The 20GreatTeen Book Reading Party, Part 1

In Which Kev Reads from January-March 2018

My buddy Jeff has been keeping intermittent track of the books he reads in this year of our lord 20GreatTeen, so I've decided to check in around the 90 day mark, as well.

Books Read January 1-March 31, 2018:

Addicted to Americana - Charles Phoenix
Uncommon Type - Tom Hanks
The Stand - Stephen King
Right to Life - Jack Ketchum
Artemis - Andy Weir
Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War - Mark Harris
Turtles All the Way Down - John Green
Paperbacks from Hell - Grady Hendrix
All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love, and Petty Theft - Geraldine DeRuiter
Your Favorite Band is Killing Me - Steven Hyden
Finding Felicity - Stacy Kade
Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries - Kory Stamper
Pet Sematary - Stephen King

Some thoughts: 

1. A lot of these books have been audio. My ability to read audiobooks while at work and at the gym has provided me a nonstop stream of new information and new stories, all while getting the other stuff done I need to get done.

2. Some interesting trends have come out of reading by audio. When you're reading physical books, the words always come out in an approximation of your own voice - your inner reading voice. That's, of course, impossible with audio. I find that if I hear the same thing all the time, my attention lags. Readers have become ... not as important as writers, but sometimes close to par. I've been liking a mix of female and male voices, professional readers and authors taking on their own book, fiction and nonfiction. Keeps it spicy.

3. Second book thoughts: Mark Harris' first book on Hollywood - Pictures at a Revolution - was a little more engaging and told more actual Hollywood stories. I liked Five Came Back, but I didn't love it. Artemis, the second book by Andy Weir, may be even better than The Martian, and Rosario Dawson's read is top-notch.

4. I've been getting book recs from Twitter a lot, especially YA. I've never read John Green before, but Turtles All the Way Down is phenomenal. Finding Felicity, by Stacy Kade, is good, but unlike with Turtles, I kept wanting the protagonist to stop hating herself so much all the time. For some reason, I thought All Over the Place was a food memoir - I think a food blogger recommended it - but it turned out to be a very personal memoir of travel and love. I really enjoyed it. Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me is a book about music rivalries and it might be my favorite book this year so far. Hyden's second book about rock and roll - Twilight of the Gods - comes out next month and it's already on preorder.

5. Stephen King alert: The Stand was one of those half-audio, half-pulp reads. I love this book more every time I read it. I've been waiting on an audio of Pet Sematary for years - it was, for a time, the only mainstream Stephen King novel not on audio. This recording by Michael C. Hall is phenomenal.

6. Tom Hanks should read more books.

7. On the unread: I have tried to finish Alias Grace several times, both in book and audio form. I don't know what's holding me back. I loved The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin quite a lot, and this one isn't grabbing me. I once again tried the Harry Bosch series after reading a fantastic Michael Connelly short story, and I just can't. I have personal reasons but basically the character is just way too triggery and it's not worth it.

8. Paperbacks From Hell is so much ridiculous fun and everyone should read it. It's about the pulpy b-rate horror paperback boom of the 70s and 80s and it's perfect.

9. Currently reading Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer and It's All Relative by AJ Jacobs. Let's check back in in July!

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