Book Log 2019 Extra: Popsugar Reading Challenge

In past years I've kind of done the Popsugar Reading Challenge, but rather than make an actual attempt (or use it to pick books whenever I remember), I decided to take the 2019 list and see how well what I actually read fit the challenge topics. As I've done in the past, I will count a book more than once if it meets more than one (which seems fair as I'm doing this after the fact).


A book becoming a movie in 2019
A book that makes you nostalgic
A book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction)
A book you think should be turned into a movie - We That are Young by Preti Taneja
A book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads

A book with a plant in the title or on the cover - A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury

A reread of a favorite book - Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson (not really a favorite, but it's the only re-read I have in 2019)

A book about a hobby

A book you meant to read in 2018 - The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe (which I'd been meaning to read in 2018, 2017, 2016...)

A book with "pop," "sugar," or "challenge" in the title

A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover - Slaying the Badger by Richard Moore

A book inspired by mythology, legend, or folklore - The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

A book published posthumously

A book set in space - The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

A book by two female authors - Seeing Further, edited by Bill Bryson (probably not what was intended, but there are several essays written by women in this collection)

A book with a title that contains "salty," "sweet," "bitter," or "spicy"

A book set in Scandinavia - The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz

A book that takes place in a single day

A debut novel - Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

A book that's published in 2019 - Fall, or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson

A book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature - Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

A book recommended by a celebrity you admire

A book with "love" in the title

A book featuring an amateur detective - Holy Orders by Benjamin Black

A book about a family - Faithful Place by Tana French (book 3 in the Dublin Murder Squad series)

A book written by an author from Asia, Africa, or South America - Death's End by Liu Cixin

A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in the title
A book you see someone reading on TV or in a movie

A retelling of a classic - We That Are Young by Preti Taneja (based on King Lear)

A book with a question in the title

A book set on a college or university campus - The Incendiaries by R. O. Kwan

A book about someone with a superpower - Fall, or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson

A book told from multiple character POVs - Slaying the Badger by Richard Moore (which looks at the 1986 Tour de France from the viewpoints of several of the people involved, including legendary cyclists Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond).

A book that includes a wedding

A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter - The Quiet American by Graham Greene

A ghost story - Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

A book with a two-word title - Unnatural Causes by P. D. James

A novel based on a true story - The Throne of Caesar by Steven Saylor

A book revolving around a puzzle or game

Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge

Advanced:

A "cli-fi" (climate fiction) book - The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemesin (this is a bit of a stretch, I suppose, but there's a climate angle in there)

A "choose-your-own-adventure" book
An "own voices" book
Read a book during the season it is set in - Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel (based on the part of the book set in the present)
A LitRPG book
A book with no chapters, unusual chapter headings, or unconventionally numbered chapters
Two books wit the same title
A book that inspired a common phrase or idiom (e.g. Big Brother from 1984)

A book set in an abbey, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or convent - The Cloister by James Carroll

 Bok Log 2019 #55: Seeing Further by Bill Bryson (editor)

This collection of essays was compiled for the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society, the UK's national academy of the sciences. Each of its authors goes into detail about a specific topic or area of scientific inquiry, looking mostly at where things stand today and what the future may hold. 

While there is some historical writing, this book is not a retrospective on how the Society furthered the cause of science over the last three and a half centuries. Which is probably in keeping with the idea of the Society and its promotion of learning and discovery.

Some of the essays are pretty heavy, and I'll admit to doing some skimming along the way. From what I've read this is probably something you'll want to tackle in print, as it's got a number of illustrations that, based on my experience, didn't translate well to an electronic format. 

Book Log 2019 #54: Slaying the Badger by Richard Moore

It was hard to follow the Tour de France in the US in the 1980s. You'd get an hour or so of coverage on a Sunday afternoon, getting what CBS thought was the highlights of the week. Even with this limited access, I was taken with the race pretty much the second I learned it existed. Which made it all the more exciting when an American - an American! - won the race.

This book covers that 1986 race, where Greg LeMond became the first non-European to win the overall title, besting teammate (and five time winner) Bernard Hinault (the Badger of the title), whose pledge to ride in support of LeMond was not apparent in the actual racing. The book follows the race and the growing animosity between the riders (which of course spread throughout their whole team), and then catches up with the riders in the present for their recollections and thoughts about what happened.

This probably isn't LeMond's best-known Tour win to Americans (that would probably be the 1989 win where he made up a 50 second deficit to Laurent Fignon on the last day's time trial into Paris), but for history and drama it's hard to top. Anyone with an interest in competitive cycling should read this. There is also a 30 for 30 documentary by the same name which I've not watched but will hopefully get around to someday.

Sadly, Moore passed away unexpectedly in March 2022. 

 Book Log 2019 #53: Faithful Place by Tana French

A teenaged Frank Mackey (who we met in The Likeness as the main character's handler in the Dublin police) makes plans to run away to London with his girlfriend, but on the night of their planned departure she never shows. Thinking she dumped him due to his family, he leaves home (on the titular Faithful Place) and never returns.

At least not until two decades later, when Mackey's sister calls him out of the blue to say that a suitcase was found behind a fireplace in the abandoned house where Mackey and his girlfriend were going to meet. That bring Mackey back to the old neighborhood, and into an investigation as to what actually happened to his girlfriend.

This might be my favorite novel in the Dublin Murder Squad series, due to how the case and Mackey's family history intertwine.  While all the cases to this point had a personal element to them, this one is the most personal, and that may be what elevates the story for me. As with Rebus, this is a series you should be reading if you aren't already (although be forewarned that it's a very different series in terms of tone and emotional impact).

 Book Log 2019 #52: Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin

Old and new cases entwine, as John Rebus picks up a 40 year old murder that has connections to an attack on Darryl Christie, the apparent new underworld boss in Edinburgh. As Rebus again teams up with Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox to investigate the cases, he has to deal with his personal health and long-time nemesis Gerald "Big Ger" Cafferty, who may not be as retired as he seems.

At this point I'm just happy we're still getting Rebus novels. Start reading them if you haven't already.

 Book Log 2019 #51: Milkman by Anna Burns

A girl growing up in Troubles-era Northern Ireland attracts the attention of a paramilitary member known as "milkman," though she is resistant to his advances as he's older and married and she has a kinda-sorta boyfriend. As the interest turns into stalking, the girl has to face increased gossip about her relationship with milkman, which also hurts her familial relationships, most notably with her mother. The story plays out in a very Troubles sort of way, though the ending does offer a bit of a surprise as to how the girl is able to return to a normal life (or as normal as could be during the Troubles).

I see I only gave this three stars on Goodreads, and I don't remember why. I do recall a feeling of annoyance at how the plot was driven by rumor and gossip, but that's probably true to how things would have gone at the time. I did like the book overall, so it could be my middle aged man's point of view that's the problem.

 Book Log 2019 #50: Unnatural Causes by P.D. James

Adam Dalgliesh is on holiday, spending some time in his aunt's cabin on the Suffolk coast. But of course someone has to turn up dead, and in this case it's a local crime writer. Suspects abound, from the local literary circle to the family of the deceased, and when the evidence points in contradictory directions, Dalgliesh is compelled to help the local detectives figure out whodunit.

Three books in and I'm still not really feeling this series. I may re-read the Morse novels again before moving on to the next installment here.

Book Log 2019 #49: Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

This is Mandel's first novel, and if you've read other books by her prior to this one you'll feel comfortable with the transient and somewhat mysterious female protagonist Lilia . A criminal act committed by her father when Lilia was young leads to a life in motion, one which continues into her adulthood. This seems almost needless, except that a detective hired to find Lilia is still trying to find her, having become obsessed with finally finding her.

One night in New York, Lilia decides it's time to leave again, but in doing so her boyfriend Eli decides he needs to track her down to figure out why she left. As you might have guessed from the title, all parties wind up in Montreal, where things come to a head.

While the main character here is similar to those in later works, this is a very different book from Station Eleven, so adjust your expectations accordingly. I did enjoy it, although I was often at odds with the idea that the detective and Eli were both so committed to finding Lilia. Maybe I just don't understand obsession that well.

 Book Log 2019 #48: The Quiet American by Graham Greene

I haven't read a lot of Greene's work, but picked this up remembering how much I liked Our Man in Havana. This is a very different book from that one, but I enjoyed it just as much, just in a different way.

The book is set in the early days of the Vietnam War, in that time where the French were beginning to fade out but before the US started sending troops. A British journalist makes the acquaintance of a CIA agent, whose goal is to get Vietnam to fall under a "third force" that is neither capitalism nor communism, but a form a rule that combines local custom and tradition with a Western style government. The tension between the jaded journalist and true believer spy plays out both in how they experience and influence the war and in their common love for a local woman.

The book was inspired by Greene's time in Vietnam, and displays a good understanding of the country and its people, as well as an uncanny sense of how the war would wind up going. Reading it now, so many years after the war's end, makes it an even stronger indictment of the idea of American exceptionalism. It also makes me wish that more of the people who've been in charge of US wars over the last 30 years had read this. 

 Book Log 2019 #47: Fall or, Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson

I was not a huge fan of REAMDE, so I wasn't too thrilled that this novel brought back Richard "Dodge" Forthrast, the gaming company billionaire. But it turns out his presence in the novel is relatively short - sort of.

(Spoiler alert, inasmuch as you can have spoilers on a book three-plus years after it came out.)

Dodge winds up brain dead after a routine medical procedure goes sideways (when doctors tell you not to eat before going under, you should listen to them), and before taking him off life support his brain is scanned to create a connectome, a full structural mapping. Years later, a grandniece loads this connectome into a server and is able to reboot Dodge.

And it is a reboot. Rather than picking up where he left off, this new Dodge starts more or less from scratch, though over time it's clear that there are some memories (or something akin to memories) that help the cloud-based Dodge (now going by Edgod) develop a sense of self and a new world based on meatspace.

From there the book follows both the development of this new online world (and the introduction of new connectomes to it) and the struggle for control of the new world (which takes place both online and in physical space).

The novel ties together both the REAMDE and Cryptonomicon timelines, with characters from both making appearances (several of whom wind up in the cloud). I'm assuming this puts an end to this universe, which is a little disappointing if true (I would rather have had two more novels with the Waterhouse/Shaftoe family than the two Forthrast books).

I also wish this book was at least 200 pages shorter. At some point lush detail becomes overkill, and this book reaches that point several times. On the other hand, there was a decent ending to the book, which isn't always a guarantee for Stephenson. 

 Book Log 2019 #46: A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury

I picked this up so I'd have something to read while on jury duty (while waiting to get called, not during actual jury duty), and it was a good choice inasmuch as a short story collection is easier to get in and out of when you might have to stop reading on short notice. 

As for the stories themselves, it's a mixed bag. There are 32 stories, so it's not shocking that some of them aren't great. But with that many stories, you can easily pass on one of it's not working for you and move on to the next. All of the stories are typical of Bradbury's writing, so if you're a fan you may find the overall collection more to your liking.

This collection was originally published as The Golden Apples of the Sun.

 Book Log 2019 #45: The Dark Vineyard by Martin Walker

An agricultural research station just outside of Saint-Denis burns, with suspicion turning to local environmentalists who oppose its work on GMO crops. While local police chief Bruno investigates that, he also has to deal with the public outcry over a California winery's plans to buy up as many local vineyards as they can to create a larger, more industrial vineyard.  While Bruno tries to handle both events with his trademark informal investigating, a couple of bodies turn up, increasing the pressure on him to get everything back to normal.

I really do enjoy this series. Bruno is an excellent character, and the descriptions of the Dordogne region will make you want to visit. Or move there for good.

 Book Log 2019 #44: The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

The sequel to Old Man's War, it introduces us to the Ghost Brigades, the special forces units of the Colonial Defense Forces. Where their regular troops are elderly, living people who get their mind transplanted into young, new, enhanced bodies, the Ghost Brigades are created from the DNA of dead people, and optimized for combat. 

I won't go into too many plot details to avoid spoilers, but suffice it to say that creating new beings out of DNA doesn't always go as planned. 

Kind of funny that I read this after The Obelisk Gate, as they're complete opposites in many ways, but they both excel at the sort of reading experience they're aimed at giving, so maybe it's not that odd?  

 Book Log 2019 #43: The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin

I read this book two and a half years ago (I'm backfilling the Book Log, the publish dates are the finish dates I have on Goodreads), and I don't remember much about it, other than I really liked it. I'm also wondering if there was a lot of time between reading this and the first book in the trilogy, The Fifth Season (which I've not logged here as it looks like I didn't add start or end dates in Goodreads, so it's not showing up in the chronology of my read books), as I recall having to refresh myself a bit on characters and events. Anyway, you should read the trilogy if you haven't yet.

 Book Log 2019 #42: The Likeness by Tana French

Cassie Maddox - who we met in the first Dublin Murder Squad novel - has left the squad, but gets pulled back in due to a very unusual circumstance. Turns out that a body turned up that not only looks strikingly like Cassie, but has an ID with the same name the Cassie used in an undercover case. In order to find the killer - and figure out just exactly who the victim actually is - Cassie agrees to go undercover as the victim, an especially challenging role given that she shares a house with several other people. One of whom is most likely the killer.

I really enjoyed this, and if you've not read anything in this series (and are interested in contemporary murder mysteries) I'd highly suggest you start reading these.

 Book Log 2019 #41: The Fallen Architect by Charles Belfoure

At what should have been a highlight of his career, the theater designed by London architect Douglas Layton suffers a collapse. After serving a prison sentence for the deadly results of the collapse, Layton finds a new job in the theater - scene painter - but soon becomes involved in a series of murders which seem to be connected to the theater collapse. Layton thus begins to look for the killer, thinking that if he catches that person he'll also catch the person responsible for the theater disaster.

I thought Belfoure's first book, The Paris Architect, was good for a first novel, and was glad to see that this book didn't repeat some of the things that I thought detracted from the first one. I'm also still taken with the use of architecture in the mystery/thriller genre, and hope that future works will blend the two as well as this book (and the first one) did.

 Book Log 2019 #40: The Girl Who Takes and Eye for an Eye by David Langercrantz

The fifth book in the Millenium series, and second penned by Langercrantz, sees Lisbeth Salander in prison, where she protects a Bangladeshi prisoner from other inmates who want to do her harm. She also has a visit from her former guardian, who gives her information on her past. Salander was part of an experiment that took exceptional children and put them in different circumstances to see what effect it had on their growth. Salander asks journalist Mikael Blomkvist to investigate this, and if you've ready any of the previous books in this series you have an idea of what sort of hell this winds up unleashing.

I did like this book better than Langercrantz's first entry in the series, but I do agree with some of the criticism that the book focused too much on new characters and had a marked absence of Salander. Hopefully Langercrantz will return to the more established characters for the next book, which he's announced is his last in the series.

 Book Log 2019 #39: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

A meteor hits the US right by Washington DC, demolishing the capital and leaving the country more or less without a government. This would be bad enough, but it's not long after the strike that scientists realize that the planet will eventually become uninhabitable. This leads to a worldwide effort to colonize space in an effort to save humanity, an effort that requires all hands. Including those of Elma York, a former WASP pilot and mathematician who just may become the first American woman astronaut.

There's a lot here that reminded me of Neal Stephenson's Seveneves, from the climate implications of an astronomical event to the role that women could play in saving humanity. In that book, though, the current day setting allowed for a much for technology-focused story than this one, which focuses much more on the people involved and on issues such as gender, race, mental health, and family. I'm assuming there's an impulse to attribute this difference to the genders of the writers, but I tend to think it's at least as much due to the timing and the nature of the emergency in this book. 

Anyway, I did enjoy this book and definitely recommend it, if only for the chapter about using a toilet in space (the research for which turned into a memorable Twitter thread).

 Book Log 2019 #38: A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre

This is a very engaging retelling of the Kim Philby spy case, enhanced by the personal storyline of how Philby's friends - most notably fellow spy Nicholas Elliott - kept supporting Philby, even while the web of lies he created to hide his double cross became increasingly tenuous.

There's also an interesting class angle here, as there was an assumption that Philby, who went to the right schools, knew the right people, and had the right background, couldn't be working for the Soviets. This assumption allowed Philby to operate for nearly 20 years, and underscores why the old boy network isn't a great operating principle.

Very much worth reading if you're into this sort of thing. You may want to squeeze this in before the TV version hits screens, with Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce in the starring roles.

 Book Log 2019 #37: Holy Orders by Benjamin Black

Dublin pathologist Quirke is back to investigate another murder, and this one is semi-personal as the victim was a friend of Quirke's daughter Phoebe. The victim was also a journalist, and apparently working on a story that put him against the Catholic church, whose sway in 1950s Ireland was substantial.

Between the personal connection and the chance to take the church down a peg, it's not surprising that Quirke would take this case on, even though his last case involving the church left him much the worse for wear. As the case progresses, we get as much (if not more) background on Quirke and his youth spent in a Catholic home for orphans, which was about as dour as you might think. In many ways this case is less about the actual whodunit as it is about getting Quirke to revisit his formative years and examine what sort of lasting effects that time had on him.

I like this book a little more than some of the earlier ones, as it did help to fill in some gaps about Quirke and why he is the way he is. It still doesn't explain his appeal to women, but that's a mystery that may never get solved. Maybe the next book will give us that answer.