On My Goodreads Streak
Moving stuff from Facebook for archival purposes.
Reading “The Glass Hotel” marks the longest streak I have - at twelve books - since I started a Goodreads profile.
The best book I’ve read during this streak is my new favorite author’s, Emily St. John Mandel's latest book, “Sea of Tranquility,” which was written during the pandemic and is one of the best science fiction books I’ve read. Notably, I was introduced to Mandel by her first breakthrough book, “Station Eleven,” which was about a worldwide pandemic published before COVID even started. Fortuitous! Both “Sea of Tranquility” and “Station Eleven” are short books, too, so I definitely recommend both for those people on the go. Anyway, as preluded, now reading one of her other novels, “The Glass Hotel,” to complete her well-written bibliography.
The worst book I’ve read in 2022 is Jodi Piocult’s “Wish You Were Here,” another book written during the pandemic and features a woman stuck in the Galapagos during COVID and her adventures thereto. It has many 4- and 5-star ratings on Goodreads, so I’m definitely in the minority here, but Jesus, the plot sucks, the “twist” lacks foreshadowing (yeah, yeah, there are clues, but naaaaah), and it never reaches a cathartic ending. Nevertheless, Piocult’s writing itself is good, and I would not discount her other books.
Honorable mentions: “Pachinko” by Lee Min-Jin, a generational story about Koreans living in Japan; “The Sweetness of Water” by Nathan Harris, a post-United States Civil War novel about two freedmen and the Southern family that hired them as equals; and “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer, about the author’s and his team’s true to life disastrous Mount Everest climb back in 1994.
Conclusion: Kindle remains to be one of my best purchases.