Friday, December 20, 2024

2024 Book List

When I think about what to write as the last post of this year, my thoughts are filled with anxiety for the new year, they're really not positive. So I thought let's end it with something safe, the books, although yet again there are not many of them.

0. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - I was like dumb, because I'm sure I read it somewhere when I was getting information on this book before buying it that it was inspired by David Copperfield by Charles Dickens; it's just it didn't take hold in my brain that one day the movie adaptation of David Copperfield was on TV and I was like wait a minute, the characters are familiar. Dumb me. I still love Demon Copperhead and I am looking forward to the screen adaptation of it, I think mini-series would be great.
1. Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead - it managed to put ideas in my head. Ideas that I thought I'm gonna do in 2025, but it's not gonna happen due to reasons not of my own making.
2. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki - so previous ideas couldn't happen and this book planted a seed for new ideas, I thought about it but it's a no as well.

So those are the books. Didn't realize it and didn't plan it, but all are from female writers. I'm currently reading Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips, winner of 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Another female writer - these ladies are great. Night Watch is kinda hard for me to read actuallly; I had to read some of the sentences a few times and even then I had times when I wasn't sure I get it and also my knowledge of the American civil war and that era and where US states are located in relation to each other is so so little, but around the middle of the book connections between the different characters are revealed and now I'm actually enjoying it a lot. I also cannot wait to see the screen adaptation of this book.

Talking about screen adaptation, I do watch a lot of things. I recently finished all four seasons of Slow Horses and I love it a lot. Tonight I'm going to start on One Hundred Years of Solitude, I really look forward to this. I couldn't remember much from the book, though I couldn't forget Úrsula the matriach, she's one of the greatest female character I've ever read. In things I read and watch, there are often lines that's like the universe talking to me. For example, in one of the French film I watched some time ago, a guy was telling his therapist about his cat who's most probably dead because it escaped the house. Then the therapist was like, again with the bad scenarios, you don't know any of that. It was like yeah it is me, I come up with bad scenarios all the time, they're the only scenarios in my head. Though the universe is trying to tell me all these, they don't stick. I try though, I try to enjoy this December. I was like give this December to yourself, but the bad thoughts are still flooding my brain. I'm still trying, but it's not all good. That's how I'm starting my 2025. Come January, it'll be like anxiety unleashed, they run more rampant than they already now. I hope this is not you. I truly wish you happy holidays and hope your 2025 wouldn't be as difficult as mine. Yes that is me with my bad scenario saying with certainty that it's gonna be difficult, though who can be sure? May God have mercy on me.

PS: This is what Copilot gave me when I asked it to make an image for a christmas card. A bit much? At least the kids are all smiles. I get tired talking to Copilot sometimes, I found myself not having the patience to refine prompts, but yeah I do enjoy having it do stuff.

:) eKa @ 8:35:00 PM • 0 comments