april showers

A truly average month for reading.

April Book Reviews

The Last Hope (Erin Hunter)

5.5/10 I'll be real, I heard that (spoiler alert) Firestar dies in this one and I wanted to see how it went down. So basically, I loved the first Warriors series, the original one focusing on Firestar & his journey. I read a bit of the second series, but quickly lost interest. I never forgot my cat son though, and when I heard that this book was where his story ended (kind of, I'm sure he gets up to all sorts of antics in StarClan), I really wanted to find out how. So basically, I wasn't super interested in the actual characters from the Power of Three series. I'm kind of weirded out by the fact that StarClan used to be just this higher power that occasionally contacted very special cats to them just being regular cats except they live in another forest. The fact that the climax was a bunch of real cats straight up fighting ghosts...? Weird. But I'm not gonna lie, I did cry when reading Firestar's scene. It's not like the writing was exceptional in anyway but the fact that this character was the FIRST protagonist, that we know him from when he was just a smol kitty, to see him meet a pretty symbolic end made me emotional. It felt kind of rushed, kind of fast, but it is a book for younger children after all. Listen, I just love Firestar a lot okay.

Saga, Vol. 1 (Brian K. Vaughan)

4.5/10 I know, I know everyone loves this series. I know it's critically acclaimed. It's just really not my cup of tea. I didn't like any character in particular, certainly not the main characters. The narrator kind of had me interested but she doesn't even show up as a character in her own right. I'm not a fan of the random sex or the alien design. The Romeo and Juliet storyline didn't really feel wholly engaging to me. I'm sure others would find those exact things interesting, but it's just not my thing. I'm not into it.

Felicity (Mary Oliver)

6.5/10 A collection of poetry. Not much to say here really, I've never been a fan of the newer style of poetry coming out from young adults - you know the ones, meaningful sentences without capitalization broken up by paragraph breaks. Not to say they don't have merit or they can't connect with a reader, but just that I'm probably not the intended audience. For this collection, I felt like there was a rhythm and feel to the poems that I enjoyed. They seemed to bear some similarity to an older style of poetry that I prefer. I also liked that the topics ranged from the natural world to life to love. However that being said, there wasn't one poem that I really felt moved by or one that I felt like I wanted to write down and remember. Poetry is arguably one of the more subjective genres, so I don't feel like it's anything against the book itself.

Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales (P.D. James)

8/10 The last short story collection I read by P. D. James was 'The Mistletoe Murders' which I enjoyed. I thought it was a solid read, even if nothing particularly stood out to me. In this one, she replicates the classic Golden Age style of murder mystery that I love so much with the same dependable quality. I did enjoy this one more than 'The Mistletoe Murders' however, because of the overall theme, which focused on the point of view of the guilty. While generally 'the narrator did it' or 'reverse whodunit' show up from time to time, to have the entire collection of stories be focused around that was really interesting to me. My favorite was probably 'The Girl Who Loved Graveyards' followed by 'A Very Desirable Residence' and 'The Yo-Yo'.

The Giver: Graphic Novel (P. Craig Russell)

8/10 I picked up the book because I vaguely remember reading 'The Giver' in class when I was young but the only thing I remember about it is that it was good. I had wanted to revisit the book so when the graphic novel adaptation came out, I thought it would be a good chance. Because I don't really have any solid memory of the original book, I'm just treating this on its own rather than judging it based on how good of an adaptation it is. And I do like the story! It felt short but sweet. I loved the ambiguous ending, even if the plot itself was little predictable. I also really liked how they were able to convey the visuals of Jonas' ability to 'see beyond' in color. Not sure how it holds up next to the book itself, but at least it was a graphic novel I enjoyed reading.

My Sister, the Serial Killer (Oyinkan Braithwaite)

6.5/10 The book is about a woman who gets a call from her sister to help her clean up a murder, and it's not the first one she's gotten. A really cool idea but unfortunately didn't live up to my expectations. I was expecting it either to be a full on tense, thriller mystery or a black comedy, satirical type of story. My impression of it was instead that it was serious, but the disjointed style of writing failed to give it any gravity. While it never felt confusing, it did feel hazy which lost some of the tension. Still, the characters were really interesting, especially the protagonist, if not altogether likeable. I had mixed feelings about the ending, but it was one that suited the story. Overall, not bad but with how intriguing the initial concept was, I was left a little disappointed.

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boo-ks

The real terror is not reading a single book I definitively loved. That and my ever growing pile of books to read while I do anything but read them.

October Book Reviews

Meddling Kids (Edgar Cantero)

5.5/10 This book had its highs and lows for me. I liked the concept of a Scooby gang-esque group reuniting after they grow up and re-investigating an old case only to discover that there was real supernatural forces involved. The kids themselves though...didn't really grow on me. Andy especially, her whole character was built around her crush on Kerri, to the point where it was getting kind of overbearing. Like girl, you're not a teenager anymore, keep it together!! My favorite character was honestly probably the dog. The beginning took way, way too long and I really struggled to keep going. The high point was definitely the last few chapters when they returned to the house and the action really kicked in. While it had plenty of nods to Lovecraft canon, the vibe itself was nowhere near actual Lovecraft stories. I was also thrown off by the writing style changes but really loved the twists at the end. Overall, it was fine but it could've been better.

Split Tooth (Tanya Tagaq)

1.5/10 Um. Let's just say I'm not a fan of this style of writing. I get that it's supposed to be poetic, but it just threw me off. The random events, the random poetry, the random New Age spiritualism, the random animal sex, listen...I just. It's just not my thing. You could call it 'a mystical journey of the relationship between man and nature, a look at the shamanistic rituals of the past' and I could call it 'a woman giving a fox a blowjob'. You could call it 'weaving a line between reality and invention, an ancient myth reborn in the present' and I could call it 'a bad acid trip'. Let's agree to disagree and never speak of this book again.

The Perfect Girlfriend (Karen Hamilton)

4/10 I'm not a fan of domestic thrillers and unfortunately this book didn't change my mind. It wasn't exactly bad, it was just more of a genre I'm not particularly into. There were some parts, especially in the beginning, where I was interested in where the plot was going or what the protagonist was going to do next. But after the climax, I felt that it had less direction and the main character didn't impress me as much, instead growing more far-fetched and crazy in a mental kind of way than realistically sinister. While the ending with the 'twist' reveal was fun, I wasn't so much surprised at her final actions as I thought she would've done it sooner. It was easy to read through, I'll give it that, but it didn't do too much for me.

Lovecraft Country (Mat Ruff)

7.5/10 "But even the talk of magic wasn't that peculiar, for most of them spoke of it as they would of money, or politics or any other means of bending the world to their will."  It was an interesting read, and there were definitely some high points, but overall it failed to really pull me in and the story seemed vaguely disjointed. Rather than an overarching story with a clear focus, it kind of jumps around POVs (albeit with the same underlying plot), and I had a hard time really getting in and focusing on finishing the book. Still, it had some neat ideas and great moments. The Lovecraft part of the title is more of an homage to his themes than anything stylistically or tonally similar. Still, I'll give it props because it touched upon the one theme that so many other works inspired by Lovecraft have failed to address: the racism. It really added an unique quality and the setting of the American Midwest during the Jim Crowe era isn't a common location for horror which was great too. A story with its highs and 'meh's but it wasn't bad.

Also I almost want to give it a 8 score just for Letitia managing to strongarm a grumpy old white man's ghost by threatening to haunt him if he kills her. Like what a BAMF, chilling with ghosts, casually playing chess with him. I'd be down just to see more of her, hopefully the TV show gives her the screentime she deserves.

How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men's Feelings (Sarah Cooper)

7.5/10 A hilarious, fun to read, but not anything groundbreaking or fresh. It's pretty much what the internet has said and pointed out countless times, the sexism that women face in the workplace. There's multitudes of similar stuff on social media that talk about double standards and man-splaining. None of the things she says is particularly standout but it was still funny to read. The layout and formatting of the book was great, the stuff it talks about is definitely real and I like that it didn't try to go too heavy. It was light on subsistence but sometimes that what you need, just some humor to help point out the ridiculous. It's definitely a fun book and I think it'd make a fantastic present for all the HBIC.

Monstress, Vol.1: Awakening (Marjorie Liu)

5/10 Monstress has some amazing art, incredibly detailed, the world is beautifully imagined and the character designs are gorgeous. I like its mix of Western and Eastern art style, so it doesn't come off as completely one or the other. However, it falls short in terms of introducing you to the setting itself. It's a pretty high fantasy world, with various factions, races and histories. But the story just throws you in media res, there's no time to fully grasp what's going on at all. There seems to be two groups fighting a war? People with animal ears? The main character has some monster thing inside her? There are two kinds of talking cats??? While mildly intriguing, it's way too confusing for me to actually be invested in the story.

Alice (Christina Henry)

4.5/10 Ehhh...so this book is supposed to be dark, gritty re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland. First of all, like there isn't enough of those but I'm the one who decided to read it so we'll let it pass for now. But even with that common premise, there's nothing too much to differentiate it. Like we start off with Alice in an asylum! Wow! Groundbreaking. The characters in the story are humans in this one, like okay. There's some random love interest who's older than her and she like loves him immediately with almost zero buildup? A lot of the 'darkness' feels like it comes from a need to be edgy rather than actually making it sinister. The ending was so anticlimactic

like okay getting rid one of the Big Bads with zero effort but both?

but I guess it added a mild bit of individuality. Like I want to say that this book had good ideas but didn't go anywhere with them but...did it even have any good ideas? Ehh....

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three times lucky

I know it's only March but still this is probably the only New Year's Resolution that's lasted this long

March Book Reviews

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (Alexander McCall Smith)

7/10 An interesting concept for a mystery novel, although I have mixed feelings on the execution. I liked the uniqueness of the setting, which really came to life in the novel; Botswana with its cattle herds and dusty roads. I also enjoyed the vivacious personality of the novel's leading lady, Precious Ramotswe. She's no-nonsense, a good observer of human nature, but not always confident nor infallible. A truly refreshing stand out from the calm armchair detectives and the tough hardboiled private eyes. What I didn't like was the editing style of the novel. It jumped from case to case without a clear timeline, sometimes even interrupting an ongoing case with another, then inserting flashbacks and POVs about both Ramotswe and the people around her without much connection to any story. Although I was a little bothered by it, Mma Ramotswe and her beloved Botswana was fresh enough to keep me entertained.

Swimming Lessons (Claire Fuller)

4/10 Listen, I can understand why other people might like this book. I can see the appeal, but I am not the audience it's trying to appeal to. I did not like this book at all. The premise about a mother's disappearance, and clues being revealed through scraps and letters hidden in books seems straightforward and intriguing enough. But instead what I got was a main character that seemed out of it most of the time, a first half that didn't do much with the concept, a disappearance that seemed so devoid of mystery that you wonder why there was anything to ask about. The 'letters' themselves were supposedly written by the mother, but it was written pretty much exactly like a novel. I think they tried to justify it by saying she was in a creative writing course but seriously, no one writes letters like that. I just couldn't bring myself to care about this family or any of their experiences, nor did I care for the artsy literary references like I get it...you read books.

Tortall (Tamora Pierce)

4/10  I'm pretty disappointed by this book. I loved the Tortall series of books by the same author, who wrote such well-rounded, complex heroines each with her own different but genuine and memorable coming of age stories all set in a world that was vibrant and exciting. But I couldn't find that in this companion book. It's not even about the fact that the original characters barely show up, but that regardless of if they do or don't the stories just fall flat. The tone of the stories just felt so different from main series that I felt like it was only the names connecting the worlds together. Even when the original characters make an appearance they just don't have the same impression. This compared to when predecessor characters show up in subsequent novels in the main storyline and they feel completely natural. If anything, I'd just take the chance to recommend everyone to please read original series because they're all really good, just pretend this one never existed.

Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart (Lisa Rogak) 

5/10 A pretty average book overall tbh. Not too bad but nothing mindblowing. I liked that the author gathered opinions from both people who praised and criticized Jon Stewart. But I didn't finish reading the book and feel like I had gained some newfound insight into the man, or even an interesting summary of his life. For people looking to know a little more about him, I'd recommend just reading his Wikipedia page, and for fans who already know the man, I'd recommend uh, I guess just re-watching old Daily Show clips.

The Girl Who Married a Lion: And Other Tales from Africa (Alexander McCall Smith)

6/10 I enjoyed this! My favourite part of his detective series was the setting and these were all stories born from it, even if the nature of these stories made it much more fantastical. I generally like reading fairy tales and myth from all over the world, so I liked being introduced to some new ones. Most of the time they came off as a little bare but I appreciated them being deeply connected to the land they're from. They're stories that couldn't have come from any other place, from the witch doctors to the flora and fauna of the Savannah. I liked that some of them didn't really have a moral or lesson to tell but I also liked the ones that did. A nice, short read about folklore I haven't seen much of before, even if it was a bit simplistic.

Orange is the New Black (Piper Kerman)

6.5/10 Not a bad read on a world that seems so foreign to me that it's no wonder it got adapted into a TV series. The closed off, literally and figuratively, world of the female prison system is brought to life in this autobiographical book featuring a victim of the war on drugs. The book highlights many of the problems with prison systems as well as humanizing the people in those systems. I enjoyed seeing the different personalities around her and the spirit of female camaraderie surrounding her. Of course, her experiences are colored by her own thoughts and opinions, as well as by virtue of being an upper middle class white woman. Nonetheless, because the setting is so engaging, the book was an entertaining read.

Take Me With You (Andrea Gibson)

3/10 Listen, I'll be frank. I don't like the trendy new poetry books. I'm a snobbish elite, an old person ranting about the established but that's my goddamn opinion. So I don't care for poems that are just run-on sentences, or even worse, just sentences but with space breaks in between. I don't like poems written by young adults where love is talked about like the greatest and worst thing on earth. It's fine if I see it on tumblr, but when it's a published book of poetry it just seems too much. There are a couple of verses and poems I like in here, but more than less I like it in the same sense I would click like on Instagram and move on.

The Hidden Life of Trees (Peter Wohlleben)

8.5/10 After reading his Hidden Life of Animals and really not having too high of an opinion of it, I was curious about the author's first work that made him notable in the first place. And after reading this one, I would totally agree with the general opinion. Unlike his Animals one, which I felt mainly provided anecdotes to concepts that were pretty widely agreed upon, this one actually provided some new knowledge. It's not groundbreaking to suggest that animals treasure their families and have human concepts of community, but it is interesting to have those ideas applied to trees and plants. Not to mention, this book provides far more scientific information to accompany the presentation. It briefly made me even want to go outside to look at real trees while reading this and any book that can make me even entertain the thought of hiking, however briefly, is a formidable one.

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