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It's the end of a decade but only two years of me starting to read again. Still, it's something to celebrate!! I've made it two whole years!!! I probably could've finished more books this month but the holiday season slowed me down. Also I wanted to keep the total amount of books read at a good whole number.

December Book Reviews

If Cats Disappeared from the World (Genki Kawamura)

4.5/10 This was a weird limbo of a book for me. I don't know if its the writing style or the translation that's throwing me off but there's something about the painfully plain and stilted phrases that makes it such a bore to read. The contents don't really help its case either. It feels like it's trying to be an introspective, emotional piece; it is after all, about a man reflecting on his life as it comes to an end. But the protagonist isn't very interesting or likeable. There are some aspects where it seems like he's trying to be "relatable" : he works in an unchanging government job, he has a hard time forming meaningful relationships, he's estranged from his parents etc. But then they add in aspects where it removes him from that audience surrogate role where he has personal and specific issues with his dad or his fervent love of movies. It's a weird balance that neither makes him more sympathetic nor interesting to read about. Even the draw of the book, the titular disappearance of cats, was dealt with in a really disappointing way. Overall, I think it had the potential to be a nice short story that ruminates on all the different components that make up a person's life but the execution unfortunately fell short of the concept.

Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (Agatha Christie)

8/10 Not much to say about this one except I just love Miss Marple. I'm always delighted by her concept: a quaint, Victorian elderly lady who only knows village gossip stories but manages to solve cases no one else can. I love her approach of solving cases by studying the human condition rather through logic puzzles just because methods of committing crimes may change but motives never do. There's a foreword by the author who says Miss Marple is more suited for the short stories (compared to Poirot who 'demands a full length novel') and that's definitely the case. She shines in this format, and Tuesday Club Murders is my favorite example of it.

Horrorstor (Grady Hendrix)

6/10 I really liked the set up of this one. It reminds me of a really good creepypasta/SCP of an endless Ikea that people are trapped in. And the beginning did deliver on those expectations, it had a great atmosphere that also reminded me of House of Leaves, another horror story that's based on a architectural space. There was some fantastic use of the storeroom space and tension that came from the setting. Unfortunately, the 'ghost' or antagonist of the space was revealed really early on and I think that ruined a lot of the mystery for me. I was hoping they'd center the horror more around the space itself but the latter half of the story almost entirely was just based on this ghost of a prison/asylum which number one, is as about as cliched as you can get and number two, could've been set anywhere else. The protagonist and the fellow characters were just okay for me. The whole fake product pages were a nice bonus but I wished it could've transitioned into horror more subtly. A book with a great beginning and an average ending.

The Bride Test (Helen Hoang)

6.5/10 This was a cute book! I enjoyed reading it. It's the typical set up of a Cinderella romance novel, complete with convenient contrivances and unlikely coincidences but cute nonetheless. Bonus points for a POC protagonist and actually giving her problems and points of views that would match her background rather than making her POC for the sake of it. I also enjoyed having a lead on the autism spectrum and I thought it was portrayed rather well. The main thing I didn't really mesh with was that this book was........TOO horny. I know some people prefer more smut in their romance and maybe it's because I don't read too many romance novels myself, but I was thrown off with how much of their relationship was based on physical attraction. The lead literally gets a boner the first time he meets her. I would've liked it if the relationship was developed more, instead I felt like it was really rushed and I couldn't really enjoy the process of them falling for each other over the general smut teasing. Still, despite its problems, I found it a fast, entertaining and easy read.

The Moth Presents: All These Wonders (Catherine Burns)

8.5/10 A really fantastic collection of stories from the podcast based on people from different walks to life talking about a single moment in their life. Although the majority of stories were from authors, comedians or other public speakers, there were a few that were from regular people with regular jobs. And although the majority of the stories were of extraordinary events of everything from the death of a loved one to the first flyby of Pluto, there were also a few that were just a mundane event plucked from the everyday. And while I enjoyed both of types, I do appreciate the little outliers because I felt like it made the concept that much more meaningful. I cried about every other story when reading it, it was so real and emotional. The only reason I was debating between a four and a five star was because it also felt a bit like TEDtalks. It's short and punchy but even as I was tearing up, I also felt on a meta-level it wasn't as impactful as a full story with a connected narrative. Still, it's an incredible, well-written (spoken?) collection and I loved reading it. "I find myself born into this universe. It's a wonderful place. It's a strange place. It's also a scary and sometimes lonely place. And every day in my work, I try to discern through its noisy manifestation, its people, dogs, trees, mountains, stars - everything I love - I try to discern the eternal music of the spheres."

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs (Caitlin Doughty)

6/10 "The flames are the great equalizer." The second book of hers that I've read this year as it turns out. I didn't like this one as much as 'From Here to Eternity' but it wasn't a bad book. It's definitely targeted more for younger readers, which is the main reason why I thought it was just okay. Still, I think it's pretty enjoyable to read and it has some interesting questions and answers. Not much to say actually...it was alright.

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journalism, murder and fantasy oh my !

I didn't feel like I was really rushing to get through a lot of books this month but I did end up with quite a feel. I think November just felt really, really long. Like I'd be looking through the list of books I added and be like 'damn, that was ages ago but it was still this month??' (Side note, I love the book ends feel of having two four star investigative journalism books at the start and end of the month. I should try to do that more.)

November Book Reviews

Bottle of Lies (Katherine Eban)

8/10 This was written almost like a true crime thriller and I think it really helped me get into the story and keep me immersed even through the various legal and medical jargon, not to mention the myriad of names. There were some parts where I felt like it was getting long, but the story and writing style managed to get me back in easily enough. There was a part where they went into the backgrounds of various companies and the timeline jumps around in decades so it was a little distracting. The amount of organizations and peoples is already enough to keep track of without mergers. The author also briefly mentions better generic alternatives so I wanted more elaboration on it but it didn't really go anywhere. Not that I really felt that this book suffered from a lack of information. I also enjoyed that it was very objective. The author didn't try to say the generics were the villains and the FDA were the heroes but instead showed the various shortcomings and accurately presented the pressures of bureaucracy. The ending was kind of a downer, realistic but a downer. It's a testament to how slowly a case study like this can move when the story follows its start in the 1980s and still hasn't reached a real conclusion in 2019. It's pretty incredible to read about something like this, which most people don't really think about too much. It's a great combination of the products of investigative journalism and a firm, engaging writing style. A definite recommended read.

The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited! (Clint McElroy)

6/10 I think part of why I didn't like this book as much as the first one was because of how much I enjoyed this arc in the actual podcast. I was really looking forward to seeing it in comic form, but my expectations were too high I supposed. While it's impossible to include every single joke from the podcast into the comic, I just didn't find it as funny even though I didn't feel that way for the first arc's adaptation. Part of it might have been the feeling of time; listening to the podcast and following them along from the planning to the murder investigation to the final reveal felt like a long process. That process felt super condensed in this one which made it lose some of its tension and stakes in my opinion. There were also some action lines that I found it hard to tell what was going on. Also hard was seeing various hints dropped hinting at further developments but instead of feeling like it's foreshadowing it feels more like I just missed a reference. I'll still be on the lookout for the next volume though, mostly because I didn't enjoy the podcast of that arc as much so who knows, maybe the comic version will change my opinion instead!

Stiletto (Daniel O'Malley)

6/10 I really liked the first book in this series and was a little disappointed when this sequel didn't knock it out of the park in the same way. There were familiar parts that I liked about the book like the humor, the writing style and more of the world building. Unfortunately the characters didn't endear themselves to me in the same way that Myfawny or Thomas did in the first part and while I liked that she still had parts in this one (and we got to see her being the boss she rightfully is), it really took away from the actual protagonists. Not only could we fully focus on fleshing out either of the heroines, we also didn't get to just enjoy Myfawny through the whole thing either. I liked Odette more than Felicity, but neither of them really did much to actually get to the ending. It's especially egregious for Odette because she was so involved but everything was concluded without her volition at all. The side plot about the crystal murder that Myfawny was involved in ALSO wasn't solved by her own active participation. I think this should have been a short story collection set in the same world instead because I really do like reading about the various mini cases and historical tidbits but they're just distracting tangents that put a damper ont he actual plot. Also, of all the complaints the worst one I have is this: I CANNOT believe Odette and Felicity didn't get together. Chopra was there for one chapter and shows up at the end just to be a love interest for Felicity even though Odette was right there!! The enemies to friends to lovers!! The Romeo and Juliet of it all!! They went through so much together and in the end they're just gal pals?? I feel robbed.

Malice (Keigo Higashino)

7.5/10 Not the first murder mystery I've read from this author but the first in his Detective Kaga series. As for how it stacks up...not bad. A pretty solid mystery. I didn't particularly enjoy the first person 'journal entry' style but it did help set up the twist in the story. I loved the unreliable narrator set up, especially how you know it's unreliable but it still manages to trick you. This is especially the case for the first confession because you do feel that it wraps everything up so neatly but you're still aware of the amount of pages left in the book so both you (and the detective) are left with a sense of unease. It's a cool structure of you thinking 'oh it's over BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE alright now it's over BUT WAIT!" There's a lot of clues that you think are red herrings until they're not. Spoiler: HONESTLY THE CAT THING I really did go oh of course the victim was like that because he was so mean to the cat, but then the author straight up points out to reader that that's the trick! Unfortunately, despite how interesting I found the structure of the story, the actual murder and motive are a bit lacking. With the amount of planning the culprit went through, the motive felt like a cop out - although I guess you can't complain it didn't have a theme and stick to it. Detective Kaga's own experiences with bullying was a little too helpfully relevant and I found him not as developed or interesting a character as the detective (particularly compared to Detective Galileo). Still, not a bad read and a murder mystery I could easily recommend.

Stories of Your Life and Others (Ted Chiang)

4/10 Wow I did not like this critically acclaimed short story collection. I had high hopes starting it, not just because of the countless great reviews, but because I actually enjoyed the first story: 'Tower of Babylon'. It was a interesting take on a well-known Biblical story and there were a lot of quotes I liked from it. Most importantly I could read through it and it had a plot, things that I felt were sorely lacking from the rest of the stories. A lot of the stories felt like reading academic essays or debates on the subject of choice and while I'm sure the content has a lot of merit it doesn't mean anything to me if I'm just desperately flipping through the pages hoping it ends soon. 'Hell Is the Absence of God' was nice in that it had some really unique world building and somewhat of a plot, but felt like a theological discussion log instead. 'Story of Your Life' also had...something? But it sure didn't feel like a plot to me. It did feel easier to read, aside from the linguistics essay excerpts. I went to read the summary of the movie it was adapted into and at least that felt like it had a plot. I don't know if it was supposed to be implied or it was there and I just completely missed it but either way, I wouldn't have reached that conclusion myself just by reading the story.

Confessions (Kanae Minato)

6.5/10 The book started out strong for me, maybe because it started like the conclusion of a mystery novel. You had the 'detective' giving their summation, pointing out the culprit and how the crime was done...complete with a mic drop of their own. But then it starts getting complicated as the story continues after that and I felt that a lot of the extra information dragged down the story. On one hand, it serves to add shades of grey to every single character but on the other, it's a bit of cliche to reveal that the culprits suffered from childhood trauma. It was interesting how it made the 'detective', the one who suffered most from the crime, into someone of a mixed morality herself. I think I would've liked the book to end the same way it started, with a little ambiguity. I read the summary for the movie adaptation which did go with an unconfirmed ending and I thought that would've been a lot more interesting. It wasn't a bad book but I felt it might have been better.

Questions I Am Asked About the Holocaust (Hedi Fried)

8/10 A really great, easy to understand but straightforwardly moving book about the personal experiences of a Holocaust survivor. The format of a simple Q&A makes it an easy read and while it could be argued that it's a too simplified view of the events, I think it's a good basis upon which further reading could be built on. The personal point of view also led to some information that I might not have expected. Things like how after the war many survivors kept an overstocked fridge because of hunger they experience in the camps, or how some women chose not to have children out of fear that it would happen again. I also enjoyed the forthright way she spoke with quotes like 'I never met an SS soldier who was kind' and in answer to the question 'What was the best?' she replied 'The best? Could anything have been the best? When I got this question, I was confounded. Nothing was good, but there were moments when we could forget where we were and laugh.' I think one of the most striking anecdotes she had was a time when she and another girl managed to smuggle a leaf and a branch from a tree outside into their rooms. Simple snapshots like these really underlined how cruelly sparse the conditions were, how little sense of life and future there was and how people tried to find hope in even the smallest things.

Dreams and Shadows (Robert Cargill)

4.5/10 This book was 741 pages and for the first 500 of them I literally could not care less about any of the characters. It was a weird mix of excerpts from a folklore specialist that introduces whatever fairy or fair folk shows up in the preceding chapters and said chapters of random fairies doing random things to random people. There are a couple of 'main characters' but for the most part I really couldn't care about what they're all doing. It was on the last 30% of the book where the characters are grown up and living in Austin that it takes on the semblance of an actual plot. I did like reading about Colby as a wizard living life amongst the Other Side though Ewan wasn't all that interesting still. It picked up more in the last 10% with the culmination of all the events but it just went all to pieces when it turned out the ending was just......a waste of time. I'd be hard pressed to call an ending where everyone dies and no one strays from their destiny/nature a tragedy when the book told you it was gonna be that way with no inclinations that there might have been hope for a better ending.

Spin the Dawn (Elizabeth Lim)

4.5/10 Look...I wanted to like this book I really did. I love anything vaguely Asian themed and the whole magic seamtress thing is kinda of neat. But this book was so boring. The prologue was boring, it was Mulan inspired in that the heroine dresses up as a boy to take the place of her father to be the palace tailor but that's where the similarities end. The first part was for me the most interesting, taking on various sewing challenges to prove herself to be the best, a bit of court intrigue, stuff like that. But that part's quickly over and instead the story embarks on a generic fantasy quest to find fantasy materials and they experience fantasy dangers etc, etc. She uses her magic sewing abilities literally once during that whole quest. And it's not even very well explained how her magic scissors even work compared to magic needle or thread or something. The romance was also a bit out of nowhere for me. I don't really know at which point the male lead went from 'curious about this crossdresser' to 'having an all consuming love that he would risk his life for her even though he's an enchanter and they're never supposed to fall in love oOoOoO'. It was cute when they did fall in love but there was no steps there. The ending also felt just kind of underwhelming rather than cliff-hanger like. Basically the whole thing was underwhelming.

The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy (Michael Lewis)

8/10 I think the title could've been better without the subtitle because just the 'Fifth Risk' is such a good starter. I love where it comes from, when a civil servant is asked about five possible risks that an employee in his position has to worry about and after listing things like 'nuclear accident' and 'electrical grid' and 'North Korea' his so-called 'fifth risk' is something much more simple and way more dangerous: project management. 'It's what you fail to imagine that kills you.' This book was a great, easy to read, quick but concise delve into the myriad of bureaucratic jobs that no one really thinks about but are nevertheless indispensable for the maintenance of a functioning society and government. It of course focuses on the Trump presidency's new replacements for former Obama appointed employees, and just how terrifyingly ignorant and mismanaged that process was. Although Trump being associated with those two things is nothing new, it is eye opening to read about all the new ways his government manages to prove it. More importantly though, it highlights the unacknowledged facets of the government and paints a clear picture of what they do and why it's so important. The main downside is that it ended kind of abruptly and that reading pieces like these always makes me disappointed they're all US-centric because I'd love to read similarly well done journalism in my local government.

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six going on seven

Read quite a few books this month but...nothing too spectacular unfortunately. Had a lot of 'non fiction books with lots of pictures' going on though.

June Book Reviews

The Rook (Daniel O'Malley)

8.5/10 This book, settings-wise, is kind of similar to "The Atrocity Archives", a book if you recall, is a book I absolutely hated. Both books are about an administrator in a secret organization responsible with dealing with supernatural threats who uncover a deep conspiracy. So while I was intrigued by the premise, I was also a little on guard. Luckily, I need not have worried. This was a great page-turner of a book. Despite the long page count, I went through it in no time at all. I loved reading about the organization, the various paranormal happenings, and getting to the bottom of the mystery. Most of all, I really liked the characters. The protagonist is a woman who wakes up with no memory, with only letters written to her from herself as a guide. As the story went on I found myself actually missing the author of the letters, who effectively 'died' when her memories and personality was erased. I really liked this take on amnesia, as well as the new protagonist finding her new self. Still, there were a couple of parts where I felt the male authorship behind the female protagonist, but it wasn't too bad. A lot of exposition also comes from the letters, which while having a logical reason to do so and is usually interesting to read, is still just straight up infodump. It's literally the blandest way to present information. It's really a test of the story that I still enjoyed reading through everything. A really fun urban fantasy story with a good pace and enjoyable protagonist.

Amazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery (David Attenborough)

6.5/10 This would make a neat gift for someone who's into natural history but otherwise is a pretty boring book. I didn't feel engaged at all reading about the lives of the several artists/scientists involved, which felt more Wikipedia entry than anything. I was disappointed that the majority of the book wasn't actually written by David Attenborough but instead a separate author for the different people featured. There were notes on the flora and fauna that were the subjects of the many natural history art pieces that were by Attenborough and these were probably my favorite parts. I would've loved so more of these notes, which were really just Fun Facts About Nature but really made me feel like I could hear Attenborough's iconic voiceovers. It also helped to give a little life to the subjects themselves and even a little to the artists that would've otherwise have just been well made but meaningless pictures. The only person I bothered to remember was Maria Merian who in her 50s went off to Surinam with her daughter as her only companion just to look at butterflies. She is the originator of the quote that gave the book its title "many amazing rare things which have never been seen before" and is, surprise surprise, the only female naturalist in the book.

Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics (Jason Porath)

6.5/10 This would make a neat gift for someone who is in the teens and tweens but otherwise is a pretty shallow book. I hope you've noticed the similarities between the start of this review and the one above it. Both books are good books with their merits, but I am not the audience for them. This book is pretty clearly targeted towards younger readers, it has a cartoon-ish art style and a casual, more juvenile style of humor, both of which I didn't really like. To its credit, a good chunk of the book features historical female figures that I haven't heard of previously. I had mixed feelings on including myths and folklore together with actual historical figures but it was nice to read about. The entries I suppose are more introductions than anything so you can do more research on the ones that interest you but unfortunately none of them actually made me interested enough to do so. I would've preferred something closer to Broad Strokes, where the subjects are limited as to expand more on their lives and treated with a more personal passion rather than an overall broader 'feminist' tone. Still the scope of this book and its more progressive view on the more mature and moral ambiguity of some of its subjects make it a pretty good book for readers that aren't me.

 A Gathering of Shadows (V. E. Schawb)

4.5/10 OOF. Alright I didn't like this sequel. The first book was such a solid, well-rounded fantasy and this was? What was even the point of this? I got to about half way through the book and I was like wow this is so slow to get started! Then I got to two-thirds through the book and I'm like is this ever going to get started? Then I got to the final chapter and I'm like okay clearly nothing is ever going to happen. Nothing happened other than introducing one new character and just some introspective character studies. It had some plot with White London that went nowhere for most of the book. I felt like this could've been condensed into a couple of chapters - Lila is good at magic, Alucard is the prince's love interest, Kell wants to be free - a couple of points that could've been communicated through a couple scenes, not an entire book. Plus there was a lot more emphasis on love interests in this book. I liked the hint of something between Lila and Kell in the first book but in this book they don't meet for a good 80% of the book but instead spent it thinking about each other like?? I didn't feel like it was that deep! All the great worldbuilding and magic system from the first one was nothing more than fluff. I'm still gonna read the last book but I fully feel like this one could've been skipped.

West (Edith Pattou)

4.5/10 I didn't like it and I didn't hate it. It lost a lot of its appeal for me after the main draw of the first book - the folktale - was left behind for a more traditional fantasy fare. Unfortunately it was pretty bland. I wish that the male hero could've been a little more prominent? It's a request I almost never make but honestly, not sure what the point of having Charles there when he's almost completely ineffectual. Either have him be a side character like in the first one or have him do a lot more than...just be there. I guess the slight angst from the amnesia is alright...Also even the quest that the female protagonist went on this time was just going around in circles. A lot of anti-climatic fights with the villains happen. They go from one locale to the next with no real suspense or intrigue. Such a entirely forgettable book.

The Umbrella Academy (Gerard Way)

4.5/10 This was....interesting. I guess. Honestly, it's not really for me. It's an interesting world, but because it's so out there, being thrown into it with little exposition didn't really help. It jumped all over the place, the characters were barely developed. I had no time to get attached to anybody before stuff happened to them. The plot moved way too quickly. I don't know if that's just the nature of comic books but the Apocalypse Suite felt like a five volume set compressed into one. There was so much happening. I felt like it had a lot of potential, especially with Vanya. Their powers could've used some more demonstration as well. Maybe that's why the Netflix adaptation was so popular? Because the world and set up intrigued me but the pacing was too fast and some of the art style & details put me off. Worth checking out the show maybe? But didn't really like the comic.

Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs (Paul Koudounaris)

5/10 Who would've thought that a book talking about ancient catacombs and skeletons covered in jewels would be boring? And yet, here we are. It was so hard trying to read this book. It was dry as the corpses it was talking about. Maybe it's because I'm not religious or Catholic, but the way they wrote about the history of these skeletons was so cut and paste. Or maybe it's because I'm not academic enough? Either way it's not really a book for the casual, barely interested reader. Still, the pictures are neat and the skeletons look cool so...there's that.

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale (Jane Yolen)

6/10 I've been disappointed by fairy tale retelling compilations time and time again...but I keep coming back. This one was actually pretty okay as things go. Really 'okay' as it had it's ups and downs. I think I actually liked the more original stories more than the ones that were obvious retellings. The usual suspects like Snow White or Little Mermaid or Cinderella, where you could tell immediately which story it was they were using, I didn't like as much. Without a full book to flesh out the characters in their own way, the changes felt cosmetic and shallow. Even with the changes like giving the heroine more agency, ultimately it was still in black and white morality. Rather the ones where the author used elements from lesser known folklore to create a fairy tale of her own were the best. Because the parody wasn't obvious, the writing style she used really shone through as it sounded like a real folk tale, something that could've come straight out of Grimm's own books. My favorites in this style were 'Great Grandfather Dragon's Tale' and 'Godmother Death'. The tone of the book was also all over the place, all of them of varying quality. Some were retellings, some sounded like traditional folk tales, and other's just felt like a regular short story with fantasy elements. 'Mama Gone' was one that I liked but barely felt 'fairy tale' like. There were quite a few Jewish stories which were interesting by themselves, but didn't feel like fairy tales at all. Truly mixed reviews with this one.

Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo)

8/10 A solid action fantasy that's a fun read as long as you don't think about it too hard. It had some really great set-ups, enjoyable scenes, memorable characters and strong story but the devil was in the details. I really liked the characters, but it felt way too weird that they were seventeen-ish. One moment I'd be thinking 'wow they're really cool' then the next moment they'd do something really awkward and I'd be like 'oh right they're like, 17'.  The cognitive dissonance between the more emotional character moments and the more action/plot focused moments really thew me off. I loved reading the latter more, seeing all their skills in action whereas the romances were awkward enough to remind me that I was reading about teenagers. I actually liked the overall set-up more than the actual heist, although there were some character moments in it that I enjoyed as well. There were also other little details like how I felt some of their motives for joining the heist, especially Kaz's, were a little weak, how easy it was to bypass some of the difficulties at the heist and the limits of Grisha powers. Still, as long as I didn't think too hard, it was a great read with good characters and a decent plot.

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may flowers

This is crazy. I read so many books and only two of them were for my book club. And it was overall a really, really good selection too! About 8 of the 11 (!!) books I read were four and five stars! Incredible!

May Book Reviews

Call Them By Their True Names (Rebecca Solnit)

7.5/10 The second collection of essays by this author that I've read. I liked that it covered a pretty broad range of subjects. The foreword was really good and I was slightly disappointed that the subsequent essays didn't have as much to do with the title idea that names have the power to change how something is viewed drastically. Another low point for this were the essays about Donald Trump. Her writing style changes a lot when on the subject of Trump and I don't really like it. Maybe because it sounds more emotional and personal but I think I much prefer her style in other essays. My favorite essays were the case studies, I feel like it was a lot easier to get into than some of the more scholarly (?) pieces. In particular I really liked 'Death by Gentrification'. I liked the points she made about events having ripple effects as well as the importance of audience. 'Preaching to the Choir' was especially great because as I was reading I was thinking that she makes some great points but only people who already agree with her would read this - then I read 'Preaching to the Choir' which was such a timely response. Overall a very relevant and well-written collection.

The Lost City of Z (David Grann)

6.5/10 "On the margins were sea monsters and dragons. For ages, cartographers had no means of knowing what existed on most of the earth. And more often than not these gaps were filled in with fantastical kingdoms and beasts, as if the make-believe, no matter how terrifying, were less frightening than the truly unknown." I couldn't help but compare this to "Lost City of the Monkey God" because well...just look at the titles. Plus they're both about a modern journalist chasing an old mystery in the Amazon. I have to say though, I did like this one more. This book interwove both the modern journalist's PoV as well as that of a Victoriahn-era explorer, which made it for a more interesting read. Still, there were some parts that I thought were really slow going and superfluous. It didn't have many tangents as the Preston book though which I appreciated. I also enjoyed at the focus given to the indigenous groups living in the Amazon. An interesting look at exploration in the early 1900s, with a well-written portrayal of one of its most prominent figures.

How Long 'till Black Future Month? (N. K. Jemisin)

9/10 Despite the less than stylistic title, I loved this collection of short stories. It's in fact one of the few short story collections where, even though there still were a couple that were just alright for me, I really enjoyed the good majority of the stories. I previously read the Fifth Season by the same author and while I liked it, it wasn't a full 5/5. In these short stories though, every part that I did enjoy about that book and her writing were on full display. The characters, which I didn't feel as attached to in the Fifth Season, were just interesting and fleshed out enough to have an impact in a shorter story. But in particular, the author's worldbuilding, which I loved in the Fifth Season, is even more enhanced by the format. The way she doesn't waste time explaining her world but instead builds it up naturally as you go along is one of the best I've ever seen. While the limited length forces it to be more simpler, it's much easier to grasp and it's a testament to her skill that there's an intriguing setting and concept in all of the stories. Even if a story slightly fell short in one or two aspects, the incredible way she treats world building in each and every one of them is amazing. The many LGBT+ and PoC perspectives are really just the cherry on top. My favorites are: "The City Born Great", "Red Dirt Witch", "The Effluent Engine", "The Narcomancer", "Too Many Yesterdays, Not Enough Tomorrows" and "Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters".

The Prince and the Dressmaker (Jen Wang)

8/10 Not much to say about this one honestly, it's just a great graphic novel for young readers. The art style is fluid and easy to follow. The colors are lovely, the characters are realistic. The theme of gender fluidity and coming of age are well represented without being too heavy or complicated. The only complaint would be that I really wish it was longer, if only just so we could get to see more of the author's beautiful dress designs!

Time Travel (James Gleick)

6.5/10 It was really, really hard to give this one a score. The premise seemed interesting enough - a history of time travel as it exists in physics, philosophy and storytelling. What I didn't expect was for the first two categories to outshine the latter. Maybe it was because those parts were so much harder to get through, but it just felt like there was A LOT of physics and math and philosophy. Like, so much philosophy. And they were fairly academic, to the point where I'm sure only someone with a basic foundation in those would actually enjoy reading through those chapters. I am definitely not one of them. I'm an arts kid. Do not make me look at equations. In contrast I felt the most interesting parts, the parts about pop culture specifically, were too brief. There were some works that were given some more attention but most of them leaned towards the historical rather than the present mainstream. The part I was most looking forward to, the Doctor Who references, was little more than one sentence references and a short recap of one episode with little discussion actually about it. But despite my struggle to get through what felt like 2/3rds of the book, I do feel like it has a lot of merit, especially for those who are more academically inclined. It had a lot of great concepts, like the fact that time travel wasn't even a concept until relatively recently because it was only through industrialization that our societies progressed fast enough to see massive changes within a single generation. It has a lot of great quotes, a lot of good things to think about so I think objectively, it's a good book. But, probably not the best one for me.

Truly Devious (Maureen Johnson)

8/10 A pretty solid YA mystery! It did take me a while to actually get invested in the protagonist and her side of the story, but once I did I really enjoyed it. The book is written in two timelines, one mystery from the 1930s and the second in modern day. The protagonist is kind of the typical YA novel lead, she's "quirky" in that she has "strange" interests in true crime and is obsessed with murder mysteries and wants to be Sherlock Holmes. Like alright, literally no one thinks that's weird but in true YA fashion her parents just want a sporty prom princess and she feels isolated until she gets to her new school full of genius weirdos just like her! So yeah for the good first half of the story I was more interested in the 1930s mystery than whatever was going on with her daily school drama. But once the mystery of the present day actually happened, I was a lot more into it. By the end of it, I was even entertained by her love interest side plot! So yeah, it had a rough start but hooked me in the end. The worst part was that it ended on a cliffhanger which solved pretty much neither mystery so...

The Vanishing Stair (Maureen Johnson)

8/10 ...I pretty much immediately picked up the sequel. You can't just end a mystery without revealing anything! Thanks to the first book eventually successfully getting me in, I was really eager to find some resolutions in this one. And at least there was one...for the 1930s mystery. But unfortunately it ended on ANOTHER cliffhanger and it looks like we won't know all the answers until the final book comes out in 2020. While cliffhangers are good for maintaining interest, it made me give up on any type of thinking I was doing in the first book in trying to figure out the mystery. It's too much of a pain to try and track a solution through three books, one of which isn't even out. Still, the mystery kept me interested throughout this one and there's still a bit of will they or won't they for the love interest that I didn't mind. For both books, the LGBT+ and anxiety representation are also part of the perk. I'll definitely be reading the final book once it comes out.

American Kingpin (Nick Bilton)

6/10 A true crime book about 'Dread Pirate Roberts', creator of a site on the Dark Web selling drugs called the Silk Road. I previously heard about it briefly on an NPR podcast but this book really went into details. Like, almost too many details. It wrote more like a character driven story, with POVs from both DPR side and the police side. Overall, it was a pretty interesting story but the writing felt a bit too cliched. There wasn't any really great standout thriller moments and I really didn't like how the author would end like every other chapter with some dramatic cliffhanger. I think I made a similar complaint once about another book but when your chapters keep ending with stuff like 'little did they know...these days would be their LAST' it just takes the tension out of it. I'm also kind of cautious about how they chose to write from the subject's POV when the subject himself never gave an interview or had any input in writing it. Still, the events themselves were engaging enough to read about, even if the writing wasn't the most inspired.

Everything I Never Told You (Celeste Ng)

7.5/10 I had high expectations for this because I loved 'Little Fires Everywhere' but this one wasn't quite up to par. I did like the themes it was addressing, which were similar to that other book: parental expectations, racial disparities, complicated family life, etc. But this one wasn't quite as grounded, with a nonlinear style of storytelling that, while never confusing, failed to give me the same connection with the characters. It could also be the historical setting, which lent weight to the interracial marriage issues, but obviously didn't have the same gravity to me as issues in the present day. I also felt that the characters were a bit one-note, being defined solely by one aspect that they didn't feel as fleshed out. Despite the short length, a lot of it was really just repeating the same problems over and over. There was also a few major misunderstandings which I understand can be realistic but is still frustrating to read. The old 'you could've just solved this by talking to each other'. Other issues I felt was a bit too easily solved, like the mother realizing her daughter's true motivation just by finding a cookbook? It was all just a bit too removed for me. Still, there were emotional moments and its themes, while a bit heavy-handed, still resonate today.

East (Edith Pattou)

7/10 This was one of the books that I loved when I was younger and although I only had the vaguest memory of it I remembered enough to find it by googling 'a prince who's a bear and a girl washes wax'. It's a re-telling of a Norwegian folktale called 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon' which is already super poetic and I love it. Upon re-reading though...it wasn't as quite good as I hoped it was. For one, it's really, really long. For a YA book, it might not be that bad, but I don't feel like its difficulty is really up to YA levels either. It's in a weird place. The plot and its character are relatively simple and a lot of its length seems to be padding. The parts that were added in to flesh out the re-telling didn't really add anything to change it so I wish they could've trimmed it down and just stuck to a straight re-telling. It's weird because the book does span a few long periods of time but most of it was shortened by saying 'it was hard at first but [the heroine] soon got used to it' or something along those lines. The book was in multiple POVs which could've been interesting but two of them, Father & Neddy's. wasn't really all that necessary. They didn't do much beyond the first part. In comparison, the male lead, the White Bear, didn't even get that much page-time. Still, the fun of the original folktale is one of its strengths and it does a good job in translating that to a modern story, even if there's a bit of padding. The characters are likable, if not terribly distinctive. There a lot of potential here and at least it did make such a lasting impression on me.

Becoming (Michelle Obama)

9.5/10 I've always liked the Obamas, but as a non-American, I never really bothered too much to follow along with the politics and news so I was never a 'fan' of them in the same way I'd be a fan of a movie star or singer. But after reading this amazing biography and immediately searching up interview clips of the Obamas afterwards, I can say that's somewhat changed. I loved this book. Despite the fact that I looked at the 900 ebook page count and kind of balked, and despite the large chunk dedicated to her early life, I never felt bored reading it. She writes her story in a way that's so incredibly human and kind that you can't help but be moved. She's so educated and qualified and dignified in so many ways and writes about her husband in the same light that even as a non-American I feel like they were lucky to have them as the First Family. Her relationship with the people in her life, especially her husband, was so sweet and personal - I could've read a hundred more anecdotes. Even the way she writes about political opponents or the disappointment of the 2016 election, she does it in a way that never feels mean but rather emphatic and hopeful. Honestly, what an icon. It was a pleasure to read, and if I had one complaint, it'd be that I wish the parts about her time as First Lady was even longer. "Life was teaching me that progress and change happen slowly. Not in two years, four years, or even a lifetime. We were planting seeds of change, the fruit of which we might never see."

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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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have an indifferent new year

So, it's not exactly off to a great start. The best book I read was one about funerals so as far as indications on how the new year will go, on a scale of one to ravens cawing under a blood moon, I'd give it a finding the Grim in your tea leaves.

January Book Reviews

Sleeping Beauties (Stephen King, Owen King)

4.5/10 This is the first Stephen King book I read and it's probably an understatement to say it wasn't the best first impression. The premise sounded like it had potential: a mysterious illness turns women into cocoons after falling asleep, if disturbed from their rest they become inhumanly violent and while they rest they are transported to another place. So it sounds good! A disease that affects only women allows a chance to explore important gender issues and societal dynamics! The inhuman violence sounds like a good taste of the horror that King is so well known for! Oooh transported to another place has a hint of sci-fi and mystery as well! Unfortunately not only did I not think any of those were done well, even if they were I think it would've been bogged down by the mind-numbingly boring amount of filler this book has. It was an absolute slog trying to get through this book. First of all, while I'm understanding that King usually focuses his story in small towns in America, the implications of the illness are so large that I feel somehow cheated of a better story by only showing the effects of it in this random US town.

AND imagine my eye roll when it turns out that the mysterious figure responsible for all this somehow decided that this one town is the decider for the fate of women ALL OVER THE WORLD????????????? Can you be more American-centric??

Then, as if to make up for the constricted setting, the book decides to introduce apparently all 100 something people living in the town. People keep getting introduced even halfway through the book and I stopped caring somewhere around the first 30 pages. Then the highlight of the book, the look at gender issues, was so heavy handed that it lost all believable nuance. Like wow, men angry monkey brain, women group motherly brain. Any male characters that aren't total creeps are bland as bread, including the so-called hero we're supposed to be cheering on. Not even the supposed genre tag helped. There was nothing horrific about this book, not the exaggerated violence at least. The most tense I felt the entire time was probably trying to finish it before my library hold was up.

Also hoooly shit the ending was so bad. Like listen, introducing some mysterious godlike entity named Eve as the cause of all this fine. It might have worked better if there was no real reason but I digress. But giving her the oddest mix of motive and powers and personality? One second she's basically god, the next she has rules to her power (Like they get drained or something???) And adding in some weird animal/nature thing like what does that have to do with women?? THEN the ultimate insult having the whole thing be resolved by some bland white psychiatrist convince her to save some other random dude because he's what?? volunteers on the weekend??? is a "good guy"??? I hate this ending so much I can't believe I pushed to finish all 1400 some pages just for this ending.

Fool (Christopher Moore)

4.5/10 So. Apparently this book is supposed to be comedy but I didn't laugh even once while reading it. Like there were some parts I thought was pretty witty? 'There's always a bloody ghost'. I like that kind of self-referencing, fourth wall kind of in-joke. Unfortunately for me, most of this book's humour seemed to be based on just dirty jokes and....that's pretty much it. It won't stop describing people's naked bodies or how clearly ready for sex most of the women are (except for the main love interest because OF COURSE SHE'S GOTTA BE PURE). Like I guess it's supposed to be outrageous, raunchy humour? And I'm just not a fan. But even if I were into sex jokes and making every woman a whore, I don't even like the actual plot. So it drew me in because it was supposed to be a retelling of King Lear from the Fool's perspective. It's a fantastic story and I loved the idea of telling it from the Fool's point of view given that he's one of the very few people who survive the play. But this book made Fool less of a wry, meta commentator and more of a traditional protagonist. He's the one who sets the play's events in motion! He gets with all the women! He's a jester but gets to take down the nobles! It just loses the novelty of the idea that got me interested in the first place.

So not only is the ghost his past lover or whatever, she's also his current love interest's mom?? He's secretly the brother of the king??? He finds some random witches borrowed from Macbeth who give him this drug that makes the evil sisters into him?? He gives the idea for the sisters to turn against the king but it's okay because they were all dicks and bitches anyway??? Cordelia doesn't die instead she becomes queen of France and starts a war against England just so she can come back to him and marry him because she's been in love with this literal clown since she was little?????????????? He becomes king of like four countries or something?????? I hate this.

I will give it this, I like how it combined Shakespeare's iambic meter, ye olde English with modern ways of speech. It was mixed together organically and didn't feel off and I enjoyed the originality of its writing even if I hated its contents.

From Here to Eternity:Traveling the World to Find the Good Death (Caitlin Doughty)

8/10 This was a really interesting book to read! The author, the director of a funeral home, travels around the world as well as within the states to look at different ceremonies for the dead. It was fairly short, so not really comprehensive, but I enjoyed the size of it. It offered a good variety of different cultural practices while still feeling just long enough for it not to get overwhelming. I also liked how the author lent her expertise in standard American funeral processes as a comparison especially since it's not common knowledge. The comparisons included both the technical details (e.g. cremation vs burials) as well as more philosophical questions (i.e. how we treat the dead, the topic of death in different cultures). Not only was this entertainingly informative, but it also gives us food for thought on a topic relevant to us all.

The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror (Mallory Ortberg)

4.5/10 Listen, I'm not being lazy when I keep giving the same score to all these books. I just genuinely don't care for them. This book was promised as a dark re-telling of familiar fairy tales which of course, I'm always interested in. The subtitle being 'Tales of Everyday Horror' was interesting in its use of 'everyday'. But what the book gave me was stories that weren't fantastical enough to be engaging and not everyday enough to be sinister. The endings are often abrupt, leaving me with less a sense of tension than a sense of confusion. There wasn't a purpose, just a meandering sort of mix of whatever the stories are inspired from (which judging from the footnotes, is really just a complicated clutter of everything from the actual fairy tales themselves to Shakespeare and the Bible). The story I liked the most was probably 'The Six Boy-Coffins' and really only because that one was the most faithful, and followed the format of an actual story. I also kind of enjoyed 'Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters'; the idea of a sensible mom in a fairy tale who knows that her son is getting tricked by a mermaid wanting to drown him has some pretty good potential. But of course, that's just potential.You know, sometimes a lot of stories seem to follow a similar structure, like having an introduction, rising and falling action, a climax etc. Don't you feel like there's a reason for that? Trying something new is all well and good but...let's just say Rome wasn't built in a day.
Also the author uses a lot of gendered names with opposite gender pronouns, e.g. Paul is the name of the 'daughter' in a retelling of Cinderella, the youngest daughter in the story of the Frog Prince is referred to as 'he', etc. Honestly, I can't really think of a real reason why this is? If the author was trying to make some kind of commentary on gender roles in folklore, I don't think just changing around the words made any kind of point. The only thing they served to do was to distract me. So really, in summary: this book didn't make me scared, it just made me confused.

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summer homework

Ah yes the Sunday of summer, it's only fitting that I only somehow read the last three books in like a week.

August Book Reviews

The Dead Husband Project (Sarah Meehan Sirk)

5.5/10 Another series of short stories, although I liked this one more than The Dark and Other Love Stories. The titular short story was probably my favorite and the one that made the most impression on me. I really liked how the whole thing played out. For the other stories, the ambiguity of many of them were interesting. Some were just vague enough to be intriguing but others just pushed it to confusing. I'd say my other favorites would be 'Ozk', 'Inters ection' and 'Moonman'. Overall, I feel that while I did like reading it, especially because of the easiness of consuming short pieces, I don't really feel like you would miss out on anything major if you didn't read this.

Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

7.5/10 I really loved the Laika movie based off this book and happened to pick this one up and I'm glad to say I wasn't disappointed! I love the classic fairy tale vibe of the story, less Disney princess and more Hansel and Gretel. Think deep dark woods and cautionary tales. I really loved Coraline's character and I actually really loved the cat too (to no one's surprise). It's a short novella, but it's perfect for kids. I also liked it because it made me appreciate the movie a lot more too. The stylistic choices were super on point, and I even liked some of the changes they added in. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for just a bit of dark fantasy.

Soundless (Richelle Mead)

5/10 It was average at best. I've seen fanfiction that are about this quality, with no disrespect to fanfiction at all. The setting is at least somewhat different and the premise sounded great but the story took far too long into getting into the real action. The idea that everyone in this isolated village is deaf and one day this girl suddenly hears sound for the first time is intriguing but the explanation as to why was a weird mix of science and fantasy that seemed at odds at each other. The resolution of the story seemed a bit deus ex machina and many actual problems weren't completely resolved or seemed rushed through. I might as well have read fanfiction, at least they'd have characters I'm already invested in.

A Tale for the Time Being (Ruth Ozeki)

9/10 "If you do decide to read on, then guess what? You're my kind of time being and together we'll make magic!" It was a story that slowly eased you in but once inside, it seems almost impossible to put down. Interweaving two POVs yet the switch is seamless. The length and style is just engaging enough that you pick up the two threads without a stutter. I absolutely loved the way they talked about themes of philosophy, death and time without seeming overly pretentious or forced.  I cared about both timelines — both Ruth's drifting, isolated existence and Nao's battered, crowded fate. There was just enough mystery and a hint of the supernatural that made it intriguing without losing the sense of realism to either of their stories. The little details about both of their lives grounded them but the larger story lifted them into something bigger. A tale for not only the time being, but the time to come as well.

The Mars Room (Rachel Kushner)

2.5/10 A story centered around lives in California prisons, this failed to meet expectations. While it certainly seems that the author did her research while writing this piece, I felt like that research would've been better served by a different kind of writing style, or even a nonfiction book instead. The themes and topics it concerns is undoubtedly important: the state of incarceration in the United States, morality and the justice system, transphobia and gender issues in prison. Yet this book fails to deliver the due gravitas to any of them, due to its nonlinear timeline, shifting perspectives, multiple POVs, and stream of consciousness style of writing. None of the characters failed to capture my attention, and the fictional element made it seem like the darker themes were gritty for the sake of being gritty rather than a reflection on some of the realities of imprisonment. It was hard to get through not because it was depressing, but because it was boring. It had potential, but ultimately went nowhere.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon)

6.5/10 I can see why this book would be assigned reading. The writing style, done in the point of view of its autistic protagonist, didn't feel forced or theatrical at all. Every thought and action felt natural and logical when seen in the protagonist perspective, a feat that should be appreciated. I also enjoyed the dynamics of the family, managing to portray the complex factors involved in a family whose child is autistic. More importantly, it kept both parents as flawed, human characters. There was no clear choice, at least from our understanding, which parent is better and that in turn made the characters seem more real. However, while it is a good book and I can see the value of it, I wouldn't say I loved reading it. The ending felt a little rushed but overall it's just not my type of book. Still, I'm glad I did read it.

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summertime sadness

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.

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fourshadowing

I've all but abandoned every other monthly goal except for this one so fingers crossed

April Book Reviews

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories (HP Lovecraft)

6/10 GODDAMN this was hard to get through. Not necessarily because it was bad, but just the dated tone combined with his own writing style made it difficult to process all the information. This was the first book this year that I had to renew to be able to finish it. Overall, because most of his stories are first hand accounts of events that happened in the past, the tense over the protagonists' survival is pretty much lost. A lot of the horror still feels informed, like it might we that we're too used to images of Cthulhu but reading about characters freaking out and tripping balls then having it described as a squid dragon...doesn't really have the intended effect. My favorite parts are the world building and the horror of humanity rather than the unknown. My least favorite is the dumb curiosity killed the cat characters and, you know, the racism. But I'm gonna get my library card's worth and review every single goddamn eldritch story. (italics are my reccs)
Dagon: Unremarkable, the usual Lovecraft setup, only notable in a footnote that informs us how much Lovecraft hated the smell of fish. 4/10
The Statement of Randolph Carter: I actually really liked the stinger line at the end, that was pretty great. 6/10
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family: Again, the ending was kinda cool, but the intro took way too long to get there. 4.5/10
Celephais: Interesting in that the horror element is missing, had some cool world building in this one but not much plot. 4.5/10
Nyarlathotep: I didn't know dude was Egyptian. 3/10
The Picture in the House: I just find it funny how he writes the 'reveal twist' sentence in italics every time like it's meant to surprise us but we've already seen it coming a mile away. 3/10
The Outsider: A different concept, even if it is, again, one we saw coming. 4.5/10
Herbert West-Reanimator: A longer story of connected events and it pays off. Even if you question why at the end of each story the narrator reaffirms how aghast he is, he keeps showing up in the next one - like get out man. 7.5/10
The Hound: Another story about how white man's inability to resist shiny things destroys us all. 4/10
The Rats in the Walls: An actual bit of ghoulishness in the reveal (because of course, people are the real monsters) and a great ending. 7/10
The Festival: All I can think of is people riding crocodiles. 3/10
He: That sure is him alright. Unremarkable aside from all the racism, which at this point is overt in enough of his stories that it too is pretty much unremarkable. 4/10
Cool Air: While it was pretty obvious from the start, it was decent and at least memorable for the different concept it used. 5/10
The Call of Cthulhu: The titular story and while it didn't blow my mind, it was solid. It also has my favorite line: "The stars were right again, and what an age-old cult had failed to do by design, a band of innocent sailors had done by accident." 7/10
The Color Out of Space: An overall enjoyable read, and I liked that there wasn't too much description of the eldritch horror in this one but did drag on a bit. 5/10
The Whisperer in Darkness: It was good but I felt like it had potential to be greater. First of all, hard to take monsters seriously when you start describing them as crabs. Second of all, protagonist is dumb af and seriously is so blind to any sense of horror convention that it could only be a middle class white guy. Third, the concept of monsters mimicking humans and having human allies is pretty unique among his stories but I felt like it didn't take full advantage of it. Still, 7/10
The Shadow Over Innsmouth: A scene with actual tension takes place in this one, incredible. The origin story was pretty interesting to read too. 6/10
The Haunter of the Dark: Unremarkable, typical Lovecraft set up, typical white guy screwing over everyone else because he has too much free time on his hands.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Alan Bradley)

7.5/10 A solid, fun mystery novel!  The main character can sometimes be a little annoying as a precocious pre-teen brat, but the brilliance is that that's exactly what she is! An 11 year old written so that she really feels like one, aside from her prodigious interest in chemistry. She makes mistakes and takes actions that feel expected from an 11 year old. The story and plot, especially with a subject as seemingly dull as stamps, kept things rolling and made me invested in what happens next. The ending was a little predictable, but what led up to it was fun to follow as the protagonist connected the dots between all the clues we were given in the beginning.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Rachel Joyce)

7/10 I have the feeling that this is a 'good' book but it's not really for me. The main character is an old man who reflects on his life as he walks on the titular pilgrimage. There are themes of regret, the passing of time, missed opportunities, different kinds of love and how they change. It's well written, but I feel that these are things that you can really appreciate a lot more if you've gone through lots of experiences already. I enjoyed how they wrote the point of view from the wife's perspective a lot. Overall, it's not a book that changed my life but it's one I can see changing others'.

Homegoing (Yaa Gyasi)

9.5/10 What an experience to read this. The book begins with two sisters separated by colonialism, one who stayed in her home in Ghana and one sold into slavery. As they continue to follow generations of that split, it takes us through decades of history on two different continents. Although the main character of each generation only takes the spotlight for the length of a short story, you can really feel that each of them has a story to tell worth listening to. Not every story has a happy ending or really even an ending, but that's what makes it feel like the stories of real people. Even with those brief looks, the impacts of colonialism, history of slavery and institutional racism on two different continents are brilliantly portrayed. It's not something that you feel the book is preaching to you either, rather, like real life, it's something in the background that you only connect to those issues if you have an understanding of them. Above all, the constant theme of family both ancestral and domestic is something anyone can relate to. This novel was a journey in very sense of the word and one I recommend anyone to take.

Educated (Tara Westover)

7.5/10 This was a fairly interesting book to read in many ways. I compared it a lot with Hillbilly Elegy as both books are focused on children growing up in isolated, rural areas who go on to higher education at prestigious schools. There are lots of differences of course, especially religion and upbringing, but I did end up enjoying this one more. Although there were some points where I wanted more empirical explanations or scientific studies of economics and mental illnesses like the ones in Hillbilly Elegy, I realized that by not having them made the story seem more human. Most of all I liked that the book didn't even slightly try to generalize her story and it was much more emotional and introspective. It also benefited from not being solely centered on the American culture & experience like Hillbilly was. Still, I think this book is better served if treated like a fiction novel rather than a nonfiction memoir, as it loses its realism for its humanity. It also suffers from parts that seem to repeat and events that are similar to each other but don't seem to have too much of an impact. Of course the repetitive and disjointed events are reflective of memories, and we feel manage to feel the progress or lack of it that much more because of it. It's not quite a streamlined narrative to be a fully fleshed out fiction but too full of logical holes to be a satisfying nonfiction. But again, a world that seems so far removed from the norm is a pretty fascinating read and I enjoyed it.

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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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on a roll

Wow two whole months of reading look at me go

February Book Reviews

Three Dark Crowns (Kendare Blake)

8/10 My first book for February and it was a solid YA fantasy novel! Consider me pleasantly surprised. I haven't really enjoyed YA Fantasy since I was in high school so I guess you could say they really know their target audience. When most plots are 'girl discovers she's the one, gets involved in drama (usually involving royalty), and there's at least two guys who fight over her', I can get pretty cynical. But the premise for this one starts out with three queens with different powers who have to fight for one throne. So I thought that well, the worst case scenario is that 'three girls discovers she's the one' and it'll still be a step up from the usual. Plus the cover looked nice. And luckily it was better than the worst case scenario! All three girls are equal protagonists with fleshed out personalities and characteristics. Their powers and backgrounds are varied enough to make it interesting, including the secondary characters around them. I wasn't even that bothered by the romance, which they didn't make integral to the plot. My favourite thing was that the book never presented you with a clear candidate to root for, and it made the book worth reading. Of course it's a YA fantasy novel so of course they have sequels (ugh), but fortunately the ending hooks weren't too 'cliffhanger' and good enough that I felt satisfied reading it. Overall a solid read, although perhaps I'd still only recommend it to people who enjoy YA fantasy or at least, people who once did.

It almost doesn't matter what happened in the beginning because Katherine's ending blew it out of the water like HOT DAMN GIRL. Crawling back from literally hell with her teeth clenched and fingernails broken, I love it. "I want my crown, and then I want my revenge." I LOVE IT. Can't say the same for Arsinoe, who was my least favourite (not that I hated her or anything), whose ending had a out of nowhere reveal that secretly she had a power all along. What kind of cliche?? Although in hindsight her name should've been a dead giveaway. It's literally like a letter away from arsenic. Mirabella I really like as well and I'm rooting for her bringing her sisters around. Rooting for that OT3 end!!

One Dark Throne (Kendare Blake)

5/10 It took everything I liked about the first book and abandoned it pretty much. It focused more on the romance, A LOT MORE, and Katherine's deal was kind of complicated and instead of the unique approach of fleshing out each of the three protagonists, it became more of a straightfoward linear story. It also focused a lot on one particular side character and while I feel the kind of 'plot twist' they have going for her, it really wasn't what I picked up this book to read about. It basically just became another average YA fantasy novel; with girls discovering she has a long lost power, guys fighting over girls...etc. Is it better because it's spread out amongst three (four?) characters? Eh, not to me. It's not bad, but it's not mindblowing. Instead of being pleasantly surprised at a refreshing take on a genre I previously considered stale and cliche, it just reinforced my prejudice.

ALSO they took my favourite thing, Katherine as hell personified and revenge deified, and MADE IT A BAD THING!! Like no!!! They were all like oh its some evil spirits possessing her and her boyfriend was totally not being evil by pushing her into a pit because that's how they were ~*raised*~ like shut up!!! And they made Arsinoe a bigger character but her character is just not unlikeable. Then the hope I had of Mirabella's sweetness managing to band the sisters together to take down the world together was......not realized. Of course making the 'real' heroine be some side character, sure that's a bold move but she's not even that compelling of a character. NOT TO mention the new side character's power is some ooh ancient power that hasn't been used in forever oooh. Ugh.

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House (Alyssa Mastromonaco)

3/10 A long-winded title and a long-winded book. I really did not enjoy this book. It may sound mean, but just reading through the first chapter and...it just sounds like a white lady wrote this. And not in a good way. I can't pin down anything specific but I disliked the author not even halfway through the book. Once again, I go back to expectations vs reality when it comes to books. I picked it up hoping it would be a thoughtful and interesting look into what it's like working closely to President Obama on Capitol Hill. Instead what I got was pages of the life and detailed health issues of some lady I've never heard of with some stories of the president in between. It really sounds mean, but I seriously do not care. I didn't come here for her biography, although I'm sure she feels like this is her biography. There's literally a chapter titled "Some Personal Shit You Should Probably Know". No, I really don't. And certainly, as woman working in a male dominated space, there should be plenty of surprising stories - or at least some that'd make you go 'hey I didn't think of that.' But other than some stuff about tampons, there really wasn't anything that jumped out at me. The only thing I took away from the book was like man I sure wish Obama was still the POTUS and I'm not even American.

The Mistletoe Murders and Other Stories (P.D. James)

6.5/10 It delivered on what was promised: short murder stories styled after the classic authors of the Golden Age of Mystery. Although none were particularly outstanding or memorable, each was pretty solid and made for a fun read. There were a couple stories that seemed more open-ended than I'd liked but on a whole I was pretty satisfied. I got what I came for. I'd recommend this book for anyone looking for a tasty bite-sized mystery. It's nothing too suspenseful, plot filled, or action-packed. I think the book's own closing remark summed it up best: "My dear Aunt Jane, I don't think I'll ever have another case like it. It was pure Agatha Christie."

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (J.D. Vance)

6/10 A fairly interesting and dramatic portrayal of the author's life growing up in the working class white families of America's Rust Belt. The author takes derogatory terms like 'hillbilly', 'redneck' and 'white trash' and not only illustrates their nuances but also wears them like pride. Through the retelling of his childhood growing up in Middle America, he examines the social, economic and cultural changes happening in the not insignificant portion of the population living there. Although I felt removed, again due to it being set in America with heavy emphasis on American culture, it was a thought provoking look into a vastly different way of life. However, I also felt that because his experience is so deeply personal, he tends to lean too heavily on the idea that many of the poor are poor because they choose to be. He repeats a dangerous rhetoric without fully fleshing out both sides of the argument but at the same time generalizing his experiences as a representative of his particular culture. It feels ultimately one-sided. Still, it's an absorbing read, with a dysfunctional family and a narrative about moving through class barriers to the top. But I think it's a good idea to keep in mind that it's not without its flaws and it is only one story out of countless others.

Norse Mythology (Neil Gaiman)

7/10 On the surface, this feels like a very basic introduction to Norse mythology. The major players are present and the most famous stories are included, or as many as possible in less than 300 pages. The stories are written very simply, without the typical gravitas or fantastical language usually reserved for myths and legends. There's parts of the dialogue that even sound modern, usually for comedic effect ("Thor, shut up"). I feel like it's a very good book for kids to read as their first look at Norse mythology. But despite the simplicity of it, there were certain lines and certain parts that stood out to me. I especially enjoyed the references to Ragnarok the most and they stuck with me the most. To quote the author himself, "It was the fact that the world and the story ends, and the way that it ends and is reborn, that made the gods and the frost giants and the rest of them tragic heroes, tragic villains."
Also, if you're a fan of Marvel's Thor movies, you'll probably enjoy the way Thor and Loki are written here. The uncomplicated writing style makes the characters seem very human, and it's not hard imagining Marvel's Loki and Thor in many of their exchanges like this one: “'I hope you know what you are doing.' 'Of course I do,' said Thor. But he didn’t. He was just doing whatever he felt like doing. That was what Thor did best."

Dear Ijeawele, Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)

6.5/10 A basic but solid introduction to feminist ideas. It doesn't go too in-depth, which I mean, what do you expect from 80 small pages? But it has some pretty good ideas for not just being feminist but generally a good human being. It's nothing too mindblowing, but I'd recommend it for people who are raising children themselves which is the premise of the book. If parents could keep some of these ideas in mind while teaching their daughters or sons, it probably wouldn't hurt.

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