times.
5. Vladimir Nabakov, Lolita -- I came to this book with high expectations, but not high enough. Well written, intense, and, in some ways, surprising. Definitely want to read more of his stuff when I get through the "survey" period of my reading experience.
6. James Purdy, Cabot Wright Begins -- A writer's writer. I'll stop short of amazing and say "very good." Somewhere between Bukowski and Celine.
7. Jean-Paul Sarte, Nausea -- I approached this as literature, and as a work of pure fiction it fails IMO. Had I approached it more as a book of philosophy wrapped in a novel I would have been less disappointed, though some of his insights seem somewhat trite.
8. James Conrad, Heart of Darkness -- At his best Conrad is incredible at his worst he is pretty good. Definitely on the "read more" list.
9. Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises -- His characters seem terribly one-dimensional and the plot somewhat predictable. I'll likely give him another shot, but my first impression is "overrated".

in progress: William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch

10. William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch -- Word salad.
11. William Faulkner, Light in August -- Absurdly well written character driven novel. Faulkner is definitely on the "must read everything he's written" list.

Trying to round out the year with Kafka and (probably) Rushdie.

[Buckthorn]

This year I seemed to have managed 21:
1) Yann Martel - Life of Pi
2) Erin Morgenstern - The night circus
3) Brian Froud - The Goblins of Labyrinth
4) John Green - The Fault in our stars
5) Margaret Stohl & Kami Garcia - Beautiful creatures, Beautiful darkness, Beautiful chaos, Beautiful redemption, Dream dark
6) Weis/Hickman - Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Authumn Twilight, Dragons of spring dawning
7) Mark Haddon - The curious incident of the dog in the night time
8) Umberto Eco - Foucault’s pendulum
9) Cassandra Clare - The Mortal Instruments
10) Isaac Marion - Warm bodies
11) Salman Rushdie - Luka and the fire of life
12) Christopher Ransom - The Birthing house
13) Ernest Hemmingway - A moveable feast
14) Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London
15) Veronica Roth - Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant
16) Robyn Schneider - The beginning of everything/Severed heads, broken hearts
17) David Levithan - Every Day
18) James Phelan - Chasers Trilogy
19) Cecil Castellucci - First day on earth
20) John Boyne - Stay where you are and then leave
21) Gavin Extence - The Universe Vs Alex Woods

[qimissung]

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn-forgot to list this previously. It's fairly good. I'd give it a 7/10
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spartk
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
Anna Karenina 10/10
The Red Bow by George Saunders (short story) 7/10 It's actually quite good, just not to my taste; although I wouldn't rule out reading more of him.
World War Z by Max Brooks
Lost Paradise Cees Nooteboom. 9/10 A short novel, but one that I keep returning to in my thoughts. It stays with you. I wish it had been longer, but it's what he does with it within this rather circumscribed form that I find rather fascinating.
Divergent by Veronica Roth 7/10 A YA novel about dystopian society in the same vein as The Hunger Games. An enjoyable read.
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga. 7/10 What can I say? I am reading some Young Adult literature this summer, to be better positioned to recommend books, and also to add to my roster of good books to teach. This was an enjoyable read. It's about a young man who's father is a renowned serial killer. It does present some interesting questions about how we decide who we are, what to keep of what our parents instill in us, and the difficulty of turning away from or overcoming really bad parenting.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (finished 1/2/2014) I did not finish thirteen new authors in 2013. Oh well. Two more to go. I shall persevere.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. 10/10 Oh. my. God. I love this book. I love the rather flat affect of it and all the things teeming there underneath; his astute depiction of human interaction; the presumable calm building to the quiet storm. It seemed like a meditation on humanity and perhaps a metaphor not just for life but for how we treat those who are "other" than us, i.e. racism.

[qimissung]

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn-forgot to list this previously. It's fairly good. I'd give it a 7/10
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spartk
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
Anna Karenina 10/10
The Red Bow by George Saunders (short story) 7/10 It's actually quite good, just not to my taste; although I wouldn't rule out reading more of him.
World War Z by Max Brooks
Lost Paradise Cees Nooteboom. 9/10 A short novel, but one that I keep returning to in my thoughts. It stays with you. I wish it had been longer, but it's what he does with it within this rather circumscribed form that I find rather fascinating.
Divergent by Veronica Roth 7/10 A YA novel about dystopian society in the same vein as The Hunger Games. An enjoyable read.
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga. 7/10 What can I say? I am reading some Young Adult literature this summer, to be better positioned to recommend books, and also to add to my roster of good books to teach. This was an enjoyable read. It's about a young man who's father is a renowned serial killer. It does present some interesting questions about how we decide who we are, what to keep of what our parents instill in us, and the difficulty of turning away from or overcoming really bad parenting.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (finished 1/2/2014) I did not finish thirteen new authors in 2013. Oh well. Two more to go. I shall persevere.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. 10/10 Oh. my. God. I love this book. I love the rather flat affect of it and all the things teeming there underneath; his astute depiction of human interaction; the presumable calm building to the quiet storm. It seemed like a meditation on humanity and perhaps a metaphor not just for life but for how we treat those who are "other" than us, i.e. racism.
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki A mesmerizing reflection of worlds corrupting, corroding, connecting.