Seeing as how its almost time to Inktober, it makes me think about last year's Inktober, which I didn't finish, which then makes me think what a miracle it was that my reading goal lasted this long.
September Book Reviews
The Lost City of the Monkey God (Douglas Preston)
6.5/10 A fairly interesting read about an archaeological expedition into Honduras' jungles to find evidence of a 'lost city'. While the draw and basic premise is centered around journeying into this lost city, said expedition only took like two days and was over in less than a third of the book. That being said, the rest of the book wasn't bad. I enjoyed learning about the world of archaeology, whether it was cultural debates or technological progresses. The book also devoted a significant chunk of time to a disease the author contracted, which for me was still okay as he went into the history of the devastating effects of European disease on the Americas. He also offered this explanation as to why the city was abandoned in the first place. In short, this book did go off on tangents that I didn't sign up for but at least the tangents were still informative and engaging enough to read.
Sleeping Giants (Sylvain Neuvel)
8/10 What might have been an otherwise standard sci-fi premise, it was elevated by the writing style the author chose to tell it in. The story is told entirely through various interview logs and personal journal transcripts entirely. Usually for high concept writing styles it's either great or the worst. Luckily for this book, it was the former. Although all the information and events are presented to us through conversations, I felt like I could easily pick up on what happened without their dialogue seeming forced. The characters all had very distinct personalities that made it easy to differentiate as well. The story, mixing mystery and sci-fi while showing off an interesting array of character dynamics, solidly kept me reading. While I never got a sense of anticipation for what happens next, I did manage to enjoy the events that were happening.
Shadow of The Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafron)
4.5/10 Listen, I don't know what it is about well-rated books named [Blank] of the Wind that just don't seem to have good affinity with me. This book is super highly rated and the premise seemed interesting enough so I was excited to read it. But upon actually reading it I was just...bored. The language, while it can be incredibly evocative and spellbinding, also felt overly effusive and flowery. The purple prose made it hard to concentrate on the plot of the book and made it feel like it was moving really slowly. Although the little bits of mystery was alright, in the end everything was cleared up through one woman's unbelievably novel-like, chapters long letter and several flashback scenes. The protagonist barely felt like a protagonist and every time he, or any of the other characters, started talking about ONE romantic love like it was the be all and end all it just made me frustrated. I didn't particularly like any of the characters, and laid bare of the elaborate language, the plot fell rather flat. I mean, the book ends was nice? Idk maybe I should just stay off books talking about the wind for now.
Annihilation (Jeff VanderMeer)
8/10 So apparently opinions are pretty divided about this book, but I have to say I enjoyed it. I liked being dropped in the middle of the story because the confusion just added to the atmospheric, almost maddening darkness. I liked the surreal yet scientific ways the main character reacted to thinks. Most of all, I liked the mystery of it. I liked having no true explanation, how at no point in the story did I feel like I knew completely what was going on. It made the imposing setting of Area X that much more...more. But at the same time, I can tell why people didn't like it. There wasn't too much of a coherent plot, with the character's motivations being just as incoherent as the random words. Some parts could've been shorter, some reveals less jarring. Not everyone is a fan of Lovecraft, whose brand of cosmic horror this story embraced and transformed for a modern era. Still, that sense of unease, that overwhelming mystery of the beginning without any answers, I loved it.
Museum of Broken Relationships (Olinka Vištica, Drazen Grubisic)
8/10 Literally better than any modern poetry book I've read (or flipped through). I think the problem I have with lots of those is that they sound pretentious. When reading endless poems about love and life, but in the voice of a young adult who wrote some sentences without punctuation then added paragraph breaks, I just can't take it seriously (part of this is ironic reflection on myself). But with this book, the proof is real. Tangible, real objects that seem to ground each story behind it. It becomes more than a random person hinting at a vague relationship. And the diversity of it! How in subtle ways the geographic origins of an item changes both it and our understanding of it. The multitude of relationships with different kinds of love. The many ways they end and the many ways their stories are told — proving that sometimes life is a better writer than any published author. A museum to "the rich and chaotic variety of the human experience" (Terry Pratchett, 1996)
Beartown (Fredrik Backman)
9/10 Listen....this book destroyed me. I honestly had only heard the vaguest of things about this author and I thought it was going to be some touching yet whimsical feelgood tale about communities coming together and bonding over a sport. I was really fucking wrong. The stark and unapologetic portrayal of people in response to what happens is gut-wrenching, and all the more so because you can picture it happening anywhere. While the POV jumps around with almost no warning, you never lose track of anything and the writing continually lays out and subverts your expectations. The themes of community, of loyalty and bonds, are pulled apart and laid bare for what it is: both good and bad. Hockey is the focus of the story but the things the author tells with it goes beyond the sport itself. It becomes reflection and study of society today, of the underprivileged, of minorities, of women. Much like the game, this book was intense, powerful and vividly absorbing.
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