The 2018 AW Reading Challenge. Now with added breadth and depth.

Nice! Enjoy!


I started The Last Wild Men of Borneo, but so far have only had time for the first few pages of the first chapter. Opens strong so far, though.

Congratz Brightdreamer! Always an accomplishment.

My wife read A Man Called Ove, and it moved her but really depressed her too. I don't think she finished it.

I have some time on a plane for the next 24 hr, so I can make progress on Last Wild Men of Borneo. The testosterone practically leaps off the page, and I'm not sure I would like many of these people if I met them. A bit too "flowing locks of handsome white man hair amid the simple native folk" for my taste. However, it's serving the Challenge purpose of teaching me about somewhere I know little about.

Oneblindmouse, light reads like that can either be delightful or torture. I love how you said the clothing was described in great detail but not their faces! I know just what you mean. One writer I followed for years would describe the minutae of dog sledding, mountain climbing, equestrianism, and philosophical debates on the meaning of life in different books, and I sometimes wondered if was exploring new hobbies while he was writing them.

And another one's gone, another one's gone, another one bites the dust. I finished The Last Wild Men of Borneo by Carl Hoffman. It follows the Swiss environmentalist Bruno Manser as he delves into the Borneo wilderness to become one with the local Penan population, then as he helps to organize them against the Malaysian government and timber companies that were rapidly denuding the island. It also follows Michael Palmieri, Vietnam draft dodger turned internationally renowned native arts dealer. My earlier criticism of a macho man white savior vibe partly holds up, tempered by Hoffman identifying and discussing the "Western fantasy" of the purity of local, untouched populations, even as those very populations look to the West as the source of development and a better life, leading from everything to well-meaning but clueless romanticized veneration of all things local to cultural appropriation and exploitation. Besides, that's how it happened; a Swiss expat gone local empowered a largely illiterate and ill-prepared society to stand up for its rights.

I learned a lot about Borneo, waxed nostalgic for the heady days of 1980s environmental activism when I first got turned on to the world, and learned about the antiquities trade. Usually such books inspire me to learn more about the subject, but in this case I'm happy with what I've read already. Well researched, competently written, but an "acknowledge and move on" book.


3. Setting sail: A book taking place mostly or all on water. Nefarious, by Antonio Hopson.
4. I remember that!: A book about a historical event that took place in your lifetime. Columbine, by Dave Cullen Done
18. Peekaboo I see you: A book you saw someone else reading in public. Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward Done
19. What your great-grandparents read: A book written more than 75 years before you were born. A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle
30. Lol random: Go to Gutenberg.org, click “Book Search,” click “Random” and pick any of the books that show up. The Man Who Was Thursday, by G. K. Chesterton Done
33. Where is that, again?: A book about a place you know little about. The Last Wild Men of Borneo, by Carl Hoffman Done
36. A real scream: A horror novel. The Haunting of Ashburn House, by Darcy Coates
37. Happy days are here again: A book published since 1945. A Glass of Blessings, by Barbara Pym Done
42. You might also like. . . : A book recommended by library or bookstore staff, online or in person. A Sport and a Pastime, by James Salter
47. I know exactly where that is!: A book taking place in a location you know well. That Kind of Mother, by Rumaan Alam Done
49. Pixies and Dryads and Elves, oh my!: A high fantasy. Sky in the Deep, by Adrienne Young Done
50. Like a novel, only real: Creative nonfiction. The Girl Who Smiled Beads, by Clementine Wamariya

Daniel: Oof! 1500 pages! It took me about three months to read War and Peace (which I loved) at 1600, and hat was when I had a lot of bus, laundromat and other time to sit and read. My hat's off to you!

Verboten: I look forward to your take on Satanic Verses. It's been o my list for quite awhile.

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle, the book that introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes, was a very quick and very surprising read. Holmes has become such a fixture in our culture, and with so many movie and TV adaptations, as well as satirical parodies, and so defines the genre that I had a lot of trouble taking the book seriously. When I tried, I found Holmes himself to be insufferably tedious, and Watson to have all the character of a narcissist's imaginary friend. I was perplexed at how abruptly the mystery was solved at the halfway point, and with so many questions remaining (including a little thing, like, oh, MOTIVE). Then I had full on whiplash as the story jumped back 30 years to the mountains of Utah, where a starving man and a girl are on their last breaths lost in the desert before being rescued by Brigham Young's caravan of Church of Jesus Christ saints on their historic trek to Salt Lake. I found the western part of the book captivating, with some beautiful writing (the description of Lucy reaching adolescence and experiencing her nascent feelings of romance was amazing) that makes me wonder how many of Doyle's talents were hidden under the now-trite Holmesian narrative of the first half. The connection between the narratives became clearer when the murder victims appear as members of the Church, and we follow the story all the way back to England in the then-present day. Holmes reveals how he cracked the case and the murderer tells all in a tale that is much more nuanced than the cozy whodunnit I was expecting. Well done, Mr Doyle!




3. Setting sail: A book taking place mostly or all on water. Nefarious, by Antonio Hopson.
4. I remember that!: A book about a historical event that took place in your lifetime. Columbine, by Dave Cullen Done
18. Peekaboo I see you: A book you saw someone else reading in public. Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward Done
19. What your great-grandparents read: A book written more than 75 years before you were born. A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle Done
30. Lol random: Go to Gutenberg.org, click “Book Search,” click “Random” and pick any of the books that show up. The Man Who Was Thursday, by G. K. Chesterton Done
33. Where is that, again?: A book about a place you know little about. The Last Wild Men of Borneo, by Carl Hoffman Done
36. A real scream: A horror novel. The Haunting of Ashburn House, by Darcy Coates
37. Happy days are here again: A book published since 1945. A Glass of Blessings, by Barbara Pym Done
42. You might also like. . . : A book recommended by library or bookstore staff, online or in person. A Sport and a Pastime, by James Salter
47. I know exactly where that is!: A book taking place in a location you know well. That Kind of Mother, by Rumaan Alam Done
49. Pixies and Dryads and Elves, oh my!: A high fantasy. Sky in the Deep, by Adrienne Young Done
50. Like a novel, only real: Creative nonfiction. The Girl Who Smiled Beads, by Clementine Wamariya[/QUOTE]

Siri Kirpal said:

Of the novels, I did like The Sign of the Four...before I became a Sikh. That novel hangs together better than the others, but he does make some Sikhs out to be blood-thirsty lowlifes. He did that in one or two of the stories also, and one of his horror stories has a dead Sikh man searching for his hand. (Sikhs cremate their dead, so a dead guy searching for his hand in order to find peace in the afterlife makes less than no sense.) I give Conan Doyle credit for including a broader range of society than most of his compatriots did. But.

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I was caught by this too in his depiction of the Latter Day Saints in Utah. The movement was still pretty new and controversial at that time, with the trek to Utah only 40 years previous to publishing A Study in Scarlet. I was intrigued that he chose a marginalized population to depict. However, he portrays the church members as very cultish and militaristic. It all had a very "broad brushstroke" feel to it, and more than a hint of stereotype that would likely have not held up to examination. As a writer, I sometimes too feel a qualm about depicting enough characteristics of a character to identify them as belonging to a particular group without drifting into stereotype.