Monthly Reading Report (2023/09)

Number of reads

The total number of books read in September 2023 was 22, of which 8 were novels. I felt like I was being chased by reserved books throughout the month, because 6 of them were reserved books and suddenly ran into the bookcase. Often, new books came in before I finished the last one (and several of them were full-length books). Long, such as "The Ultimate Return" is more than 250,000 words, "The Prayer Tree" is more than 160,000 words, and "Confession on the 7:45 Train" is more than 170,000 words). Because it is a reserved book and cannot be renewed, it must be read before the deadline, so it feels a bit difficult. (Despite this, I still feel that this situation forces me to read a book as quickly as possible, but the books I buy are always forgotten after buying them, but I never read them)

Novels: 8

Prose: 3 books

Organizing: 1 book

Comics: 10 volumes (3 sets in total)

Topic reading

The theme of September is short mystery novels, so I read "The Forgotten Intent to Kill", "0037" and "The Unexpected Ending of the Last Five Minutes: Blue Mystery". In fact, I originally thought about using science fiction as the theme, but I read it anyway "Extreme Return", so I chose Liu Cixin's "Bring Her Eyes", but "Bring" has less than 10,000 words, so it seems a bit tricky to use it as the theme. ("Extreme Return" restored my confidence in science fiction novels. Maybe I can continue to read them in the future)

Okay, back to the short mystery novels, "Forgotten Intention to Kill" is an early work by Miyuki Miyabe. The characteristic of this novel is that almost every story has a supernatural nature. Mystery + supernatural are a bit incompatible for me. Reasoning pursues rationality, but supernatural beings are destined to be unreasonable. In this way, I didn’t like this book very much.

"0037" is a collection of works from the 21st Taiwan Mystery Writers Association Micro Essay Award, so the five short stories are all written by different authors, and the styles are of course completely different. Although they are all award-winning works, the quality is still different. Which one is the best is easy to tell. The title of the book says it all.

"The Unexpected Ending in the Last Five Minutes: Blue Mystery" has 30 short stories. As the title of the book reveals, the reading time of each story is 5 minutes, and the ending is bound to be surprising. Most of the stories here are adapted from Western short stories. Although many of them are familiar, reading such short stories is more relaxing and interesting. It can relieve people's mood while chasing long novels.

novel

"Extreme Return"

Author: Andy Weir

Likeability: ★★★★★

Short review: I had read some science fiction novels that I couldn’t understand after reading them, so I had great hesitation before opening "The Return". Moreover, this book has more than 200,000 words, so it would be terrible if it didn’t read well. At that time, I thought to myself that if this science fiction novel with excellent reputation could not attract me, I would simply give up on science fiction novels in the future. However, this book did not make me give up on science fiction novels. It was really exciting and touching, and I highly recommend it.

The story is actually very simple. The protagonist wakes up on a spaceship and loses all his memory. There are two corpses on the spaceship, and he is the only one who survives. As his memory recovered bit by bit, he finally knew that this space mission was to save the earth from extinction, but he was left alone, could he complete the mission?

Well, of course there are many movies about the end of the earth, but the focus of this one is not simply to save the earth, but...

I don't want to give any spoilers. I didn't know the development of the story at all before I started the book. The middle part was already a surprise, and the ending suddenly came back, which was very touching.

If someone says that science fiction novels are not good to watch, I would ask them to watch "The Return" first.

"Bring Her Eyes"

Author: Liu Cixin

Likeability: ★★★★

Short review: This is the first time I read Liu Cixin's science fiction novel, and I didn't expect it to be so heavy.

"Bring Her Eyes" is a short story. The protagonist is asked to bring an extra pair of eyes when traveling. The so-called eyes are sensing glasses, allowing another person in the distance wearing the same sensing glasses to receive everything he sees, so the protagonist Taking a girl to where she wants to go, although the protagonist is traveling with her eyes, she allows him to feel the beauty of nature again. At the end of the story, an unexpected situation is revealed, which is sad.

After reading this article, you will be interested in continuing to read Liu Cixin’s science fiction novels.

"Confession on the 7:45 Train"

Author: Lisa Unger

Likeability: ★★★★

Short review: The novel is described from multiple perspectives. At the beginning, the heroine sees her husband having an affair with the nanny on the monitor. She goes home in an extremely depressed situation and chats with a strange woman on the train about her husband's infidelity. Before she could decide what to do in the future, her nanny disappeared, the police came to investigate, and she received a text message from a strange woman on the train...

At the same time, another woman's affair with her boss was revealed... A girl's relationship with her mother's boyfriend is getting better and better, but her mother is tired of him...

How are the fates of these women whose lives are in a mess intertwined... Where did the missing nanny go?

The story is attractive, but some plots can be deleted. For example, the multi-perspective narrative includes the heroine's son, but his confession does not advance the plot. If it is omitted, the plot may be more compact.

"Tree of Prayer"

Author: Keigo Higashino

Likeability: ★★★★

Short review: A mystery novel without killing people, it is a heart-warming sketch.

Keigo Higashino's novel, this one has a tendency similar to "The Worry-Relief Grocery Store". It tells the story of the protagonist who was involved in a lawsuit, but suddenly got the help of a distant relative to save him from prison, but the condition is that he becomes the guardian of a big camphor tree. Later, he gradually learned that this big camphor tree has magical power and can help people realize their wishes...

The wish here is not an ordinary wish, because it is the suspense of the whole book, so I won’t go into details. In short, after the protagonist took over and became the guardian, he learned about the power of the camphor tree and solved some of the problems of the people who came to pray. Opened up some mysteries.

Although it is not a large-scale mystery novel, it is warm and touching, and it is not bad. However, I feel that the length is a bit too long. It would be better if it could be condensed.

"The Remaining Intent to Kill"

Author: Miyuki Miyabe

Likeability: ★★★★

Short review: Miyuki Miyabe’s early short stories are a bit speculative and a bit supernatural. I think they tend to be more supernatural. Once supernatural beings are involved, many things no longer need to be rational, so sometimes the ending will feel a bit empty. Among the seven short stories, my favorites are "Saving Life" and "After My Death". The ending of the former is chilling, while the latter makes people feel warm. "The Remaining Intent to Kill" and "My Only Him" ​​are the longest and have the strongest sense of supernaturalism, but I don't quite accept that setting, so I don't like them very much. The ghosts of "The Man Present" and "Inseparable" are both scary and funny. "Whisper" is the shortest, a little interesting but not difficult to guess the direction. These stories tend to focus on daily reasoning, and sometimes short stories are just not burdensome.

《0037》

Author: Ideal Is Far Far Away, Xiayue, Linzuoma, Wangri, River

Likeability: ★★★★

Short comment: This is the collection of works for the 21st Taiwan Mystery Writers Association Essay Award. There are five works in total. The best one is indeed the title piece "0037". The design is thoughtful and the characters are well written. The story tells the story of a taxi driver who lost his life. I got the cell phone left by the passenger in the car and saw a suicide notice in the pop-up message. I couldn't contact the other party because I didn't know who the owner of the phone was. So I used the tiny clues to find the person who attempted suicide and tried to save my precious life...

"Wind and Rain Crossing Inn" is an ancient martial arts story. It tells the story of a rich man who dies unexpectedly, and his father invites experts to find out the truth. It is fast-paced and has a sense of chivalry, but it is not my favorite type.

"The Worst Day" tells the story of the protagonist who switches from pediatrics to gynecology in order to find out the truth about his aunt's death, and deduce the cause of his aunt's death. This is a medical story that is critical of society, but the reasoning is a little too simple. Overall, it is good.

"An Anxin Funeral" tells the story of a newly hired social worker who discovered that many elderly people in the area had committed suicide. She believed their deaths were suspicious and vowed to reveal the truth. This novel is highly completed and has a sense of the times, but it is short in length, does not have many twists and turns, and is not outstanding.

"Baseball Madman, Vampire, Sophistry and Hard-working Me" It is necessary to find out a murder case during a baseball game. This character is written in the most vivid and interesting way, the tone is relaxed, and the process of solving the mystery is also interesting.

"Cruel Hidden"

Author: Jean Phillips

Likeability: ★★★★

Short review: The story of "Cruel Hidden" is very simple. That is, the heroine took her son to the zoo to play. When she was about to leave, she discovered that there were many corpses in front of her and a gunman was shooting to kill people, so she immediately hid with her son.

The whole book is such a story. The time lapse in the novel is three hours. During these three hours, the heroine must protect her only four-year-old son. This is the age when children are the most chatty. How can she keep him quiet and avoid the gunman? Where are your eyes and ears? Of course, it's not just about hiding. There must be many unexpected and tense plots during the period.

Reading the novel all the way to imagining the scene in the movie, oh yes, it feels very cinematic.

The main purpose of reading this book is to stimulate people. There is no big reason. The motive of the murder is a bit shocking. Anyway, we can't imagine the murderer's thinking.

"Unexpected Ending in 5 Minutes: Blue Reasoning"

Author: Gakken

Likeability: ★★★★

Short review: Just like the title of the book, basically each story can be read in 5 minutes, and the ending always brings a little surprise.

I wouldn’t say it was a big surprise, because most of this book is adapted from Western short stories, which will make you feel familiar when you read them. There were many stories that I quickly guessed the endings of, and of course some of them were It really exceeded expectations and made people feel fun and funny.

Each article can be read easily, but there is still a sense of unfinished meaning. It is a good leisure read, but I think it is especially suitable for teenagers to read. It is simple and easy to read, and the story is interesting.

prose

"Quiet Every Day"

Author: Tsuneko Nakamura

Like level: ★★★☆

Short review: The author was nearly 90 years old when he wrote this book, and he has still not retired. He has still been working as a psychiatrist for 70 years. This book is mainly divided into two parts. One part is the author’s life experience, and how to be understood by a psychiatrist. The girl who understood became a psychiatrist, and why she became a full-time housewife but had to come back to work again; the other part is her way of life.

After a 90-year-old man has experienced so much, he takes everything very lightly. Therefore, this book mainly advises readers to relax, face life calmly, not to be obsessed with temporary gains and losses, and to focus on their own body and emotions. .

To be honest, they are all clichés and not very groundbreaking. They are just an old man telling you with sincerity that you should not be too nervous when encountering anything.

But the advantage of reading this book is that it will make you feel at peace. You can look at the experiences of others who have lived to be 90 years old, and think about the life you are facing, and it will make you feel peaceful every day.

"The Gods Are Watching: My Diary of a Miko"

Author: Hong Chengxi

Like level: ★★★☆

Short comment: I originally thought it was a novel, but it turned out to be a true record of a Korean witch who was a witch as a profession. The author talked about how she became a witch (because she had tattoos and could not be a witch), the daily work of a witch (for example, witches can also fall in love), Talk about something worth sharing in the case (such as how to deal with the bad divination).

Although the miko is an interesting profession, the author focuses on her personal journey, which is occasionally enlightening, but overall it is not very memorable.

If you are interested in learning about the Korean miko profession, you may wish to take a look.

"Earn hundreds of millions by becoming a novelist"

Author: Keisuke Matsuoka

Likeability: ★★★

Short comment: Because the author is Japanese, the writing environment is of course Japan. When he says he makes hundreds of millions, he also refers to Japanese yen.

In the first part, the author is very careful from conception to contacting editors to proofreading to distribution and contracts, but it may not be applicable to non-Japanese writing environments.

The second part is about the things that need to be done after the book is published, including making a seal, printing business cards for the business, and even filing taxes. The part of negotiating with the editor is very interesting. It is also very considerate about how to deal with the slow-selling of the debut book. As for how to deal with it, Novels are best-selling and filmed. Well, novels are often adapted into films in Japan, but not in other regions, so I feel like it’s too far away and I’ll just skip it.

In general, "Become a Novelist and Make Hundreds of Millions" is a dream book. It assumes that you will definitely succeed. It even takes care of the daily life of successful writers. The problem is that most writers who are unsuccessful should account for it, so read this When reading this book, I thought it was too dreamy and not practical.

tidy

"The most efficient "minimalist organizing technique" that lazy people need most"

Author: Misaki Eiichiro

Likeability: ★★★★

Short review: I am a lazy person and I like to organize, so when I see the title of this book, there is no reason not to read it.

This book is not just about home organization. In fact, it is mostly related to digital tools (I love to see how other people organize digital information, so I read it with gusto). It also has information about physical desktops, bookcases, etc., as well as about daily life. The arrangement of life also involves the organization of thinking.

The author clearly states at the beginning that this book is suitable for lazy people who don't like organizing. In fact, he doesn't like organizing either (hehe, he doesn't like organizing but writes a book on organizing), so using a lazy-organizing method to introduce organizing is to simplify everything. Achieve the effect of orderliness without tidying up. Although not every suggestion is useful to me, this organization book is more popular with me than the average home organization book.

However, this book was published in 2019. Many of the digital tools introduced in the book have actually changed a bit, and many new products have been launched in the past few years, so you have to understand that some things have changed, such as Google Photos. It used to be completely free, but recently there is no such thing as free, and note-taking software has been introduced with more choices (although like the author, I still use Evernote, but I am also thinking about whether to switch to another one)

Overall, if you want to read a book about home organization, skip this one, but if you like an introduction to digital tools, you might as well give it a read.

comics

"How to Identify Twin Princes" 1–4

Author: Kasai

Likeability: ★★★★

Short review: Since there are only more than 20 editions of this book, I finished reading episodes 1-4 in a flash. The story has just begun. Of course, there is still more to it. It is an easy-to-read comic.

The story tells the story of one of the twin princes going on a blind date with the daughters. As a result, the heroine, who had no prior knowledge of the matter, managed to identify who the twin princes were by accident and was chosen...

Okay, although this is just the beginning, I have already guessed the development of the plot, but even if I know what the development of the plot is, sometimes I still want to really see the content.

"My favorite idol turned out to be a recognized stalker" 1–5

Author: Seo Mikoto

Like level: ★★★☆

Short review: The protagonist becomes obsessed with a new actress and becomes her first supporter. The actress insists on becoming an idol because of his support, but from now on she must make sure that the protagonist only likes her as an idol and becomes A stalker who was later discovered by the protagonist and asked him to let her continue to follow her.

The protagonist continues to be obsessed with his idol, and the idol often does extraordinary things. Of course, there are also many strange characters appearing one after another.

Although it is not a very exciting comic, it is still a little interesting.

"Maze Rice" 1

Author: Ryoko Kuei

Likeability: ★★★

Short review: I borrowed this set of comics to read because of its good reputation. I borrowed ten copies, but decided to give up after reading one. I have to make it clear first that I don’t like watching programs about food, whether it’s TV, novels or comics, so when this book "Maze Rice" just talks about cooking all the time, and even cooks monsters to eat, I really have no interest in watching it. After finishing this book, I can't see any progress in the plot. If I continue reading, I just keep cooking. Well, I need a richer plot, otherwise I won't be interested in reading anymore.