What a lethargic summer...I barely read any compared to last month and none of them I really liked.
July Book Reviews
Hidden Figures (Margot Lee Shetterly)
4.5/10 I wanted to like this book, I really did. The history it's recounting and the message it's trying to say are all really great. But unfortunately those are the only things that kept me going through this book. The writing was just so dry to me. It felt like reading a Wikipedia article except without editing out the superfluous descriptions. It was hard to keep track of the primary figures in the book, which wasn't helped by their intertwining storylines. The book also starts out in the middle of WWII and while I agree it's important to set down the precedent for the birth of NASA, it took much too long to actually get there. I felt like I was almost near the end of the book before NASA actually came into existence. Even when the women were making history, the writing style ironically seemed to mute the emotional impact of it. Still, there were a couple of moving moments and I enjoyed the ending. I'd recommend just watching the movie though.
The Dark and Other Love Stories (Deborah Willis)
5/10 I have mixed feelings about this collection of short stories. I feel like I can see why other people might enjoy it, but for me it doesn't quite manage it. There are some stories where I appreciated the premise, especially 'Girlfriend on Mars'. I also appreciate that it's set mostly in the Lower Mainland. The ambiguity of many of these stories, there are some that I felt worked well, other's that fell short. While reading this I just couldn't shake the feeling that the writing style seemed constructed to try and elicit some emotional reaction from me rather than doing so organically. I can't tell if it's because I'm too young (and not experienced enough) or too old (and experienced in the wrong ways). It's like one of those popular 'tumblr-style' poetry books; I can see the appeal in it but it's not for me.
Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)
6/10 Okay. So, this book was highly recommended to me by two different people, not to mention a plethora of 5 star reviews. So what I'm about to say might be controversial. It was alright. It was...an adult high fantasy novel. The protagonist is a dude who's really good at stuff. He's a child prodigy with a tragic backstory. The antagonists are bullies and mean teachers. He embarrasses them in public. Two women are interested in him. The main one is an incomparable, mysterious beauty who despite the multiple men she dates, enjoys his companionship the most. He slays, a dragon. CAN I MAKE IT ANYMORE OBVIOUS. I don't really care for any of the characters right now, Bast is kind of interesting? But the protagonist is a dumbass like oh my god. The story is moving at a snail's pace and most of the pace seems to be spent on talking about the various ways he tries to secure student loans. Now, I gave it a 6 because despite my disappointed expectations, it's not a bad novel. It just wasn't a mindblowing one. I liked the format of the story and how it interweaves two timelines. (Although I have to say, they keep using the format to set up 'I was so happy...little did I know how wrong I was' type endings. Like it's fine and ominous the first few times but when they keep fucking doing it holy shit it's so annoying like I get it!!! Life sucks!!) Although it's typical fantasy novel dense, most of the time it kept me interested enough to keep reading. While they use all the usual fancy fantasy descriptors, there were a couple of lines that were nicely written and quite memorable. Still on the whole, I have to say it's really not my cup of tea. Don't @ me.
One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter (Scaachi Koul)
4.5/10 I was intrigued by the summary of this book, promising a humorous book dealing with personal experiences in a 'land of ice and casual racism'. Because of my personal experiences in said land, and also because it's a pretty funny line, I checked it out. Unfortunately, the editor who wrote the summary deserves an award because that single line is pretty much the only memorable one. The author talks about her experiences as an overweight woman, a woman working on the internet and the child of Indian immigrants. While those can make for interesting anecdotes, there was nothing about any of the stories that seemed to stand out. Adding insult to injury, the purported razor sharp humor was either nowhere to be found or not my style because I didn't really find the entire thing to be funny. I could tell it was written in a 'comedic style' but not one that made me laugh. Overall, a fairly forgettable book.
0 comments:
Post a Comment