Some people will tell you this book is not an adventure, and is in fact boring. But that's not true.
If your definition of "adventure" includes more toSome people will tell you this book is not an adventure, and is in fact boring. But that's not true.
If your definition of "adventure" includes more to-the-minute scheduling than it does hijinks, you will find this book action-packed. And if your idea of a good climactic fight scene involves the entire thing taking place off-page, you're in luck too.
Some people will tell you that there's only one female character in this book, and she's extremely flat. But that's not fair, either.
Every character in this book is flat. It's not a misogyny thing.
And some people will tell you this book is slow-paced and weird. But they're forgetting something important.
This was published in 1874, and at the time watching a short film that involved a moving vehicle was enough to strike fear into the hearts of war veterans. Getting your picture taken was a harrowing experience that involved a solid chance the camera would eat your soul.
By these accurate standards, this is actually a surprisingly quick read for being 150 years old. I'll just say I'm glad I'm alive now, and not then.
And also that if someone roofied me with opium and made me miss my boat, causing a series of events that led to me wandering starved through Japan without money or knowledge of the language, ultimately forcing me to attempt to join an acrobatic troupe due to lack of options, I personally would not be their friend.
But Jules Verne characters are built different.
Bottom line: Yet another installment of my Buying Classics For Their Covers And Then Not Enjoying Them series. Another coming later today.
----------------- pre-review
they just don't write adventure stories like this one anymore!
and that's a good thing.
review to come / 2.5 stars
----------------- currently-reading updates
anytime i read a classic just because people say it's a must-read, i call it "assigning myself homework"
clear ur sh*t book 61 no quest, just seeing how many more i can finish...more
This book has everything: - Christmas - siblings - road trips - New York City - an extremely low page count - a romantic subplot - banter - drama of the fun vThis book has everything: - Christmas - siblings - road trips - New York City - an extremely low page count - a romantic subplot - banter - drama of the fun variety - everything resolving happily - a misbehaving dog
Currently, there are two main kinds of books I like: 1) literary fiction about unlikable women 2) magical realism (usually young adult) with friendshipsCurrently, there are two main kinds of books I like: 1) literary fiction about unlikable women 2) magical realism (usually young adult) with friendships and banter at the center.
For a long time, Katrina Leno was one of just two authors I could rely on for the second option. But now she's trying to have it all.
These half-hearted magical realism books about damaged girls who have lives full of people who are trying to help them who they ignore and / or murder are not going to do it for me forever.
The other example of Leno's foray into this incredibly narrow niche, Horrid, worked for me primarily because of a) novelty and b) ghosts.
The former can make most things seem appealing, and the latter is my favorite subject of all time, in real life primarily but in fiction from time to time.
This is just worse Horrid, but with a fake world where the ghosts were. (Which is also a downgrade.)
Also, it is my firm belief that people are not as bad as these people. Leno has written about the same difficult topics as in this book with way more nuance and realism, so I'm not sure why this feels like it was by a totally different author.
Or at least written in half the timeframe.
I didn't hate this while I was reading it, but the more time that passes, the more I can't think of anything nice to say about it.
Bottom line: Even your most trusted authors can stray from grace sometimes.
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i hope katrina leno doesn't write about unlikable teenage girls forever, for many reasons, but primarily because it seems like she doesn't know how to end them.
review to come / 2 stars
---------------- currently-reading updates
this cover is how i feel.
clear ur sh*t book 58 no quest, just seeing how many more i can finish...more
In an ideal world, I wear a monocle, and I have a pocket watch on a chain, and all of my sweaters have elbow patcheI would like to be an intellectual.
In an ideal world, I wear a monocle, and I have a pocket watch on a chain, and all of my sweaters have elbow patches. In this world, I consume exclusively classics at a very slow pace (so as to examine every word), but somehow simultaneously I have read everything that's ever been called worth reading by any person who's ever been called pretentious.
But that is not this world.
To be fair, I AM trying. I read literary fiction the most of any genre. I used to have a quest where I would have to read at least one classic every month, but I retired it because I typically read more than that. (Last year, for example, I read 46. And granted I have a loose definition of "classic," but still.) I tend to rate books from those two categories higher than others.
But still, we find ourselves here.
I didn't like this book. I can say there are a lot of reasons, and I can even tell the truth: I can say that the depiction of women in this was so offensive it turned around and became funny and absurd, or that this dystopian world is not nearly as prescient as 1984's, or the Handmaid's Tale's, or even goddamn The Hunger Games', and both of those would be fairly respectable criticisms that I do have.
But that isn't completely accurate.
I didn't like this because it felt silly and boring.
That's really all.
Bottom line: I'll try to be smart next time.
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either i did not care for this or i was being intellectually stimulated.
i'll figure it out later.
review to come / 2.5 stars
------------------ tbr review
personally being very brave by adding classics to my to read list
Sometimes, you have to put your fate in the hands of the universe.
I am not a person who believes in manifestation, or fate, or signs. I am not spirituSometimes, you have to put your fate in the hands of the universe.
I am not a person who believes in manifestation, or fate, or signs. I am not spiritual or mystical or otherwise kinda kooky. I do not know anything about astrology - I can barely remember my main one, and the words "moon" and "rising" make me break out in hives.
But I do have one prevailing belief system in this life, and that is taking advantage of every book sale, even if you do not know the books-for-sale in question.
When I happened upon a vaguely Black Friday-related book sale involving the words "buy 2, get 1 free," I blacked out immediately. I blindly navigated the universe until I had three paid-for books (at 66 point 6 repeating percent cost) and a receipt in my hand.
This meant buying the following: - a book I didn't really like in a series I kind of did - a book I had previously had no intention of reading, but which was on many must-read-in-a-lifetime lists, one of my many weaknesses - this book, whose title sounded vaguely familiar, and whose cover I liked, but whose synopsis I knew literally nothing about.
And yet...look how well it worked out for me. Another point for my personal religion.
I did not at all care for the other book I've read by this author, but if you had told me there were two working authors named Kazuo Ishiguro and Never Let Me Go was by the boring one...well, minus the same very specific niche of sci-fi they both exist in, I wouldn't have known.
Where that book bored me to a light and tender sleep, this was compelling always. While the writing of that one did nothing for me, I found this one pretty lovely. While the characters in that book instantly leapt out of my memory, these have lingered at least a little. And while the relationships and dynamics between those bozos were the worst part of Never Let Me Go, for me, they were the most interesting part of this.
And okay, yes, this still dragged a little for me, and okay, yes, it wasn't perfect, and okay, yes, I'm simplifying how much I liked even the above list items for the sake of comparison...
Even so, this was a nice boon to several clauses of my book beliefs, namely: a) read books that don't sound good to you b) read books by authors you haven't historically liked c) judge books by their covers d) judge books by their titles e) go in blind f) buy books, all the time, always, with any excuse or reason
Bottom line: I love when things that should go wrong for me go right!
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judging a book by its cover wins again.
review to come / 3.5 stars
------------------ currently-reading updates
you've heard of buying a book for its cover, but what about buying a book for its title / cover combo?
clear ur shit book 33 quest 15: read a book with a female or non-binary MC
------------------ tbr review
happy thanksgiving! i am thankful for the buy 2, get 1 free sale i acquired this during...more
I am not what anyone would refer to as "the sharpest tool in the shed."
I haven't so much as done mental math in the last four and a half years. If an I am not what anyone would refer to as "the sharpest tool in the shed."
I haven't so much as done mental math in the last four and a half years. If an article is filled with jargon or technical terms, I leave the tab open on my computer for at least a day (and then usually give up on even pretending I don't want to read it). I judge books by their covers.
And if a book has a great ending, or if the final story in a collection is the best one, it melts my brain and suddenly I can't remember anything except loving the whole thing.
Case in point: This book.
I fell in love with that title / cover combo, and was very rapidly disillusioned and out of love when confronted with some kind of outdated and repetitive stories with a simple writing style that didn't work for me.
But then, boom. The last story. A new story, about an elderly woman living with her husband of many years, navigating a pandemic, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and ultimately the loss of her husband to COVID-19. Written by an author who did and does the same.
2021 was, in my personal records, the year of Lucia Berlin (as I read everything she ever wrote in the last few months), and seeing the decades-later success of her 20th century semi-autobiographical short stories must have inspired this collection, at least in small part.
For me, Hilma Wolitzer is no Lucia Berlin. But I would have given a lot to read Berlin's take on the last few years, and this is the closest I'll get.
Bottom line: Read the first story. If it doesn't work for you, skip to the last one and pretend you read the whole thing.
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read two books that made me sad in one day. my version of a superhero origin story
review to come / 3.5 stars
------------------ currently-reading updates
i hope i, too, can one day be so lucky as to be the woman going mad in the supermarket
clear ur shit prompt 12: free space follow my progress here
------------------ tbr review
clear my plans for the day. i'm going to be staring lovingly at this cover
Merry Christmas! My gift to all of you is the following: - holiday spirit year round - the ability to gently smile anytime you want - the greatest televiMerry Christmas! My gift to all of you is the following: - holiday spirit year round - the ability to gently smile anytime you want - the greatest television show ever to air - an inescapable affinity for the Buffalo Bills.
All you have to do is google Joe Pera. Or read this book.
A lot has already been made of the wonder of Joe Pera's comedy, in New York Times profiles and on countless podcasts and in a bajillion tweets with between 1 and 4 likes, but not enough, if you ask me, has been written on this hellsite.
And this hellsite is my specialty.
Joe Pera has a quiet, kind sense of humor that almost escapes you before you laugh just in time. His show is nonsensical and perfect, made for soft-spoken people and introverts and weirdos, without having the horrible cringey pat-yourself-on-the-back style of most content in that niche.
I kind of can't even describe it to you, really. If you like people, and long for the simplicity of a bygone era, and are sometimes (or all the time) shy, and bean arches are something you could spend between 10 minutes and a year's worth of time on, interest wise, you're in the right place.
But basically, to everyone - welcome! And read this book.
Bottom line: It's taking everything in me to give up on the idea of gatekeeping Joe Pera.
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i love joe pera and i love this book.
review to come / 4.5 stars
----------------- currently-reading updates
i think being at an event so uncomfortable that you have to hide in the bathroom qualifies as "spooky"
clear ur shit prompt 9: a spooky book follow my progress here
----------------- tbr review
there is nothing i love in this life more than the comedic stylings of Joe Pera. except for books.
If you like the show Normal People, this is the perfect book for you.
If you love Sally Rooney so much that it's like a spell has been cast on you to rIf you like the show Normal People, this is the perfect book for you.
If you love Sally Rooney so much that it's like a spell has been cast on you to read every single story, excerpt, postcard, or shopping list she has ever made publicly accessible, this is a book that will feel like obligatory reading to you.
I am part of the latter group.
I like Normal People, or more accurately I go back and forth on Normal People but usually lean toward liking it fine, but...
I do not like the show.
I find both of the actors to be well-cast and hot, and that's the nicest thing I have to say about it. Liberties the show takes from the book make the story feel totally different to me.
And that's a huge thumbs down!!!
I did like this slightly more than the show it's the script for, in that I was physically capable of finishing this, which I cannot say of the show.
And that, beyond objectifying the actors in it, is the only compliment I have in me.
Bottom line: I've been trying to only read books I actually think I might like this year. This is a loss on that front.
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to read this is to decide to be sad on purpose.
review to come / 2.5 stars
----------------- currently-reading updates
reading the script of a show i couldn't even make myself finish. my mind <3
clear ur shit prompt 11: last book you purchased follow my progress here
----------------- tbr review
that part in graceland too where phoebe bridgers sings "whatever she wants" except it's me singing "whatever she writes" and it's about sally rooney...more
I like F. Scott Fitzgerald quite a bit. He has not one, but TWO spaces in the extremely coveted Emma's Five Star Ratings Club, otherwise known as the I like F. Scott Fitzgerald quite a bit. He has not one, but TWO spaces in the extremely coveted Emma's Five Star Ratings Club, otherwise known as the One In A Million Never Going To Happen Perfect Reading Experiences Gang.
Quick break because now I'm curious how many authors have multiple places in that exclusive coterie.
(If you're curious, there are actually 12. In reverse alphabetical order: John Steinbeck, Lemony Snicket, Sally Rooney, LM Montgomery, Carmen Maria Machado, Sarah Hogle, Emily Henry, Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Safran Foer, Lewis Carroll, Leigh Bardugo, and Jane Austen.)
But anyway.
Even I, a fairly big fan of the guy, could not overcome the circumstances and like this book., which a friend of a friend offered to lend to me.
And gave to me at a party.
Which meant I spent an entire day looking like some kind of disaster nerd who brings books about alcohol to drinking-based events.
On top of that (and in addition to that guy turning out to be kind of a creep), this is not very good.
It's excerpts, quotes, and weird clippings from ol' Fitzy, brought together by the sheer power of having some small thing to do with alcohol.
And I like alcohol fine, too. But as it turns out that wasn't enough either.
None of this strikes me as particularly Fitzgerald's best, and even if it were, it would be doing it a disservice to halfheartedly toss it in among the strange remnants found here. Even his style seems choppy and odd given the framing.
Bottom line: Who thought this book was necessary?
clear ur shit prompt 3: a book you were recommended follow my progress here...more
The fact that this book exists is a miracle, and the stories that are contained within it are magical, and I encourage you to read it for yourself. ItThe fact that this book exists is a miracle, and the stories that are contained within it are magical, and I encourage you to read it for yourself. It's the best way to find out both.
That's my full review.
Bottom line: A book to remind you why you love books.
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what a happy-sad read.
review to come / 4 stars
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there comes a time in every readathon's life when you just need to pick up a graphic novel.
I read this book for two reasons: a) I always want to be friends with as many dogs as possible, and b) I always want to have a good time.
Well, and the pI read this book for two reasons: a) I always want to be friends with as many dogs as possible, and b) I always want to have a good time.
Well, and the publisher sent me a copy. So I guess three reasons.
I did get a lot of intel on how to befriend dogs, but more so I got a lot on how to train them (which makes sense). This is not very applicable to my life, because my family's dog is past the training age and is very flawed and very perfect and very full of personality, but it is useful for most people, and potentially for the future.
I did not have that good of a time, though. I expect not to have a good time with most nonfiction, but not with nonfiction that's filled with little cartoon dogs.
But c'est la vie. This was very dry.
Bottom line: Like most nonfiction, boring and informative!
clear ur shit prompt 10: a book with an animal follow my progress here
There are no real rules or patterns. We all just wander through without guidelines or parameters, just vibing and seeing what happenLife is a mystery.
There are no real rules or patterns. We all just wander through without guidelines or parameters, just vibing and seeing what happens. Surprises around every corner.
In other words: I should have hated this book, and instead I loved it.
I hated the other book I've read by this author very much, and I expected to feel neutral at best about this one, and yet - I am stubborn. I refuse to not read books I have no chance of liking.
And look how well it works out for me!!!
I am so in love with the narrator of this book, an ornery funny smart nine year old. (2021 was the year of realizing I like child narrators even though I am not a huge fan of real-life children.) I am obsessed with her equally ornery grandmother, and her emotive and somewhat crazy mom, and even the absent dad and unborn child this is addressed to have soft spots in my book just for creating this story.
As soon as I finished this, I did two things: - lent my mom my copy - thought about rereading.
What higher praise could there be?
Bottom line: Miriam Toews, we remain in good graces.
Well, I can't speak for you. But good-ish.
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i give up on thinking i have any idea what books i'll like.
this was just wonderful.
review to come / 4.5 stars maybe 5
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sure, i hated the first book i read by this author with a fiery passion. but life is about growth
clear ur sh*t book 60 no quest, just seeing how many more i can finish
If you have a huge unfulfilled curiosity on the subject of truffles, this is the book for you.
If you are kind of interested in truffles and like FineIf you have a huge unfulfilled curiosity on the subject of truffles, this is the book for you.
If you are kind of interested in truffles and like Fine Cuisine in general, this is also the book for you.
If you, like me, don't have a major penchant for food beyond eating it, and your interest in and knowledge of truffles begins and ends with truffle fries, this is not really the book for you but it will still be interesting a good amount of the time.
Even as it hurts your feelings re: truffle fries being hated and fake.
Bottom line: Now I'm hungry. And it's still for truffle fries.
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some people want to read the origin stories of their favorite superhero, or film franchise. i want to read the origin story of the object that brought us the gift of truffle fries
update: turns out truffle fries are bad (?) according to this? so not exactly trustworthy.
interesting though.
review to come / 3.5 stars
clear ur shit prompt 2: a book with a journey follow my progress here
**spoiler alert** I won't be rating this book, as it is a memoir, but I will be explaining why it doesn't sit right with me. (Trigger warning for sexu**spoiler alert** I won't be rating this book, as it is a memoir, but I will be explaining why it doesn't sit right with me. (Trigger warning for sexual assault.)
This is the story of the (white) author, who, in 1978 and at the age of 14, was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and left in the cold by Charles Goodwin, a 17 year old (Black) teenager who had recently been released from juvenile prison for car theft.
Prior to this experience, he'd been bused to a largely white school, where he was bullied and beaten by a group of white students.
When in jail following the car theft charge, he was beaten so badly his jaw was broken and his teeth were loose in his mouth, and sexually assaulted, both for racist motivations.
The book is about this experience, the aftermath of it, and the author's childhood abuse and later emotional and manipulative abuses at the hands of her mother.
There are a few issues I had with the telling of this.
One, the author writes extensively from Charles Goodwin's perspective (based on conjecture). This is a choice that, to me, didn't make sense from either a storytelling perspective or a personal one. As a reader, it's not what I want or am looking for from a memoir or true crime story.
Two, the author never expressly mentions the difference in race between herself and her attacker. She writes this about it, on one of the last pages of the book: "But before I move on, I must note the early choice I made as an author to not differentiate the humanity of Charles Goodwin and myself by race. This was not a simple decision, as we live in a grossly racist society that is not color-blind, and I do not feel it right to deny him the oppression that shaped his external world. Yet to suggest the kind of devastating pain Goodwin inflicted is the fault of society is to err grossly.
"Criminals often justify their behavior by claiming they are uniquely abused by society. Goodwin was not uniquely abused, but has proved himself to be uniquely violent. I therefore made the decision to let his rage - which he explained as originating in the trauma of racist violence - emerge in the story as he told it."
I read that passage five times, and I still don't understand it. The author does not let his rage emerge as he told it, because she writes his perspective. I would argue that Goodwin was uniquely abused. I would not say that Goodwin's crimes are the fault of society, but I don't see what completely refusing to reckon with racial issues has to do with that. Further, though Goodwin has committed multiple crimes, his only violent offenses (as far as I know from this book) were against the author.
As this is an author who understands this is not a color-blind world, I fail to understand why this is a color-blind book.
I truly admire this book and its author for the level of self-reflection and strength it took not only to survive these events, but to write about them. Just because the art that came from the life was not my cup of tea does not mean I lack a deep admiration for the life.
clear ur shit book 43 quest 20: a book with water themes
In August, I read my first Lucia Berlin story, after picking up her posthumous and by far bestselling collection in an airport bookstore in an act of In August, I read my first Lucia Berlin story, after picking up her posthumous and by far bestselling collection in an airport bookstore in an act of desperation.
(Typically a trip to a bookstore, even a terminal kiosk-sized one, is an hours-long affair for me, and anything shorter than that is a frantic, panicky spur of the moment decision in comparison.)
When I started it on the plane, I immediately pulled out a notebook and a pen, because I knew I'd want to take notes on every story. It was that good.
I made myself go as slowly as possible, which turned out to be less than a week, even though I was doing a project at the time that should've required it to take a day for every story. (Which would have been a month and a half.)
It was just too good.
After finishing, I bought a copy of every single Lucia Berlin collection I could find, which are varying levels of hard to track down, and had read all of them by the end of the year.
It's so sad to be done.
Coincidentally, this one, with its adieu-bidding title, was my last. By the time I got to it, there were just 4 stories I hadn't read yet, but all of them were good.
Is there any goodbye more painful than one to a favorite author?
Bottom line: So long, Lucia. Thanks for all of it.
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there were only four stories in this whole book i hadn't read yet, but they were good ones.
review to come / 4 stars
--------------- currently-reading updates
apt title for my last lucia berlin book :(
clear ur sh*t book 59 no quest, just seeing how many more i can finish...more
This is the worst Lucia Berlin book, but it also has the best cover. This is probably a lesson to me, specifically, from the universe, about being vaiThis is the worst Lucia Berlin book, but it also has the best cover. This is probably a lesson to me, specifically, from the universe, about being vain, or about how every rose has its thorns, or something like that.
But I wouldn't know, because I refuse to hear it.
Anyway. Enough about me. It is all about Lucia Berlin, both because I am reviewing a book of hers currently and because all of her stories have one subject: herself.
Truly, the #1 thing you learn if you, like me, read every story Lucia Berlin ever published within the span of a few months is that 95% of her work is self-insert short stories about how hot she is.
And while that is something you have to respect, and in fact sounds like something I would do, it does grate after a while.
This, when it was first published in 1981 (and, presumably, today), was a collection of the previously uncompiled Berlin stories, which is a nice way of saying "the worse stuff."
And it shows.
It's still the same brilliant and sharp writer, but all of the times when she wasn't at her best.
Bottom line: Still worth the read, if only to say you're a completionist and to have a pretty book on the shelf.
------------------ currently-reading updates
well, it's wintertime, we're a week away from the holidays, and i'm sharing a bedroom only a generous and kindhearted person would describe as "average-sized" with my two sisters.
in other words, i could use an evening in paradise.
This book was doubly a good read, because: a) it had stories by Lucia Berlin I hadn't read yet, allowing me to enjoy a delightful new reading experiencThis book was doubly a good read, because: a) it had stories by Lucia Berlin I hadn't read yet, allowing me to enjoy a delightful new reading experience, and b) it had stories by Lucia Berlin I had read already, so I could fly through reading it.
The nicest thing I can say about a book is that I enjoyed it, but, due to my complex involving reading a book every day, the second nicest thing I can say (and it's a close second) is that I finished it expeditiously.
This wasn't my very favorite of the Lucia Berlin canon - in fact, it was probably my third, or maybe fourth, which makes sense. When people compile the very best works of your life multiple times, the stories that tend to be leftover aren't, like, bringing the house down comparatively.
But it did check that quick-read box.
Also, there is a story here involving a runaway grandma that I am quite partial to. If I ever have to live to grandma age, through some error of the universe, I am sure I will be involved in petty crime and faux kidnapping too.
Once upon a time, I found myself in an airport without any reading material at all, and also in a terminal that contained an outpost of one of my thenOnce upon a time, I found myself in an airport without any reading material at all, and also in a terminal that contained an outpost of one of my then-favorite bookstores.
This is a situation that has only one remedy: Buying more books than necessary at a far higher price than necessary.
One of the books I purchased was A Manual for Cleaning Women, and it was so captivating, so one of a kind, that it was the only one I picked up for the entire remainder of my time at that airport and in the air.
I tried to make it last as long as I could, gave it five stars, and immediately bought everything else Lucia Berlin ever wrote.
I've now read four out of five of those books, and none of them have quite lived up to the magic of that first reading experience, but this one came the closest.
It's a (very sadly) unfinished collection of stories about each of the places (33!) Lucia Berlin ever lived, with photos and a lovely little list at the end.
Part of being a sucker for short books, for me, is being a sucker for unfinished ones. I think they have a kind of forlorn charm to them, and your brain can fill in the blanks in a very generous way that makes them seem more Full Of Potential than incomplete.
Still, this wasn't quite the same as Cleaning Women, although reading a book that is a collection of the best work of someone's whole career and following it up with the rest probably isn't fair anyway.
But c'est la vie.
Bottom line: Good idea, good writing, good stuff!
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living in 33 houses over the course of a lifetime is my personal nightmare, due to moving is horrible, but also my personal dream, due to lucia berlin's having done it meant we got more of her writing.
review to come / 3.5 stars
------------------ tbr review
if you write a book that i give 5 stars, you will have cult-like loyalty from me for the rest of my life.
clear ur shit prompt 8: your smallest book follow my progress here...more
Learning is easy. They say you learn something new every day. That's child's play. Those are easy numbers.
But learning something new about YOURSELF..Learning is easy. They say you learn something new every day. That's child's play. Those are easy numbers.
But learning something new about YOURSELF...that's the real challenge.
You spend a lot of time with yourself. Like, almost all of it. Years and years' worth of time. You may think you know everything there is to know. You may even consider yourself an expert. But au contraire, mon frère.
Because I just learned that it looks a hell of a lot like I enjoy reading books written from the perspective of a child.
This is shocking, to me. I do not like children - they are gross and little. I have claimed to be anti-childbirth and -rearing from the age of 13. I am a prodigy in terms of achieving a dire lack of maternal instincts at a tiny age. I babysat for years growing up by maintaining a brand of "acting like I am too cool to be there," a mentality with a 100% success rate on preteen girls.
I also do not like books about animals, which to me has a similar vibe of "adults making stuff up in a saccharine way about the unknown thoughts of small creatures."
And yet. And yet.
I have read three books from the perspective of a child this year and I have enjoyed all of them.
Who are we? What have we become? Should we just focus on the upside of learning new things about ourselves and abandon all sense of internal comprehension?
Or should I just actually say something about this book?
Here are a few things: - This is a very feelings-forward book, and it works. I felt things - I care about all of these characters and also feel like they could believably live down the street - This grabbed me just about right away and I read it in just about a sitting and I came away thinking I would never slump again and immortality was on its way! - The only reason it's not a higher rating is because it's missing that je-ne-sais-quoi factor I require for 4.5 and 5 stars, and through no describable fault of its own
Bottom line: A good book and a solid personal crisis!
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i have said it before and i'll say it again: Every Book That Has A Perfect Ending Is A Book I Want To Five Star
review to come / 4 stars (if i can handle it)
-------------------- currently-reading updates
doing my first readathon which of course means i'm doubling up for every prompt. i'm addicted to failure.
clear your shit readathon, prompt 1: a book in which someone dies (i don't know but it seems like a good guess)
(thanks to the publisher for the copy, also)...more
As much as I love reading series out of order, for reasons of "laziness," it is also not the best way to consume content, for reasons of "it's always As much as I love reading series out of order, for reasons of "laziness," it is also not the best way to consume content, for reasons of "it's always worse that way."
While I've heard amazing things about the second installment of this trilogy (The Cost of Living), and I'll probably read it someday, this one just...did not work for me.
I wasn't in the right space for this book and coming into it at book 3, on a subject I feel most disconnected from, is odd. I'm 24 years old and I live in America and the chances of myself ever owning real estate are somewhere between the chance I win the lottery and the chance I sprout wings and fly to Neverland.
Reading reviews of this and trying to figure out what I was missing, I found a lot of Deborah Levy devotees, which was a very surreal experience considering I have never heard of her to this point. I swear I'll remedy it, but as of now, I still have no answers re: what I was missing. It felt like Googling the answer to a question and finding every result was in a language I couldn't identify.
That being said, there is a lot of good stuff here, and the connection between real estate / property and the patriarchy is done well (even if I tend to find basic feminist rhetoric like this unsatisfying sometimes. Get more radical!).
But if I never see words "best male friend" again it'll be too soon.
Bottom line: Not you, book, me! I think.
----------------- pre-review
hate to use a cliché, but...sometimes "it's not you, it's me" just applies.
review to come / 3ish
----------------- currently-reading updates
starting a series at book 3 just to feel something
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
clear ur sh*t book 54 quest 24: a book in a series...more
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