Hello everyone today I wanted to share my progress with one of my 2019 goals/challenges. We are in the 5th month of the year, I can’t hardly believe it. I thought it was time to do more of a in-depth look at this goal because it is a bit more than a checklist type goal to me. I see it more as an experience or an experiment of sorts. I personally have never much been one to follow book awards and let them dictate my reading or sway my reading choices. This year I kinda wanted to see if I had been missing out because of this. If you want to see my reasoning for why I picked this reading award, you can see that in my original post; Reading Goals | Reading a Shortlist.
Without more of a delay here are my reviews and my reflection on this experience so far!
-Reviews-
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is such an adventure, it starts with a young boy, age 11. Sadly, he is a slave on a sugar plantation in Barbados run by two brothers. The author wrote a beautiful book that shows the ugly that is slavery. It talks about awful psychological games played by owners and the bad treatment many had to endure unfairly. I also like how the author showed abolitionists and aspects of the underground railroad. The dangers of faced by those who escaped and freed those who did not belong to them. I also really enjoyed the science, art, and almost steampunk elements. I am honestly not doing this book justice, but I will say it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2018 and it is well deserved. I also have to agree with the quote on the front of my book calling it a masterpiece.
I wont give this book a star rating because I could not finish it, it was not for me in the slightest. I picked it up and I was bored nearly right away. I can see how other might enjoy this book, but I did not.
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
I can’t give this book a star review, because I did not finish reading the book.
I had such high hopes for this book for a few reasons. The first being the description sounded amazing and it seemed like something I would normally gravitate towards. The second reason being is that it was short listed for the man booker prize as well as other noted literary awards.
The main reason this fell short for me was that it didn’t really capture my attention. That is not to say it was not dramatic, because it very much was, but it just was not something I wanted to pick up again after putting it down.
Don’t get me wrong, this book had a lot going for it and I was rooting for it. It had a great concept of critiquing society and how economics have such an impact on individuals lives. I also felt horrible for the main character because no one should have to go through what she and some of the other women went through. I am glad light was shed on a lot of issues in this book. But, a main character that doesn’t really seem in the story, a plot that jumps around too much, and it all left me looking to do something else.
-Reflection-
So far my reading has been mixed with this experiment 1 book has been a win and one has not been a win. I am sitting at 1:2 or 33% success rate. Not the best of scores. I am hoping that it will rise higher the more I read. At this time I have 3 more books to go so there are a lot of chances for me to get a good reading experience.
I am expecting it to go up not just because I have more books to read, but also because I am fairy interested in 1 of them and I already picked it up. So I am hoping since I own that one I like it. I feel like if I do not like this next one I am going to abandon this goal for 2019. I seem to not really like the types of books that they picked for their winner or their shortlist at this point. Fingers crossed this next one is a winner!
-Remaining Books-
The Long Take by Robin Robertson
The Overstory by Richard Powers – Owned
Everything Under by Daisy Johnson
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? How do you think this experiment will go?
Classic Bhaer 
I wish I could say I liked Washington Black, but for me it felt like a story I read many times before minus some “original” elements and I found the characters stereotypical and the plot unbelievable. I think I will have the same reaction as you regarding The Mars Room and Milkman. I would love to hear your opinion on The Overstory and Everything Under.
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I personally never thought the author was going for believable in Washington Black so I didn’t have a problem with how out there it was from time to time.
I too have not heard great things about Milkman and The Mars Room from people I have very similar reading tastes to. I just hope that I am happier with The Overstory and Everything Under. This book award is really starting to look bad to me.
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Milkman was a book that I would read when I just couldn’t get to sleep. It was so boring! I did enjoy Washington Black, this post had me searching my bookshelves to find my very dusty copy.
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I am glad I am not the only one who felt that way about Milkman. I was kinda worried it was just me, but the more people tell me about the book the more I hear the same sentiment. I am also glad to hear you liked Washington Black as well. Seems like we have similar reading taste.
Thanks for reading!
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Already halfway! That’s nice 🙂
(I don’t know anyv of the books ahah..)
(www.evelynreads.com)
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I didn’t know about any of these before this either. Thanks for reading though! 🙂
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It sucks that two of the three books weren’t for you, but at least you tried reading books you normally wouldn’t, that’s still a pretty great accomplishment! Good luck with the next few books you plan on reading, I hope you enjoy them!
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Thanks Victoria, I am happy I tried books outside of my comfort zone. I feel like I can get into a reading rut if I don’t explore from time to time. Thanks again for the luck!
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