The thirty-fifth book: #35 Candide - Voltaire
Candide felt a lot more readable as a book than the previous few. It was reminiscent of Gulliver's Travels in places - visiting a very mythical El Dorado, as well as setting up other odd situations and miraculous survivals. It's fine with the tone it's going for - over the top, clearly to go against other works that might be less miraculous but try to be serious. In that sense, it's more like Gulliver's Travels: The tone is satirical, making fun of some established tropes, but also making a philosophical argument.
I sort of got the point, but it didn't matter too much. When you accept the outrageousness and bad luck - taking a tour around a bunch of recent disasters and at one point meeting several deposed kings - it's quite interesting to read some of the banter and discover the characters. There's some preachiness to it, but for the most part it's paced well enough to still work. A welcome break after the past few setups.