books: rename to read

Signed-off-by: Robert Günzler <r@gnzler.io>

1 files changed, 212 insertions, 0 deletions

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+<details open>
+  <summary>2025</summary>
+  <main>
+    <h2 id="now">now</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li>Freiheitsschock, Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk</li>
+    </ul>
+    <h2 id="nov25">november</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li>Tod in Venedig, Thomas Mann</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        at the start the style of writing was preventing me from getting into
+        the story fully, as i was reading i got used to it and by the end found
+        myself quite enjoying it. apart from the style i find nothing
+        particularly special about it. the conclusion is quite unexpected
+        though. i found the epilog by terence james reed contextualised the
+        writing of the book in thomas manns life really useful.
+      </blockquote>
+    </ul>
+    <h2 id="oct25">october</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li>The Burning Shore, Wilbur Smith</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        while it kept me awake until 3am for 3 days i really disliked the
+        tonal shift between the second and third acts. how can he portray the
+        lifestyle of the san the way he does and then have centaine tear up
+        their sacred place of ancestor worship for diamonds. then the in-world
+        justification, that it will provide "good water" for her son. to me is
+        just blatant sugarcoating of an act that clearly violates the memory
+        and principles of the people she has her life to thank for. though she
+        had already all but forgotten them, when it was time for the story to
+        move on from including o'wa and h'ani.
+        <br>
+        another gripe with the writing i've had is the way the female lead is
+        written. it is so obvious, that the author is a man of the last
+        century... centaine in both instances immediately falls for the male,
+        that is so clearly set up to be her love-interest.
+        <br>
+        The book
+        <i>is</i>
+        from 1985, that might put some of this into perspective.
+      </blockquote>
+    </ul>
+    <h2 id="sep25">september</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li>The Passage, Justin Cronin</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        i can't quite remember where i even found this book. specifically the
+        part after the timeskip pulled me in and i just needed to know what
+        happens next. the book sets up a series and i am quite curious what
+        else they are going to do with the characters - i am personally happy
+        with what they did and wouldn't
+        <i>need</i>
+        more.
+        <br>
+        one small detail from the epilog i like is that apparently he co-wrote
+        the concept for the book together with his daughter.
+      </blockquote>
+    </ul>
+    <h2 id="aug25">august</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li>Abroad in Japan, Chris Broad</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        after reading the first half, i would already recommend this
+        book. even without any context on the author or japan, this has
+        some really funny stories. i also like how i can almost hear
+        chris' voice in the writing.
+      </blockquote>
+      <li>The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        this one took a while. started reading pretty much right after
+        Native Tongue at the end of march. the book works well for piece
+        meal reading, since it's a collection of stories set in a
+        shared world. my favorites were the one where 'and the moon be
+        still as bright' and 'the million year picnic'.
+        overall i think i prefer this over fahrenheit if i had to
+        recommend one. this one executes the almost educational tone
+        better while telling actually great scifi stories, which often
+        left me thinking about them later.
+      </blockquote>
+    </ul>
+    <h2 id="mar25">march</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li>Native Tongue, Suzette Haden Elgin</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        read most of this in two long sessions while we were in
+        turkey. after a bit of a slow start i liked the spin on
+        "dystopian future-not-future society"; the world building
+        is reminiscent of handmaid's tale, but i felt like there
+        was more exploration of the inner workings of
+        <i>why</i>
+        society is that way; the feminist context shines through
+        especially towards the end, when the plot only works because the
+        men are all arrogant assholes, which was satisfying but a
+        bit one-dimensional.
+      </blockquote>
+    </ul>
+    <h2 id="feb25">february</h2>
+    <p class="notice">
+      started reading a weekly newspaper which had quite the
+      impact on my reading time. i have a test subscription for
+      10 weeks, let's see if i can figure out how to balance my
+      reading out...
+    </p>
+    <h2 id="jan25">january</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li>Record of a Night too brief, Hiromi Kawakami</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        the first half consists of surreal dreamlike short stories
+        that only refer to their protagonists as 'me' and 'the
+        girl'. second half is two longer stories. i enjoyed
+        interpreting what everything might mean, but wasn't
+        particularly drawn to the book because of the episodic
+        nature at the start. read the second half in one afternoon.
+      </blockquote>
+    </ul>
+  </main>
+</details>
+<details>
+  <summary>2024</summary>
+  <main>
+    <h2 id="dec24">december</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li>Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        had I not read Ready Player One and Neuromancer before,
+        this would surely have left a better impression.
+        the part about the sumarian virus is creative but feels
+        forced at the end when it is used to resolve
+        everything.
+      </blockquote>
+    </ul>
+    <h2 id="nov24">november</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li>Celestial Bodies, Jokha Alharthi</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        read this while in iceland. basically a family history
+        focused on the women. i had no background on oman's
+        history or society. super interesting from that angle.
+        sometimes a bit slow and confusing, since it's jumping
+        around the timeline.
+      </blockquote>
+      <li>Snow Country, Kawabata Yasunari</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        i am a sucker for japanese novels and their erie vibe.
+        this one has it too. so many small details that feel
+        meaningless on the surface but add some much to the
+        experience of the book.
+      </blockquote>
+    </ul>
+    <h2 id="oct24">october</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li><a href="//100r.co/site/busy_doing_nothing.html">Busy Doing Nothing</a>,
+        Rek Bellum &amp; Devine Lu Linvega</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        somehow i fell down the rabbithole (lol) of rek &
+        devine's world this month. their log is fascinating and
+        inspiring. much of their stuff makes you want to set
+        out to sail yourself, and much of this book does too,
+        but then there is also details (like the wave incident)
+        that make you say: hell no.
+      </blockquote>
+    </ul>
+    <h2 id="aug24">august</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li><code>DROPPED</code>
+        <i>Illuminatus! Part 1: The Eye in the Pyramid, Robert Shea</i></li>
+      <blockquote>
+        I did not like the meandering writing and whacky
+        storylines that kept looping back onto each other.
+      </blockquote>
+    </ul>
+    <h2 id="jul24">july</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li>Der stumme Tod, Volker Kutscher</li>
+      <li>At the Mountains of Madness, H.P. Lovecraft</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        the story was mildly scary but entertaining. he kind of
+        overused "scary" adjective-noun pairs: cosmic fear,
+        blasphemous mountains. i don't understand how the pov
+        character thinks his report will hold back further
+        exploration of that region of antarctica. i would actually
+        expect it to inspire more attention.
+      </blockquote>
+      <li>Only Human (Themis Files #3), Sylvain Neuvel</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        i did not like this compared to the other two entries
+        to the series. mostly takes place on the world of the
+        creators of the "mechs". the style feels off compared
+        to the first novel when we were seeing the story evolve
+        through the eyes of the unnamed character.
+      </blockquote>
+    </ul>
+    <h2 id="jun24">june</h2>
+    <ul>
+      <li>Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut</li>
+      <li>Neuromancer, William Gibson</li>
+      <li>Convenience Store Woman, Murata Sayaka</li>
+      <blockquote>
+        i admit, i probably started this out of nostalgia after
+        coming back from japan. it's a cute little story that
+        nicely shows how weird japanese society can be.
+      </blockquote>
+    </ul>
+    <p class="notice">
+      i left my ereader at a cafe on the 1st of january of this year
+      while traveling in south korea. i only got a replacement in june.
+      that's why there is a 6 month gap where i did not read anything
+      this year.
+    </p>
+  </main>
+</details>