I won't spend too long complaining about this. I don't get the hype, but then books like this-- clearly aimed at a younger teen audience --were not reI won't spend too long complaining about this. I don't get the hype, but then books like this-- clearly aimed at a younger teen audience --were not really written for me, were they?
I found this a very basic murder mystery with one-dimensional characters and a predictable conclusion. None of the main cast stood out as memorable to me and I found their dialogue and actions often leaning towards cliche.
I don't often complain about writing. Or, well, if I do then it's usually criticising overly flowery metaphor-laden prose, not simplicity. But here I really did find the writing quite juvenile. Which, of course, is fine if it's aimed at middle-schoolers, but given some of the themes in this one (sex, drugs and depression, to name a few) I suspect that wasn't the case(?)
My lack of connection to the characters, among other things, made it a boring read....more
Illustrated/graphic memoirs are my favourite kind. I guess this is supposed to be middle grade, but I think the story has a lot of crossover appeal-- Illustrated/graphic memoirs are my favourite kind. I guess this is supposed to be middle grade, but I think the story has a lot of crossover appeal-- simple enough for kids to understand, but with some grown-up themes.
Yelchin shares what it was like growing up in the Soviet Union, feeling like neighbours are watching and listening to you, whilst also facing discrimination for being Jewish. I can't say I'm surprised, but I hadn't really considered before how different ethnoreligious groups might be treated under Stalinism. Often it is treated like all experiences of soviet hardship were the same.
In addition, it is also a coming-of-age story about a young boy trying to find his "talent" while his loving but pushy parents desperately try to get him into various sports and arts out of worry for his future.
"It's a baking show. It should be about how well you bake." "It's a TV show. It's about how well you TV."
I really enjoyed Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake. I had no idea how much I needed a novelisation of The Great British Bakeoff until I read this book, but it was hard to put down. Reading about all the drama and the cakes was a lot of fun, and I was surprised how on the edge of my seat I was over whether the bakes would come out good and who would win. Who knew patisserie could have me breaking out in a cold sweat? ...more
I have always believed that in our capitalist, consumerist society, we devour each other. - Agustina Bazterrica
This story is really disturbing, and it
I have always believed that in our capitalist, consumerist society, we devour each other. - Agustina Bazterrica
This story is really disturbing, and it isn't until the very last page that it becomes clear just how deeply disturbing it is.
Tender Is the Flesh is an Argentinian import from an author who is apparently very popular in her own country. After reading this, dare I ask what other horrors she has created? This dystopian horror story is set in a world that feels so close to our own, except a zoonotic virus has made it so that all animals have had to be destroyed. To fill the gap in the meat market, people start to breed and farm humans for their meat.
It is as horrifying and gory as it sounds. Extra warning for those sensitive to scenes of sexual assault and animal cruelty. But while it is hard to stomach at times, I was morbidly fascinated by what Bazterrica had to say about the way humans take advantage of other humans because they can get away with it. The book is horribly convincing and believable. We only have to look to our own real world to recall the excuses humans have made to enslave other humans and to shuttle them off to extermination camps. It does not take a huge suspension of disbelief to imagine the events of this book could happen.
The book also focuses on the way language is used to make humans feel better about committing atrocities. No one is allowed to say "cannibalism" and the meat in the book is packaged as "special meat". There's some dark humour, too, with a few prods at the hypocrisy of humans being outraged by slavery at the same time as imprisoning and eating other humans.
It is told in third person limited and follows Marcos Tejo who works at a meat plant. He takes us through all the horrors involved with breeding, killing, flaying and packaging humans, whilst also dealing with the loss of his own infant son.
For such a bleak tale, it is surprisingly compelling. All the time while reading I was wondering what on earth the conclusion of this nightmare could leave us with, but I think it was even more effective than I could have imagined....more
I think my job is to solve the Petrova problem. …in a small lab, wearing a bedsheet toga, with no idea who I am, and no help other than a mindle
I think my job is to solve the Petrova problem. …in a small lab, wearing a bedsheet toga, with no idea who I am, and no help other than a mindless computer and two mummified roommates.
Guess I was wrong to resist reading this for months. Thing is, I liked The Martian and really really disliked Artemis. In fact, Weir's second novel bored and annoyed me so much that I was set against ever reading his future books. But after seeing positive review after positive review and having friends tell me to read this, I finally did. And Project Hail Mary was so much fun. And science-y. And a bit sad. But mostly fun.
It's a different sort of story, but Project Hail Mary contains a lot of the stuff that made The Martian good. The stakes in the novel feel immense, the chance of coming up with a plan and getting out of the central predicament seems tiny, and all of this science drama is juxtaposed with the narrative voice-- basically, a funny, can't-help-but-love-him nerd who manages to put his brain to work in the direst of circumstances.
We begin with Ryland Grace waking up on a spaceship with no idea who he is and how he got there. Exploring his surroundings, he quickly discovers that his crew mates are dead and he is humanity's last hope for survival. I won't reveal his mission because I think learning about it through flashbacks is part of the fun, and the more we learn the more impossible his mission seems.
I'll leave it at that. The book alternates between the past in the run up to the mission as we discover the huge problem humanity faces, and the present in which Ryland Grace attempts to save our planet. The world of the novel gets bigger and wilder and I have to say I very much enjoyed the adventure and mystery.
It's not five stars for me because I felt it ran on a little long in the middle with the characters having one nerdgasm after another (which seems to be a thing with Weir) and I also saw the "twist" coming, if you can call it that (view spoiler)[the one about what Stratt did (hide spoiler)]. But the later chapters of the novel were really strong and quite... bittersweet, actually....more
DNF - pg. 100. I really liked Ward's The Last House on Needless Street. It was creepy, subversive and sad. But... well, I don't know if I just have a pDNF - pg. 100. I really liked Ward's The Last House on Needless Street. It was creepy, subversive and sad. But... well, I don't know if I just have a poor memory, but I do not remember being bothered by super flowery, kinda awkward language like I was with this one.
Maybe it just worked better with the story being told in the author's previous book. Here, I found it jarring on multiple occasions. Sometimes the author would use nonsensical metaphors that I assume are supposed to sound clever and interesting.
I'm finally getting ready for bed when Irving yells my name. There is something sticky in his voice.
Or similes that read awkwardly to me.
My insides curl up like baby mice
Other times it would be the characters performing weird actions to, I think, make the book seem edgier, grittier.
Irving reached out and pinched the bridge of my nose so hard I heard the cartilage squeak.
To be fair, if this is anything like The Last House on Needless Street, there may very well be a weird yet completely sound explanation for all of this. But, unlike Last House, I'm really struggling to make it through this one. Guess I'll wait for other readers' verdicts....more
This book made me feel sixteen again, with all the pain of a teenage broken heart to go with it. And Dwyer has really perfected what I Wow. This hurt.
This book made me feel sixteen again, with all the pain of a teenage broken heart to go with it. And Dwyer has really perfected what I can only call "sad sexy".
I shut myself away with this book whenever I could this weekend, in a little bubble of hurt and anxiety. It's been a long time since a book made me feel like this. It made me recall early Gayle Forman books like Where She Went, and Melina Marchetta. I don't mean it's stylistically similar, just that it made me feel raw in the same way.
It's hardest to write reviews about books that got to me the way this one did. Themes of social class, family (both the ones life hands you and the ones you make), self-determination, addiction, mental health and self-destructive coping strategies all encircle the relationship at the centre of this story. Every single character in this book matters, feels alive and important, and I will miss them all.
Ellis has been going around to the warm, messy love of the Albrey's house since she was eleven years old. Over the years, it's become a haven to escape from her own parents, who struggle with addiction, amongst other things. Sandry and Ben became a kind of mother and father to her. Tucker and Dixon became the silly, teasing lovable brothers she never had. And then there's Easton.
The story begins in the now and alternates between the past and present, leading up to the circumstances that left Ellis feeling shattered. And me. I felt shattered too.
Thankfully we have the wonderful Albrey family, especially Tucker, to add some light and humour to this heart-shredding book. It needs it. The relationship between Ellis and Easton is definitely not the only source of heartache in this book. It's also about caring for someone who lets you down again and again.
My dad is not a bad man. Not always, at least. He’s just the kind of broken that stabs and cuts anything that tries to hold it.
But, most of all, this book really captures the pain and passion of first love in a visceral way. I pined, I cried, I felt green with envy on Ellis's behalf. I wanted so so badly for things to be okay in the end.
Read it if you enjoy books that destroy you....more
The Machine Stops was a really good short story. Forster, writing in 1909, predicts Facetime / Zoom, amongst other things, though he sets it in a creeThe Machine Stops was a really good short story. Forster, writing in 1909, predicts Facetime / Zoom, amongst other things, though he sets it in a creepy nightmare future where humanity lives underground and everything they need is controlled and delivered by the Machine.
There are certainly parallels with our own world and concerns. The Machine is perhaps best likened to the Internet-- it connects people (who live in solitude) with others around the world, plays music, caters to their every need and whim. In this world, people view mountains, nature and people through the machine, but rarely, if ever, have any direct contact with any of them. People worship the machine and cannot imagine life without it. While we're not exactly living in Forster's dystopia, some aspects of it are eerily prescient.
In my copy of this book, it also came with the short story 'The Celestial Omnibus', which I didn't care for. It was silly and, maybe because it came so soon after my reading of The Machine Stops, it lacked impact. My rating is for The Machine Stops only....more
For some background, I've owned this book for a while. I was initially drawn to it because I am personally interesI have a lot of thoughts about this.
For some background, I've owned this book for a while. I was initially drawn to it because I am personally interested in the causes of, and the science behind, depression, but I was later turned off, both by some of the criticisms and the fact that the UK version of this book has a much stronger self-help vibe than a science-y vibe (I'm all about the technical language, as you can see). The UK subtitle is actually "Why You're Depressed and How to Find Hope".
Still, people raved about this book. I don't care much for celebrities, but even I can appreciate the impressive list of names offering up their praise on the cover and inside. Some people feel this book is a mindblowing exposé, yet others feel it is a waste of paper. Some have called it "dangerous". In the end it was controversy, I guess, that made me curious.
I will start by saying that Hari is, in my opinion, a fantastic nonfiction writer. He employs a technique used by the most-loved pop sci writers, like Malcolm Gladwell, in which he begins his chapters with an emotive anecdote that draws you into the narrative he is spinning. He then goes on to reveal the science and statistics behind the point he is making, often delivered in a deliberately dramatic fashion. It makes for very compelling reading.
There can be no doubt here-- Johann Hari is not a scientist, not a psychiatrist, but a journalist. And he is very good at what he does.
The book is split into three parts. The first attempts to dispel the myths that apparently everyone, including most doctors, believe about depression and antidepressants. The second explains what Hari believes to be the true nine causes of depression and anxiety. The third is what we can do about it, and it is the most self-helpy of the bunch.
The controversy mostly surrounds part one, though I think the criticisms are as overblown as some of Hari's most grandiose claims. Dean Burnett responded to the publication of this book by begging people not to stop taking antidepressants, which heavily implies that Hari suggests you abandon them, which is not the case. In fact, Hari openly states that giving up antidepressants is long and complex and should be done with a doctor's guidance, if at all.
Hari certainly sets up a few Straw Men of his own here, the most obvious being his stance that almost no one in the medical community was willing to acknowledge other causes of depression outside of the "brain chemistry" explanation until he came along, which is ludicrous. I think Hari is one of those people who has a certain set of experiences and then thinks he can apply his own experiences to everyone. It is also telling that most of his sources are dated between the 1970s and 1990s.
He is probably right that SSRIs are overprescribed, but his fuelling of Big Pharma conspiracy theories is extremely reductive. The issue is far more complex than 1) Antidepressants do nothing, 2) Drug companies want to make money so they are prescribed anyway.
The truth is that our understanding of depression is still in its infancy, and doctors have to do what they can with the limited, sometimes contradictory, information that is available to them. When thousands of patients are coming to them depressed, many of said patients the poorest members of society, it is not an option for doctors to prescribe them better relationships, a more fulfilling job, a mountain climb. They have to save their lives and help them get through each day in that moment. Often drugs are that first line of defence. Very few people think this is ideal.
Part two is less controversial. In fact, I'd say it's more just... obvious. Hari is very good at writing like he is the first person ever to have had the thoughts he is putting down, then dramatically lifting the curtain on ideas that have been around for decades. Of course having good relationships with family and friends, a rewarding job, a secure future, and time spent wandering the rose garden will decrease your chances of depression. Who could have possibly guessed?
It all culminates in a no-brainer in the final part of the book. Hari has discovered the real answer to everyone's problems, the ultimate cure for depression is the never before seen concept of... socialism. I mean, I think he's right. It's certainly not a cure-all, but in societies where social security is higher and inequality is lower, depression is also lower. Humans have core needs that are not being met by modern capitalism.
Lost Connections is a book of old ideas rebranded as something innovative. It is compulsively readable, flawed, melodramatic and arrogant. Arrogant in the sense that it positions Hari as an oracle of new wisdom at the same time as he regurgitates old studies and other people's ideas.
The worst part of the book is where he falls into a non sequitur, using the results of drug efficacy studies to suggest that most doctors are actively trying to get you on antidepressants. The best parts are the reminders he gives for what really matters in life, backed up by statistics. It's obvious, really, though I think in our day-to-day lives it's also easy to forget....more
“I mean it,” she said. “You’re dead.” He gave her his familiar solemn smile, the one that he’d given her all the time at the house. “Aren’t we all,”
“I mean it,” she said. “You’re dead.” He gave her his familiar solemn smile, the one that he’d given her all the time at the house. “Aren’t we all,” he said. “Somewhere on the timeline.”
Only a Monster, as of my writing this, does not release for another five months. I didn't actually mean to read it right now. I was just going to sample the arc, read a few pages, see if it was something that might interest me down the line... then somehow I seem to have ended up here at the end, a little bleary-eyed and disoriented.
I burned myself out on YA urban fantasy some years back, but it looks like I'm ready to get back in the game because I inhaled this. It contains some tropes of the genre-- teen girl comes into new powers, hints of a love triangle, heroes vs villains --but it subverts some too. In this book, you find yourself on the side of the monsters: moral dilemmas, grey areas, and all.
“Monsters look like giant spiders,” Joan said. “Or like robots.” She’d seen enough cartoons to know. Gran sometimes told jokes without smiling. Maybe this was one of those times. But Gran’s eyes weren’t shiny with a held-in joke. They were serious. “That’s pretend monsters,” she said. “Real monsters look like me and you.”
The protagonist, Joan, comes from a family of time-travelling monsters on her mother's side. They can leech time from humans, essentially shortening their lifespan, in order to travel through time themselves. But there's long been rumours and myths about a hero who will come along and slaughter them, saving humans from their life-sucking powers.
As luck would have it, it turns out said hero is much closer to Joan than she could ever have guessed, and his presence causes a horrible tragedy that threatens everyone Joan cares about. She is forced to travel back in time to try and right some wrongs before they even happen.
I found a lot of this story thrilling. The stakes were high, the potential losses catastrophic, and the secrets mysterious and exciting. Different monster families have different powers and discovering them all is an adventure in itself. I also loved the references to British history and the strong sense of place I got from all the different settings. I am very glad to see we can expect two more books, though, because I still have SO MANY QUESTIONS. Not in a bad way. I can't wait!
“You’re a hero and I’m a monster,” she whispered. “There’s only one way that story ever ends.”
As for the romance(s), I didn't mind it. To be fair, while there were some flirty elements, the romance mostly waits in the wings until the end of the book. Unless the author is my kind of evil, I think it's pretty obvious what the endgame is on this front. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m going for the main ship. Partly because star-crossed isn’t my jam, and partly, I think, because I’m a masochist who likes to hitch myself to sinking ships. (view spoiler)[Also, Aaron is just more fun than Mr Morality over there. (hide spoiler)]
The ending wraps up this chapter, but it is FAR from over. Now, I wait.
Quotes taken from advance review copy and subject to change....more
I really enjoyed the concept of this horror, though I think it would have made a better novella, with a hundred or so pages of bloated purple prose cuI really enjoyed the concept of this horror, though I think it would have made a better novella, with a hundred or so pages of bloated purple prose cut out. I liked the beginning, the ending, and the major plot points, but everything between them was too drawn out and overwritten. There were moments when I considered not finishing it, but in the end I actually finished it in less than 24 hours.
Mina's car breaks down at the treeline of a forest that you won't find on any map. In the middle of nowhere, Mina is forced to seek help inside the trees, where she discovers three people living inside a concrete bunker. She soon learns they are trapped there by the stuff of nightmares. When night falls, they need to be inside the bunker, or the watchers will get them. During the day, they can stumble helplessly through the forest looking for an escape, but heaven help them should they stray too far and not make it back before dark.
The best parts were the use of Irish mythology and the eerie forest setting, though I would say, overall, that my mood was more intrigued than it was scared. The scariest part for me was the penultimate chapter....more
In the end, I liked what Jodi Picoult did with Wish You Were Here. I like that she took it in, let's say, unexpecteHmm, this is a tough one to review.
In the end, I liked what Jodi Picoult did with Wish You Were Here. I like that she took it in, let's say, unexpected directions, and explored a subject I knew very little about. I did not predict the way this story would unfold. Which is good.
That being said, I found the first half of this book very slow. Diana finds herself alone in the Galápagos islands, her boyfriend thousands of miles away fighting to save people from COVID in the emergency room, when the island is put on lockdown. With no way to get home, Diana wanders around being a bit of an ignorant tourist, meeting the locals, and trying to find a way to feed herself.
Diana becomes involved in the lives of local businessman, Gabriel, and his daughter, Beatriz. Through these new friendships and interactions, she begins to question what she had thought she wanted from her life, to question the path she is on and whether it is the right one. This goes on for more than half of the book (192 pages in the e-arc). I was not enamoured by it.
As I said earlier, though, the book does go on to take some interesting turns. It's unfortunate that what I liked about the book would reveal too much, so I can only really talk about my complaints here.
We Are Not Like Them will be a fabulous choice for book clubs, which is likely exactly what it was written for. In fact, it almost constantly throws uWe Are Not Like Them will be a fabulous choice for book clubs, which is likely exactly what it was written for. In fact, it almost constantly throws up talking points as if the authors were working through a list of topics. I just wanted it to be more complex and interesting than it was.
The premise sounds great, but I don't think the book ever really lived up to it. The blurb posits that Jen and Riley, who are white and black respectively, are the bestest of friends, and have been for pretty much their whole lives. Like sisters, even. When Jen's husband, a police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed black boy, politics and calls for social justice worm their way into the women's friendship.
I was curious about this. What happens when two people who are so close become divided by race? Except the authors never really take us there at all. From the very first time we meet Riley and Jen, we see the former inwardly cringing as Jen jokes about "CPT", biting her tongue as she recalls how Jen never gets her problem with strangers touching her hair. And Jen seems to use Riley to borrow money and get a free lunch. Is this the close friendship I came for? Seems one-sided at best.
This fact, I feel, weakens the impact of the rest of the book. Oh, suddenly Riley and Jen aren't talking? Well, not such a great loss after all. I found Jen incredibly selfish and I have to say, at the novel's close, I'm not sure what lessons she had really learned.
While it's nice that (view spoiler)[the story concluded white people and black people can actually be friends, I couldn't help thinking that Jen didn't really deserve Riley's friendship. (hide spoiler)] It also felt like a bit of a cop-out (no pun intended) that Jen's husband was the less culpable shooter, paving the way for (view spoiler)[a nice, neat ending full of sunsets and forgiveness (hide spoiler)]....more
But there are two sides to every story. The hero and the villain. The dark and the light. The blessing and the curse. And what the miller had not u
But there are two sides to every story. The hero and the villain. The dark and the light. The blessing and the curse. And what the miller had not understood is that the god of stories is also the god of lies.
2 1/2 stars. I'm still deciding my rating as I write this review. I liked... some of this book. The first hundred or so pages were fantastic, really well-written and compelling, right up to where the first round of straw has been spun into gold. After that, I thought things got repetitive, convoluted and a bit boring.
Gilded is one of those books where I liked the idea of it more than the actual reading experience. I love, for example, that Meyer wove so much German folklore into this retelling, not just that of the Rumpelstiltskin tale, but also the Erlking, Shrub Grandmother and Nachtkrapp. You can tell that Meyer did her research.
A major problem here, I feel, is that Rumpelstiltskin is a short tale and Meyer attempts to extend it to over five hundred pages of novel. Part of this is achieved by adding in all the mythology extras above, which is exciting, but also makes it unnecessarily convoluted at times. Part of it involves adding in lots of side characters and padding, most of which I did not care about. I know the tale, I know Serilda is going to be brought back to the king's palace again, so all the dithering around until he shows up really dragged the story down.
I also did not care for what is ultimately at the centre of this story-- the romance. The chemistry was not there for me and it felt like there were too many important things going on for me to invest in the two of them giving each other googly eyes. Also, part of it may be my fault for initially assuming Meyer was going to (view spoiler)[redeem the Erlking and have him as the love interest. Because evil fae kings with a sensitive side are absolutely my thing. (hide spoiler)]
I must confess that I did not realise until the very end that there would be a sequel and now I'm even more convinced that this book should have been a 350 page novel, not a 500 page one. Hype might convince me to give it a try, but right now I'm thinking I'll pass on the sequel....more
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