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Dennis's Reviews > 2020 on ŷ
2020 on ŷ
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In keeping with my 2020 tradition of late reviews, here’s my review of the year, finally.
Okay, this one is really late, I know. Remember 2020? Yeah, me neither. Let’s not talk about this any further. Instead we could talk about the things that went wrong on ŷ.
But let’s start with something nice. My beef with them over constantly erased short stories has surprisingly subsided. I haven’t lost a review in months (and probably jinxed it now). Well, I don’t know, it seems like lately some common sense has been applied here. So, yay for that.
Of course, now I have another GR pet peeve. Numbers. Last year I said that I will keep track of my reading stats myself, because I don’t trust the ones that ŷ provides. Turns out I’ve been even more right about this than I thought.
Exhibit A:
Spoiler: Neither of those numbers is correct.
Exhibit B:
Somewhat surprisingly, one of those numbers is actually correct. But �
Exhibit C:
Huh? Yes, the image on the right is from the all-time list. Which leads me to one of my favorites:
Yes, my hand is not very steady today. Yes again, it is not the same all-time list that I’ve shown above. No, this one indeed hasn’t updated since November. No, not November 2020. Or 2019 �
Long no-one-cares-rambling short, I like numbers, but apparently ŷ� code doesn’t. I mean, I get it. These computer-thingies are just not very good with numbers, right? They are more people � uhm � machines.
Anyways, let’s dole out some awards, shall we?
My Book of the Year:
Even though I did re-reads of some great books, like The Electric State (so beautiful), Hologrammatica (why has this still not been translated into English?) or Needful Things (so deliciously evil), and I love them all dearly, this award actually goes to
Hard to believe that I had never read this before. I think it’s just an amazing book. Made my top 5 all-time.
Obviously, Harper Lee could also have taken home this next one.
The Sorry, I’m Late Award:
What the fuck had I been thinking?! I should have read this years ago. Thanks, past me! Idiot.
The Trip Down Memory Lane Award:
I just love this guy. I mean, who doesn’t?! But the book was also such a nice surprise. Much different from what I had expected. And much better for it.
The Surprise of the Year Award:
Could have also been the Nowitzki book, of course. But this SF-thriller was a lot more fun than many of the other books in Amazon’s library. If you’re asking yourself what Amazon’s library is, never mind. It doesn’t exist anymore. But once upon a time you could get one book for free each month, without having to subscribe to anything. But it’s gone now. *cries*
The Books That Made Me Laugh Club:
Laughing is so much better than crying. There were some more too. But these three stood out. Occasionally I completely lost it and just couldn’t stop laughing for an unreasonable length of time. Much appreciated.
Less funny:
The It’s Not Me It’s You Award (or is it the other way around? 🤔)
Anyways, this one goes to
I just could not finish this book. I’m sure it is a good one. But the way it was written just didn’t work for me at all (at the time). Sorry.
The You’re Too Long, Book! Award:
1,328 pages in font size barely visible! Surely you must be kidding, Frank Schätzing.
One of my favorite awards actually is
The Silliest Book of the Year Award:
Shark. Tarantula. Sharkantula! Need I say more? Well, unfortunately this one was really quite bad. In a bad way.
Disappointment of the Year:
Oh, there were several candidates for this one. Sequels to great books that did disappoint, books that started great but then turned into something not exactly great later on, GR not being able to count, obviously, several real-life events that do not qualify, because I decided this will be about books. But I will give this one to the Hugo and Nebula Awards. And I’m not even speaking about GRRM’s dubious appearance. I just thought that the field was very weak, compared to other years. It just seemed to me like the nomination process wasn’t about the quality of the stories anymore and I’m actually considering not to do my annual Hugo/Nebula reading project this year for the first time since I’m on ŷ. However, I’m glad that A Memory Called Empire won the Hugo for Best Novel. That one I liked a lot, and I’m looking forward to reading its sequel, hopefully soon (looks at Tor and NetGalley).
The The Author That Has Been Most Likely to Put Me to Sleep Award
goes to Stephen King. Sorry, Stephen, you know I like you, I really do, but sometimes you just bore me to death.
Love,
Dennis
The Eh Award:
Oh, man, that series went downhill pretty fast. And this last book � eh.
Characters I’ll miss the most:
This one goes to Brian K. Vaughan’s
I was pretty sad when this series ended.
The This Really Wasn’t Necessary Award:
Ernest-ly! *sadly shakes head*
And last but not least
The Most Annoying Procrastinating Author of the Year Award:
For the second year in a row this goes to Brian K. Vaughan. Remember this series that everyone loves, Brian? Well, we do!
Okay, that’s it with the awards. Like I said in the beginning, I kept track of my stats. So, here they are:
(view spoiler)
(view spoiler)
Who else wants the most read authors feature back?
As you can see from my page count, the year was pretty up and down. And that’s true for both the quantity and quality of what I’ve been reading. And for my mood as well. But what always makes ŷ great is you. The people. I’ve made some great friends here over the years and I’m very grateful for that.
Oh, I almost forgot. In my monthly updates I named a favorite song for each month. Often because there were certain experiences that my mind somehow linked to a particular song. One of those had me laughing for days. One of you will know which one it is. The rest will know it when they see the video, but maybe not understand and just think we're idiots. Technically they will not be wrong. Heh.
So, here’s my playlist of the year:
January: by Van Morrison
February: by Kanye West
March: by Tokio Hotel
April: by The Lonely Island feat. Justin Timberlake
May: by Editors
June: by Green Day
July: by Aviators
August: and both by Aviators
September: by GUNSHIP
October: by Queen
November: by CATRA
December: by GUNSHIP
Who's wearing the best outfit in that last video? Lol.
And what about those ŷ movie nights?
No more questions. It's over.
(Yup, I’ve actually been to London in January. Seems like a lifetime ago.)
Okay, this one is really late, I know. Remember 2020? Yeah, me neither. Let’s not talk about this any further. Instead we could talk about the things that went wrong on ŷ.
But let’s start with something nice. My beef with them over constantly erased short stories has surprisingly subsided. I haven’t lost a review in months (and probably jinxed it now). Well, I don’t know, it seems like lately some common sense has been applied here. So, yay for that.
Of course, now I have another GR pet peeve. Numbers. Last year I said that I will keep track of my reading stats myself, because I don’t trust the ones that ŷ provides. Turns out I’ve been even more right about this than I thought.
Exhibit A:
Spoiler: Neither of those numbers is correct.
Exhibit B:
Somewhat surprisingly, one of those numbers is actually correct. But �
Exhibit C:
Huh? Yes, the image on the right is from the all-time list. Which leads me to one of my favorites:
Yes, my hand is not very steady today. Yes again, it is not the same all-time list that I’ve shown above. No, this one indeed hasn’t updated since November. No, not November 2020. Or 2019 �
Long no-one-cares-rambling short, I like numbers, but apparently ŷ� code doesn’t. I mean, I get it. These computer-thingies are just not very good with numbers, right? They are more people � uhm � machines.
Anyways, let’s dole out some awards, shall we?
My Book of the Year:
Even though I did re-reads of some great books, like The Electric State (so beautiful), Hologrammatica (why has this still not been translated into English?) or Needful Things (so deliciously evil), and I love them all dearly, this award actually goes to
Hard to believe that I had never read this before. I think it’s just an amazing book. Made my top 5 all-time.
Obviously, Harper Lee could also have taken home this next one.
The Sorry, I’m Late Award:
What the fuck had I been thinking?! I should have read this years ago. Thanks, past me! Idiot.
The Trip Down Memory Lane Award:
I just love this guy. I mean, who doesn’t?! But the book was also such a nice surprise. Much different from what I had expected. And much better for it.
The Surprise of the Year Award:
Could have also been the Nowitzki book, of course. But this SF-thriller was a lot more fun than many of the other books in Amazon’s library. If you’re asking yourself what Amazon’s library is, never mind. It doesn’t exist anymore. But once upon a time you could get one book for free each month, without having to subscribe to anything. But it’s gone now. *cries*
The Books That Made Me Laugh Club:
Laughing is so much better than crying. There were some more too. But these three stood out. Occasionally I completely lost it and just couldn’t stop laughing for an unreasonable length of time. Much appreciated.
Less funny:
The It’s Not Me It’s You Award (or is it the other way around? 🤔)
Anyways, this one goes to
I just could not finish this book. I’m sure it is a good one. But the way it was written just didn’t work for me at all (at the time). Sorry.
The You’re Too Long, Book! Award:
1,328 pages in font size barely visible! Surely you must be kidding, Frank Schätzing.
One of my favorite awards actually is
The Silliest Book of the Year Award:
Shark. Tarantula. Sharkantula! Need I say more? Well, unfortunately this one was really quite bad. In a bad way.
Disappointment of the Year:
Oh, there were several candidates for this one. Sequels to great books that did disappoint, books that started great but then turned into something not exactly great later on, GR not being able to count, obviously, several real-life events that do not qualify, because I decided this will be about books. But I will give this one to the Hugo and Nebula Awards. And I’m not even speaking about GRRM’s dubious appearance. I just thought that the field was very weak, compared to other years. It just seemed to me like the nomination process wasn’t about the quality of the stories anymore and I’m actually considering not to do my annual Hugo/Nebula reading project this year for the first time since I’m on ŷ. However, I’m glad that A Memory Called Empire won the Hugo for Best Novel. That one I liked a lot, and I’m looking forward to reading its sequel, hopefully soon (looks at Tor and NetGalley).
The The Author That Has Been Most Likely to Put Me to Sleep Award
goes to Stephen King. Sorry, Stephen, you know I like you, I really do, but sometimes you just bore me to death.
Love,
Dennis
The Eh Award:
Oh, man, that series went downhill pretty fast. And this last book � eh.
Characters I’ll miss the most:
This one goes to Brian K. Vaughan’s
I was pretty sad when this series ended.
The This Really Wasn’t Necessary Award:
Ernest-ly! *sadly shakes head*
And last but not least
The Most Annoying Procrastinating Author of the Year Award:
For the second year in a row this goes to Brian K. Vaughan. Remember this series that everyone loves, Brian? Well, we do!
Okay, that’s it with the awards. Like I said in the beginning, I kept track of my stats. So, here they are:
(view spoiler)
(view spoiler)
Who else wants the most read authors feature back?
As you can see from my page count, the year was pretty up and down. And that’s true for both the quantity and quality of what I’ve been reading. And for my mood as well. But what always makes ŷ great is you. The people. I’ve made some great friends here over the years and I’m very grateful for that.
Oh, I almost forgot. In my monthly updates I named a favorite song for each month. Often because there were certain experiences that my mind somehow linked to a particular song. One of those had me laughing for days. One of you will know which one it is. The rest will know it when they see the video, but maybe not understand and just think we're idiots. Technically they will not be wrong. Heh.
So, here’s my playlist of the year:
January: by Van Morrison
February: by Kanye West
March: by Tokio Hotel
April: by The Lonely Island feat. Justin Timberlake
May: by Editors
June: by Green Day
July: by Aviators
August: and both by Aviators
September: by GUNSHIP
October: by Queen
November: by CATRA
December: by GUNSHIP
Who's wearing the best outfit in that last video? Lol.
And what about those ŷ movie nights?
No more questions. It's over.
(Yup, I’ve actually been to London in January. Seems like a lifetime ago.)
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January 21, 2021
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Comments Showing 1-50 of 112 (112 new)
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DivaDiane
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rated it 4 stars
Jan 21, 2021 02:33PM
I like your categories! Great wrap up. We should reinstate Movie Night.
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Thanks! :) And yes, we should definitely do that.
Yeah, I don't know why they got rid of the most read authors list or the year breakdown by shelf (genre).
The year breakdown by shelf? 😯 Wait, what's that? Oh no, don't tell me. 😒
I probably made that sound fancier than it was... As part of the "reading stats" page breakdown, they'd provide a basic pie chart for each year that showed your general shelving ratio. It was limited compared to the pie graph you have here, but is still a neat feature which I miss �
Dennis wrote: "But what always makes ŷ great is you. "
One would indeed think that a website that is all about books and offers reading stats would manage to get it right. But we know GR better. *sighs*
I'm really happy about Scout and the others being your new best book friends though and that you FINALLY read HP! Now all we need to do is get you to read the rest of the series. ;)
Do you feel better, after all that? 😜I totally agree about To Kill A Mockingbird - It is a beautiful book. Tempted to re-read it. Pleased that you’ve finally joined the HP bandwagon. Cool book awards!
I miss London too, and I’m only an hour away. The bookshops, museums, patisseries - just walking in the early mornings with the city slowly waking on my way to work. When it is safe 😊
Jess wrote: "I probably made that sound fancier than it was... As part of the "reading stats" page breakdown, they'd provide a basic pie chart for each year that showed your general shelving ratio. It was limit..."Oh, yes, I remember it now. Didn't realize it's gone, to be honest. But only because I'm keeping track of that myself for quite some time now.
Trish wrote: "One would indeed think that a website that is all about books and offers reading stats would manage to get it right. But we know GR better. *sighs*Those are basic functions for a site like this. Okay, not these best and top of lists maybe. They are just motivational tools (that ŷ still should have an interest in fixing). But the number of books or reviews certainly are. These just have to work properly. And if they are not able to fix something as basic as this I fear that at this point they are just sitting there, praying that nothing else stops working.
I'm really happy about Scout and the others being your new best book friends though and that you FINALLY read HP! Now all we need to do is get you to read the rest of the series"
Lol. I'm sure you'll be doing your best. ;) Those books were in the Amazon library at some point as well, by the way. But now they are KU titles.
Veronique wrote: "Do you feel better, after all that? 😜Slightly better maybe? :D
I totally agree about To Kill A Mockingbird - It is a beautiful book. Tempted to re-read it. Pleased that you’ve finally joined the HP bandwagon. Cool book awards!"
Thanks! :)
I miss London too, and I’m only an hour away. The bookshops, museums, patisseries - just walking in the early mornings with the city slowly waking on my way to work. When it is safe 😊
We all miss that feeling or something similar to it, I suppose. I would love to just go there, take a long walk through the city and then go to the Natural History Museum or the Science Museum. That would be something now.
Sharkantula, oh boy, I had already forgotten about that one... 🦈
Lol. I'm not surprised. Even the much better ones, when I went through my 2020 reads I sometimes couldn't believe I've read them only last year. Some of it seems so far away now.
Dennis wrote: "Lol. I'm sure you'll be doing your best. ;) Those books were in the Amazon library at some point as well, by the way. But now they are KU titles."You can bet your butt on that. Well, I have the audios and different print versions so ... if you ever need to borrow one ...
@Vero: When all this is over, we need to have a meeting in London. Not just for the museums but for the patisseries you've mentioned as well. :D Plus, we need to
Trish wrote: "You can bet your butt on that. Well, I have the audios and different print versions so ... if you ever need to borrow one ...."You mean I don't have to break into your house to get them?
When all this is over, we need to have a meeting in London. Not just for the museums but for the patisseries you've mentioned as well. :D Plus, we need to
Sounds like a plan to me. :)
Dennis wrote: "TYou mean I don't have to break into your house to get them?"Hm ... *ponders* ... yes, you do. *gets her favorite knives ready* BRING IT!
Cathy wrote: "I‘ll come to London with you!"Dennis wrote: "Sounds like a plan to me. :)"
Do you think we'll be listed as a threat when we all travel together? Can we share one suitcase that we'll use just for the books we'll buy there and have to carry back home? ;P
We'll definitely be considered a threat if "we" includes you.
I’ll join you in London (to mitigate the threat).
That should do. I'm somewhat confident that we'll make it to London without major losses.
Dennis wrote: "We'll definitely be considered a threat if "we" includes you."Well, someone has to keep you safe in the big bad world out there. Lord knows you can't do it yourself!
DivaDiane wrote: "I’ll join you in London (to mitigate the threat)."*lol* You gonna come to Germany and escort us all the way to London? ;P
Sure, why not. Kill 2 birds with one stone.
“The The Author That Has Been Most Likely to Put Me to Sleep Award goes to Stephen King.� Which book?
The Gunslinger and huge parts of Cujo. The Gunslinger actually didn't put me to sleep, thank God, because I mostly listened to it while driving. I did however zone out all the time, because it was just so boring. Cujo on the other hand reliably made me doze off within minutes every time I picked it up. Well, until the last third that is. Then it was fun.
Didn’t he write Gunslinger in college while imagining young Clint Eastwood in the part? Because that explains a lot 😂
Haha! Perhaps he did. I don't know. But I know that he didn't write it as a novel but rather as five separate stories, and it shows.
Saw this, and thought of your preoccupation with sharks: .
yay for harry potter & to kill a mocking bird
I beg to differ, friend. You are right on time with your review. For Americans, our 2020 ended January 20."I like numbers, but apparently ŷ� code doesn’t. I mean, I get it. These computer-thingies are just not very good with numbers, right? They are more people � uhm � machines."
This was awesome.
lmbo at the King review. Also, I agree on the Starfish series--loved the first, started the second and gave up.
I'm glad you didn't lose any reviews this year. I haven't tried keeping track. Here's hoping it continues. 🥂
Dennis! Your review deserves a longer response, but for starters, whenever I need my faith in humanity restored, I watch a group of people working together to create something beautiful (usually music). So your Gunship video link just did the trick. Thanks brother!
carol. wrote: "I beg to differ, friend. You are right on time with your review. For Americans, our 2020 ended January 20."And what a fucking long year it was. Thank God it's over now.
I'm glad you didn't lose any reviews this year. I haven't tried keeping track. Here's hoping it continues. 🥂
I really hope I'm right about this and it's not only been an unlikely streak of good fortunes that's about to end soon. 🤞🏻
Left Coast Justin wrote: "Dennis! Your review deserves a longer response, but for starters, whenever I need my faith in humanity restored, I watch a group of people working together to create something beautiful (usually music). So your Gunship video link just did the trick. Thanks brother!"That's a great one, isn't it? Simply loved it. :)
However, I’m glad that A Memory Called Empire won the Hugo for Best Novel. That one I liked a lot, and I’m looking forward to reading its sequel, hopefully soon (looks at Tor and NetGalley)."Hi Reader! You recently requested a galley from Tor/Forge that we regrettably are unable to fulfill for one or more of the reasons below. Please take a look so that we can do our best to grant you access in the future."
Apparently I have to practice a more convincing stare. 😒
Dennis wrote: "Apparently I have to practice a more convincing stare. 😒..."Emigrate to a country where only nine (9) English-written books per year are read.
You'll become the "#1 Reviewer in Ruritania". You'll also be eligible for a torrent of ARCs.
Well, that's one strategy. Lol. But I think the very fact that I'm not living in the US is what's holding me back the most. I don't have any problems getting approved for German books. I just don't read in German all that much.
Dennis wrote: "...But I think the very fact that I'm not living in the US is what's holding me back the most...."Likely in more ways than you can imagine? 🤔
If we're talking about access to media, then yes, I'm sure there are more things I'm missing out on that I haven't even thought about.Apart from that ... well, the US has the NBA.
You need to influence GUNSHIP to record their next album in L.A. 😉
Yes. That's my next project, to bring GUNSHIP to the US. :D 
Dennis wrote: "Yes. That's my next project, to bring GUNSHIP to the US. :D "Brexit rule changes that make it tricky to tour the EU will hold back UK artists from a fast-growing market
Another thing GUNSHIP can blame on BREXIT.
Well, at this point they are not touring at all. Still, it's not nice.
Interesting, insightful year in review. And 😂 🤣. You're the Dirk Nowitzki of GR friends :)
Which is NBAish for he's lovely and funny and pretty great at what he does, but not quite the GOAT?
No, it just means tall and gangly. ;P
