Dries’s Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2023

3,027

pages read

books read

Dries

2 likes Like

Shortest Book

128

pages

Longest Book

659

pages

Average book length in 2023

302

pages

Most Shelved

2,686,598

people also shelved

Least Shelved

1,048

people also shelved

Dries’s average rating for 2023

4.0

really liked it

4.0

Highest Rated on Goodreads

4.37 average

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Dries’s first review of the year

really liked it

I kind of don't know what to make of this one, if I'm honest. There's a lot about Something Wicked that seems like it's begging to be ridiculed: from the fact that the two main characters (even the edgy bad boy) come across as impossibly naive, to the fact that the writing is peppered with odd musings and aphorisms about the nature of youth that either stop making sense as soon as you think about them or are just demonstrably absurd at first glan I kind of don't know what to make of this one, if I'm honest. There's a lot about Something Wicked that seems like it's begging to be ridiculed: from the fact that the two main characters (even the edgy bad boy) come across as impossibly naive, to the fact that the writing is peppered with odd musings and aphorisms about the nature of youth that either stop making sense as soon as you think about them or are just demonstrably absurd at first glance, to the fact that (spoiler alert) the ending actually has the heroes overcoming the evil eldritch entity™ by using the power of love™ and friendship™…

... And yet, there's something about this novel, isn't there? There's a very basic, almost primordial appeal to it that shines through and makes even its most noticeable stylistic flaws seem superficial and insignificant. Admittedly, that might just be the case because I've always been a fan of the "dark carnival" trope, and being the originator (or the popularizer, at any rate) of a beloved trope does earn you at least a moderate amount of respect in my book. The carnies themselves felt a tad underdeveloped throughout most of the story, but the scenes in the library actually added some welcome depth and backstory without taking away too much of their intrigue.

That being said, I wouldn't go so far as to say that the dark carnival trope is the only thing to like about Something Wicked, but it is the most obvious thing to talk about, because everything else that there is to like about the novel—and I do think there is in fact a lot to like about it—is difficult for me to put into words. I suppose for all that's risible about it—and again: there is a lot that's risible about it…—Bradbury's prose is not without its charms. I'm not overly familiar with either Bradbury's other oeuvre or his general style, but he strikes me as one of those writers who don't engage with complex themes and questions so much as vaguely gesture in the direction of them in the hope that at least some of their frantic gesticulations hit upon something profound by chance. It's an approach that can be very hit-or-miss, but in Bradbury's case, it strikes me more as the result of a conscious aesthetic choice rather than a lack of imagination: his misses are never so egregious that they make you cringe (at worst they might produce a begrudging chuckle or two), and he gets in just enough hits that the novel does in fact make you think in certain parts.

I can only conclude by saying that the novel left me with a lingering fascination—not so much with any of its themes or messages, but with the novel itself; whatever else there is to say about it, Something Wicked This Way Comes is exactly the kind of novel I would have loved to analyze in one of my English lit classes back when I was a student. If I ever get the opportunity to study literature on an academic level again, I'm sure this is a book I'll return to so I can dissect it properly. ...more

DRIES’S 2023 BOOKS

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

it was amazing

really liked it

Dries’s last review of the year

really liked it

Von Hiroo Onoda hatte ich schon gehört, bevor ich dieses Buch begann, wusste aber auch nicht allzu viel über ihn. Ich hatte keine Ahnung, was ich von einem Roman über seine dreißigjährige Stationierung auf einer philippinischen Insel, geschrieben von Werner Herzog, erwarten sollte, aber alles in allem war ich angenehm überrascht. Das Buch ist vielleicht ein bisschen eintönig, aber es liest sich flüssig und ist zum Glück nicht zu lang. Außerdem ve ...more

2023 READING
CHALLENGE

Dries read 10 out of 10 books.

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