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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lots of love

February is truly a month full of love, surprisingly! After the bleak prospects of January I was all set for another year of 'okay' reads but most of the books I read this month were solid, enjoyable reads! Ironic though, that the only romance book I read had the lowest rating.

February Book Reviews

The Fifth Season (N.K. Jemisin)

8.5/10 I'll be honest, this book took some time to get into for me. The first quarter or so had me struggling just to understand what was going on. Granted, a part of it is attributed to the incredible world building in its setting. It's full of different terms, societies, geography, and of course, powers. The author doesn't take her time trying to explain anything, instead throwing you right in the middle. To make things more complicated, the book tells three different stories in different timelines, and tells it to you in two points of view: third and second person. Interestingly, the lack of a narrative explanation helps make the setting feel more organic and natural. The downside is that it does take most of the story to get used to. I also didn't mind the second person style of narration, I appreciated that it was doing something different. The story itself I also really enjoyed, with its themes on racism and slavery, as well as a diversity in sexuality and race. It had a hint of sci-fi as well which built on a mystery surrounding the history of the land. The main plot focused on telling the story of the female leads, and while I thought it was interesting, I didn't really feel super attached to any of the characters. Still, I did enjoy reading it and discovering the world and seeing what happens next. I liked the characters, even if I wasn't super emotionally invested in them I did want to root for them. Overall a solid, well written fantasy book!

I'll Be Gone in the Dark (Michelle McNamara)

8.5/10 "He loses his power when we know his face." I haven't really read a lot of true crime, so I'm not sure how it stacks up as a representative in that genre. For me, there were some parts of the point that lost me in its detail and disjointed narrative. There were multiple names for the GSK, and the author also sometimes referred to other cases that he wasn't responsible for and I couldn't keep up. It also tended to jump around in time, sometimes going to the author's past, then to the present investigation, then to casework done 30, 40 years ago. Still, the amount of detail in this book really showed just how invested and thorough the author was. The parts where she describes the GSK's crimes were unnervingly gripping in its telling, made especially so because it's a piece of nonfiction. I think a big part of what makes this book is the context of it all. Knowing not only those things could happen, but that they did happen. That they affected real people; the victims, the community, the detectives both professional and amateur. Most of all, what had the biggest impression on me was the letter she wrote to the killer at the very end of the book and knowing that he was finally caught: "Open the door. Show us your face. Walk into the light."

Crazy Rich Asians (Kevin Kwan)

4.5/10 You know how for most movie adaptations people always claim the book is better? Not in this case. The movie did a really great job of having a well rounded story line with a proper (if predictable) arc, whereas the book ends and I'm kind of like 'so basically nothing was solved'. Honestly? It makes sense. Rachel breaks up with Nick because she wants to have a family that loves each other and it's a reasonable expectation! The book wrote about the rich families in so much detail and was so much more exaggerated than the movie that I genuinely don't see how they'll resolve the issue because it just kept reinforcing what a whole different society it was. If it ends up being something like 'oh she was just so nice she changed his entire family's minds rooted in centuries of tradition and social norms' I'm gonna flip. Also another thing the movie did well was make the characters actually likable. There are really problems with all of the characters in this (except maybe Peik Lin), and even Astrid didn't have the same satisfying conclusion. Rachel and Nick's chemistry was basically told instead of shown to us and I really wish male characters like Nick and Charlie would stop thinking about how pretty their love interests are. Like when Astrid and Rachel are crying their POV is always about how they hate to see tears on their faces. I could honestly go on but I really didn't enjoy this book very much. I did enjoy the name dropping of various brands and imagining the lavish lifestyles, but wish I had the visuals to match them up. Overall, a shallow quick read that's okay for passing the time but ultimately left me feeling satisfied.

Men Explain Things to Me (Rebbecca Solnit)

8/10 "What doesn't go back in [Pandora's] jar, or the box, are ideas. And revolutions are, most of all, made up of ideas." Finally, a feminist essay collection that I really enjoyed. It had just the right mix of anecdotal but broad, topical but with examples from history. It also included themes of gender equality and toxic masculinity, as well as LGBTQ+. The only part I didn't like was the chapter on Virginia Woolf. It was a bit too literary and long-winded for me and I struggled keeping my attention while reading through it. I'm always cautious about over-idolizing historical figures and I wasn't very familiar with Woolf either so that part was a bit boring. I also didn't feel like there was a lot of focus on POCs, but I also didn't get a vibe (as I did from "Text Me When You Get Home") that it was overly focused solely on the white female experience. I mostly really enjoyed that it had a right mix of optimism and realism, it felt like the author had a good grasp on today's reality. It's a good, short read that's a helpful overview of feminism today. "Here is that road, maybe a thousand miles long, and the woman walking down it isn't at mile one. I don't know how far she has to go, but I know she's not going backward, despite it all - and she's not walking alone."

Muse of Nightmares (Laini Taylor)

7.5/10 Finally....a sequel to a YA novel that I didn't completely hate. Sure I also didn't like it as much as the first one, but just the fact that I enjoyed it at all is amazing. There's some more worldbuilding in this one and I have mixed feelings on what they introduced.

The whole Kora/Nova thing as well as the multiple dimension reveal was a bit out of the left field for me. I did enjoy reading their parts but for most of the book they seemed to take away from the main action. Also it seemed a bit easy that the major Mesatharim vs the human thing was solved because a third, bigger threat was introduced. Not to mention Sparrow's literal gamebreaking powers of healing. Still, props to its ending because: Kora being the first thing Lazlo saw when the delegation first arrived? Kora's final words to her sister? The crew forming a group and going on adventures across the worlds? ADORABLE. IDK ABOUT LOGIC I'LL STAN THIS FAMILY FOREVER.

The parts I liked least was again, probably Lazlo and Sarai's romance, which is so over the top soulmate-y that I want to roll my eyes. Still, I really enjoyed seeing the development of the rest of the characters and the focus on Sarai. Her role in resolving some of the big conflicts really helped push her character in the forefront. I was disappointed the reaction from Lazlo's friends was so brief, but the interactions between the different groups when they finally meet were great. It just took way too long to get there. Some things I felt like could be taken as a hand-wave or too easy to resolve, but honestly for me I didn't mind at all. I really liked the ending, both the final confrontation and the feel good epilogue. There are definitely shortcomings, but overall I had a surprisingly pleasant reading experience.

A Darker Shade of Magic (V. E. Schwab)

8.5/10 I've heard really great reviews of this one and I'm glad it met most of my expectations. I loved the setting and all the world building that went around it. There were rules that it adhered to and the way it was presented was very natural. The atmospheres of the different Londons were nicely contrasted, and I really liked the history behind it. Everything was simple but effective. As for the characters, it honestly took me until the last arc to really like Kell and Lila's dynamic, but I really liked Kell's relationship with Rhy. Each character themselves wasn't anything super unique or standout, everyone was a pretty standard trope kind of character but it isn't anything against the book. Again, simple but effective. All in all, a super solid fantasy book with an interesting setting, a plot that kept me reading, and characters that are easy to like.

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