The 2023 Book Awards

I like to list some of my best and worst reads this year but I have forgotten every book I read. But upon looking at my blog archives, I can sort of remember them and noted that I didn't read much this year. So instead of best and worst reads, here is a very short list of awards for books I read in 2023.

01 - A book with the most disappointing ending:
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien  > link
Some bits were boring but mostly an okay read but I'm disappointed by the ending. If the readers are to follow these people, then why aren't these people doing the one important thing that the story was leading toward? I don't get it. But now I can said I have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings but I'm still not a fan of either one. I don't think I want to see the movie which seems to be in three parts - how can they make a short book into a 6 hour movie anyway?

02 - The book with the most exasperating love interest:
Scent of Fear (Scent Series Book 1) by NJ Litz  > link
This male love interest (also the male lead) left such a bad impression on me that I hope he was the killer. (I don't recall his name and that's how much I couldn't stand the guy.) We get to be in his head, which is not a good thing, and he gives off an impression of being a womanizer and a terrible father. Instead of talking to his daughter or spending time with her and trying to understand her, he just leaves her with his mother or with the female lead or with anyone. He is a fellow who likes to 'keep his women's heart racing' (that's the wording in the book) which I'm guessing means he wants them to be excited to be in his presence or... something. For a cop with experience, he didn't think criminals would be smart enough to have backup escape plans nor going into an operation, did he bother to check to see if there are escape routes criminals can get out. And for a cop, heck, for a man who had seen a lot, I would think he would be more open-minded and hold judgement on a person and not judge them by their relation to another. If the author had simply not let us into his head, we might have a better impression of him through the female lead. (The female lead is not much better because she wants to find the killer to impress the male lead/win his heart which I laughed at when she had that thought.)

03 - The most hype book that somehow bored me:
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman > link
This is the book I waited almost a year to read from the library which I can't say is worth the wait. The first chapter was good, which reads like a prologue, and then it became meh. The humor was not funny to me. The main characters sounded like children who pretended to be adults but not even in a funny way. The mystery was bland. The book was mostly thoughts, lots of dumb thoughts and also, lots of talk of death, dying and final days. The good thing about this book is that I didn't pay 13 dollars to read it.

How was your 2023 reading year? Did you read much?

Slightly Odd Questions About Not Reading

I'm on a reading pause so maybe it's why these questions came to me. Here are some unnecessary and maybe odd questions about not reading. Answer at your own peril.

01 - What book or books you're currently not reading?

02 - Do you use books you're not reading for other things? (ie, using a hardcover as a temporary table or using your ebook reader as a light source)

03 - Are the books you're not reading square, rectangle, curvy or shaped like some extinct, oddly-shaped, cartoon character you have seen on television when you were a child?

04 - Do unread books fly when you throw them out the window?

05 - When you look at the pile (or at the list) of the unread (or unfinished) books, do you, (a) feel embarrassed but then ignore the pile, (b) sort through the books to maybe remove some from the pile, (c) ask yourself why you're not a faster reader or (d) shrug and pretend you haven't seen anything and move on to something else?

06 - When not reading, do you think about not reading?

07 - How long can you go without reading a book?

08 - Do you go to the bookstores and pretend to pick out books but you're really people watching?

09 - Do you sometimes sell/give away/return to the library your unread books so you don't have to read them?

10 - Do you buy more books just so you don't have to read the books you're not reading?

Fiction: Frightened by gnocchi & ghosts (B)

~ Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 A ~

Fiction: Frightened by Gnocchi & Ghosts (Part 4 B)

Sitting by the window sill where the rain couldn't reach, Black waited with Seventeen sitting beside him. The rain was pounding down above them. He glanced down at his wrist watch. It was nearly 3:30. He should have been in bed or at least, somewhere with real windows. "Did you know several men died in this house?" he said.
    "You're lying. You're trying to scare me." Seventeen tittered. The guy didn't just say men had died in the house. No, he didn't.
    "Eleven men died right here under mysterious circumstances. Some died upstairs and some in the basement and some in the attic." Black glanced at her sideways.
    "Where did you get your information from? Are you sure they are correct?" She didn't believe a word of it and yet, those ghosts had injuries that were certainly not made by natural occurrences.
    Black snickered. "It came straight from the murderer's lips."
    "You spoke to a murderer ghost?"