this took me forever to read and threw me off on my goodreads challenge :(
when i heard "this book is like a scavenger huna firm two stars on this one.
this took me forever to read and threw me off on my goodreads challenge :(
when i heard "this book is like a scavenger hunt through time!" my instant reaction was sign me up. i love history and i love scavenger hunts! but there was less time travel than i wanted - what i really wanted was a more setting-oriented narrative, something that would have actually added, you know, history to it. i guess i wish the settings were taken advantage of, both more detailed and more significant to the story itself. also, a scavenger hunt implies more objects than one.
and the characters were pretty flat. i'd heard that there was insta-love, but that's not really how i would describe it. it did take them an almost-appropriate (for YA, at least) amount of time to "love" each other...but they didn't have any traits. they didn't know each other but only because there was nothing to know. that, also, was really boring...and since you guys know that i'm super into my characters, it pretty much cemented this book as no fun for me.
i don't think i'll read the sequel. the narrative doesn't interest me, the characters don't interest me, and the world doesn't interest me.
that being said, i didn't mind bracken's writing style (i especially liked the social justice interjections!) and i'll consider picking up her other stuff in the future....more
this was on my summer reading list in early high school, and i brought my copy with me on a family trip to visit semi-distant relatives in the good olthis was on my summer reading list in early high school, and i brought my copy with me on a family trip to visit semi-distant relatives in the good ol' american south.
i failed to consider that said distant relatives, desperately searching for a way to make conversation with their 15 year old grand-niece / second cousin / nephew's step-sibling's neighbor by marriage, would ask time and time again what the book said family member was reading was about.
so, to these well-meaning basically-strangers, i had to say these words, time and again: "it's a retelling of hansel and gretel if hansel and gretel took place during the holocaust."
a real conversation ender.
regardless, i remember this as an excellent book, well-written and painful, creative enough to bring a new wave of emotion to a story most of us have heard many times over.
it was worth the social anxiety. and as an introvert whose ideal day includes zero conversations with people i don't know, that's saying a lot.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago...more
this is one of those books that every semi-young male high school english teacher that everyone has a crush on, not because he's hot particularly but this is one of those books that every semi-young male high school english teacher that everyone has a crush on, not because he's hot particularly but just because it's a desperate times / desperate measures scenario, is invariably obsessed with.
but in this case, that aging 6 with slightly too long hair is correct. because this book is so good.
i have been assigned this book in either 2 or 3 classes and definitely read it at least 1.5 of those times, which is saying a lot, since i ascribe to the belief that if i read a book once in school it stays permanently in my brain forever and i am a genius from then on, never needing to so much as think about it again.
this one actually is memorable to me, even though i read it 6 years ago when i was seventeen years old and waking up at 6 a.m. on a regular basis, a lifestyle i find unimaginable now.
anyway. this is both a standout in the War genre (not my favorite) and in the radical-and-somewhat-experimental-look-how-cool-literature-can-be genre (which i just made up and is my favorite).
long way of saying this is good stuff.
this is part of a project i am doing sometimes, as in three times every two years or so, where i review a book i read a long time ago. how fun for us all....more
this has been another installment of project 5 star, and the nightingale is the latest unlucky candidate: a book that a past, more loving version of mthis has been another installment of project 5 star, and the nightingale is the latest unlucky candidate: a book that a past, more loving version of me loved, confronted by the dark abyss that is my present-day heart.
once upon a time i called this book the mac + cheese of historical fiction, because it is cheesy and cozy and makes you feel satisfied. years later, i am pleased to confirm it is that.
what it is not is very accurate or even very good. it is readable and turn your brain off and kind of vaguely inspiring. it prompts emotions from you in the least intellectual way possible.
somewhere within me is still the 11 year old whose favorite book was kristin hannah's firefly lane. and while that book is better than this one, it still feels kind of the same.
however strange that is.
bottom line: more fun than it should be.
3.5
------------------ original review
(view spoiler)[this is the cheesiest, most fulfilling historical fiction. OH MY GOD IT'S THE MAC AND CHEESE OF HISTORICAL FICTION.
i'm a genius. a real lyrical writer of reviews, don't you think?
anyway. i need to reread this book soon. i don't want to say it was fun, because it wasn't. it's a real emotion-twister. but reading kristin hannah is a Very Particular Feeling for me and i always like doing it. kristin hannah is the writer that ties me to my middle school best friend (jesus, what happened to her? where is she now? Avery if you're reading this, hmu) and to my grandma (who is definitely not reading this. but can you imagine? it strikes fear into my soul).
also this is about sisters and i always love reading about sisters.
bottom line: this has a lot of clichés and inaccuracies and overwrought moments, and i love it. probably if and when i reread it i won't love it so much. but for now it's still a HELL YA from me.
(this is part of a project i'm doing where i write mini reviews of books i read a long time ago. how fun am i?) (hide spoiler)]...more
This feels like a particularly apt moment to say that I abandoned this book as part of my no-books-featuring-romantic-relationships-with-oppressive-seThis feels like a particularly apt moment to say that I abandoned this book as part of my no-books-featuring-romantic-relationships-with-oppressive-sexist-gross-first-half-of-20th-century-German-enemy-soldiers-in-general policy.
Can you believe that it's 2017 and this is the third time I've had to disavow that trope this goddamn week?
Anyway. This isn't a review of twenty-first century America, so I'll move on. (But don't you kinda wish it was? Not even a little? Got it.)
After I really loved Me Before You, I a) immediately fell into a slump and b) attempted to remedy said slump by acquiring as many Jojo Moyes books as possible. And I've learned that liking that book, which I am terrified I'll reread and hate and hence will forever avoid, may have been my sole positive Moyes experience.
No, that's not true. I met her at a library event in the city once, and she had a perfect accent and was very nice and noticed that I had brought my own copies of her books, which was very endearing, and then charmingly and British-ly said, "A bookworm, isn't she? Lovely." Or something to that effect.
And One Plus One wasn't bad. But this book is.
It felt alternately boring and overwrought, and I initially picked this up pretty soon after reading All the Light We Cannot See, and it's really just unfair to authors everywhere to pick up chick-lit historical fiction after picking up Pulitzer Prize-winning historical fiction.
So I put this down for a while, and then I picked it back up, and then I determined picking it up again was the wrong choice and promptly put it back on my shelf to take up space and go unread.
Probably I'll sell it.
But in all seriousness, I'll likely have an eternal soft spot for Jojo Moyes, will probably pick up her next book if it comes out within the next year (I don't know if she has one lined up but whatever) - AND IF IT DOESN'T FOCUS ON LOUISA AGAIN, BECAUSE GOD F*CKING DAMN IT AFTER YOU RUINED MY LIFE.
AND NOT IN THE GOOD WAY.
(the other thing I was trying to say before distracting myself was that this book is not for me, but it could be, quite possibly, for you.)
(this is part of a project I'm doing in which I write mini-reviews of books I read a while back. the unintentional joke is that they become less and less "mini" with each passing day.)...more
among the better summer reading list books i've read. visual and deep-hitting. the characters and events of this book have stuck with me in the year-pamong the better summer reading list books i've read. visual and deep-hitting. the characters and events of this book have stuck with me in the year-plus since i read it....more
once upon a time i tried to be someone who did readathons, and then i read one (1) book and it was this and it all came crashing down.
took me ages toonce upon a time i tried to be someone who did readathons, and then i read one (1) book and it was this and it all came crashing down.
took me ages to finish, relatively speaking.
it is insane how boring and long this book is for not being that long. and for having instalove and bad characters. like what are we even doing?? those things don't take any time to establish!
anyway. really bad. good title, though.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago...more
in 2015 i said that this book was amazing, and beautiful, and that every paragraph had a line i wanted to remember forever, and that it was one of thein 2015 i said that this book was amazing, and beautiful, and that every paragraph had a line i wanted to remember forever, and that it was one of the best books i'd ever read.
and now i can't even remember anything about it, really.
funny how life works.
but even in spite of it being one of the quote-unquote best books ever, i still had like 3 complaints. some things never change.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago...more
i loved this book when i was 17, but i have approximately 0 things in common with 17 year old me, except a raging sweet tooth and an enduring soft spoi loved this book when i was 17, but i have approximately 0 things in common with 17 year old me, except a raging sweet tooth and an enduring soft spot for the early one direction albums.
for many years i wanted to reread it, except i loved historical fiction then and have since realized i no longer can say that. aka this seemed like a recipe for disaster, even for me.
i mean, i did have a lot of trouble getting into this. it was beautifully written and the characters were wonderfully constructed, but i didn't feel emotionally connected until the last two chapters.
the ending was perfect and i always want to 5 star books with perfect endings, but i've also lost the charm that historical fiction used to have for me since reading this...a lot of conflicting emotions, but in short this will be 4.5.
and cloud cuckoo land is better.
bottom line: trying to be masochistic and it isn't working. this book is too good.
-------------- project update
welcome to...PROJECT 5 STAR.
this year, i'm trying to read more for Quality instead of Quantity (after nearly ruining my life last year reading 365 books), and so part of that will include revisiting every book i've ever rated as perfect!
please join me in praying that this project is whimsical and optimistic instead of a devastating loss of all my favorites.
this was one of my very favorite books when i was a kid, and simultaneously the scene where the child protagonist has to go through the woods at nightthis was one of my very favorite books when i was a kid, and simultaneously the scene where the child protagonist has to go through the woods at night alone in the pitch dark gave me a recurring nightmare in which i was doing the same and then i looked over at a pile of logs/branches/etc. to see the wicked witch of the west's eyes peering out from between two, a sight that petrified me so much that i saw it every time i closed my eyes for years to come.
this is not the only recurring nightmare i had about the wicked witch of the west.
i forgive this book, though. on the basis of excellence.
part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read ages ago and we all pretend it's doing something for us...more
sure whatever i didn't need the remaining scraps of my heart to be operational a n y w a y
this, like the other ruta sepetys book i've read, Salt to thsure whatever i didn't need the remaining scraps of my heart to be operational a n y w a y
this, like the other ruta sepetys book i've read, Salt to the Sea, focuses on an extremely tragic historical event that is semi-forgotten, or at least not discussed often enough. in this case, it's Stalin's mid-twentieth century deportation of millions of people in the Baltic states.
this book is sad, sad, sad, impressive, well-written, and extremely important. and also so sad.
if historical fiction isn't your cup of tea but you're open to giving it a shot, this is a great book to try.
there were some flaws, sure. for one thing, i'm sorry (kinda) but romantic plotlines just detract more often than they add for me. the ending also felt kind of abrupt and inconclusive, and huge swaths of time were skipped, which was v confusing for a book that really follows a historical timeline. but overall this book is pretty crucial.
bottom line: a great great great great great example of how important and worthwhile and impressive YA historical fiction can be....more
not to brag or anything, but i distinctly remember reading this book for a school project at the age of 12 and hating it so much that it had a butterfnot to brag or anything, but i distinctly remember reading this book for a school project at the age of 12 and hating it so much that it had a butterfly effect on every historical fiction book i'd read for the rest of time.
and it was my own fault, because i picked it from the non-required section of the summer reading list.
i was still a pretty voracious reader at 12 (it was just before the time in my life, aged 13 to 16, where i decided i was Too Cool to read - a thing i am not and have never been), so the fact that i could not get through this was pretty new to me.
and TO DATE, i can't get through faux historical prose. i can do classics from any era, but give me even a work of fiction set in the 1940s that tries to sound like it and i'm irrevocably out.
it's a bizarre quirk that we can trace alllll the way back to the summer before seventh grade.
this is part of a project i'm doing where i review books i read forever ago. i thought i'd forgotten about this book, but no such luck....more
There’s instalove, because of course. Characters are either a) horrendous or b) flat or c) somehow both??? Every other sentence is actually two forced together by a comma, because we all full-on adore a good comma splice amiright. Predicates suffer without subjects. The whole thing is so horrifically, tragically, life-bendingly slow and so boring it took me 9 days to suffer through it.
However.
The setting is glorious, magical, awe-inspiring, creative, unreal, unique, fascinating, and altogether so painfully lovely any reader with half an imagination will be dying to pay a visit. DYING, I tell you.
It’s better than Hogwarts. Better than any fantasy novel. It’s life-changing and gorgeous and all around my favorite setting for all time forever.
BUT.
Don’t forget.
This book is also really bad.
So how, pray tell, do I f*cking rate something like that? How do I review it???
I guess I’ll backtrack a little and cross my fingers for some fresh #inspo.
The Night Circus is a sprawling book (this is a nice way of saying it takes place over like a million years and is still somehow boring). We follow the creation of le Cirque des Rêves, which is an entirely black and white circus with some delicious snack options that takes place at night. It arrives without warning, no announcement precedes it, etc etc, you’ve heard the quote.
Something that should make this more interesting and instead makes it, in a shocking twist, much more boring, is that the circus is also the venue for a long-term magical battle.
Celia and...sh*t what’s his name...Marco? Is it Marco? Okay yes it’s Marco. Celia and Marco are two magician people (illusionists) who are both involved in the circus and use it to one-up each other until eventually they get way too busy making sweet sweet love to even try to be interesting.
It’s less hurtful because they were never interesting, really.
So that’s the plot but I cannot emphasize enough that it does not matter, is really boring, and only serves to take away any number of pages from just describing the circus. Straight up if this was 600 pages of unbroken description...five stars boi.
But it’s not. And here we are. Dealing with these cretins. (Marco, by the way, is the sh*ttiest person in the world and makes Boring But Otherwise Mildly Unpleasant Celia seem like a goddamn saint.)
As mentioned, the characters are, without exception, boring or bad or otherwise unpleasant. There was exactly one individual I liked, and said person was taken out of the picture faster than I can say “what the f*ck why do I never like any books I loved this book literally two years ago what is going onnnnn.”
And I can say that surprisingly quickly. (Because of practice. Because of all the times I’ve said it.)
God I hate the name Marco on this dumbass white boi. Unrelated but I do.
Speaking of that warty wimp piece of sh*t, T H E I N S T A L O V E! If I have ever read a worse “““love””” story (love in excessive quotes because I’m prettyyyyy sure you can’t be in love with someone just because his eyes are such a lovely green!) I cannot recall it. Marco and Celia are nasty together. Not because they’re cruel (although Marco is, to an innocent - albeit boring - woman), or because they’re gross in the sense that, like, a witch in a live-action Disney movie is gross (although it inspires a similarly visceral disgust in me): because they are sooooo lovey-dovey and emotive. Right away. And also for all time forever with no relief.
Enough o’this.
Bottom line: instalove. Horrible characters. Terrible (nonexistent) plot. BUT ALSO THE BEST SETTING EVER WITH NO EXCEPTIONS.
I don’t know, man. You decide.
------------------ pre-review
i did not like this book at all.
also, i loved it.
(both of these things are equally true.)
review to come, once i get that sh*t sorted
----------- currently-reading updates
me: *moves to college*
me: *has literally no time, doesn't open laptop for 3 days, has had a total of 35 minutes to read*
me: hmmm...i think it's time to pick up this 500-page, all-consuming fave of a book for a reread
wish me luck in my bad decision making!!! you have to, condemning my horrible choices is mean!!!!!!...more
below i said this is my favorite book i'll never reread.
i lied.
welcome back to PROJECT 5 STAR, in which i reread onetime favorites to see if they stilbelow i said this is my favorite book i'll never reread.
i lied.
welcome back to PROJECT 5 STAR, in which i reread onetime favorites to see if they still are, you know. favorites.
this one is not.
while ostensibly there was some teenage part of my life when this hit me like a punch in the heart, in this read i found it to be very uneven and unfeeling. it has moments of truly stellar writing, but at no point were the characters particularly memorable (prime example: even in my glowing original review, i can't remember anything about it), and at many points i thought this book was plodding along in search of a great point about humanity it wasn't really sure of yet.
there is a lot of world war two fiction in this world, and you could dedicate your whole reading career to that alone if you wanted to be very sad.
i still wouldn't recommend you pick up this particular one.
sorry!
bottom line: this was a very good book when i was 13. that's an okay thing to be!
------------------------ original review
(view spoiler)[this is my favorite book that i'll never reread.
the worst bit of that is that i don't remember this book well enough to do it justice here. but it's beautiful and devastating and human. it's masterful in a way that caught me off guard. there are elements of this story, like the perspective, that will stick with me for life. there are quotes from this book i want tattooed on me.
which is why reading I Am the Messenger and it not being great at all was like, whaaaaa? Markus, how you gonna not be magnificent suddenly? do you think it's ok to go from being quotable/brilliant/gently-holding-my-emotions-in-your-hands-like-play-dough-and-then-suddenly-squeezing-and-then-as-if-that-weren't-enough-taking-that-hammery-spiked-mallet-thing-people-use-to-tenderize-meat-and-hitting-them-over-and-over to eh? to weird quasi-profound-ness and gross romance?
non, merci.
but anyway.
bottom line: read this book and try to think zusak only wrote one perfect book, instead of the tragedy of his one-hit-wonder status.
(this review is part of a project i'm doing where i review books i read a long time ago, etc etc, does anyone read this, no one cares, and so on) (hide spoiler)]...more
how do you even discuss the damage this book, completely well-intentioned as it seems to be, has done?
i guess i can start this way: the year i turned 1how do you even discuss the damage this book, completely well-intentioned as it seems to be, has done?
i guess i can start this way: the year i turned 12, this book was The Book. sold bajillions of copies, topped best-of lists by critics and media and readers, sold its movie rights. because i was a 10 year old who read everything, and because this book sounded hard but important, i got it for christmas.
i read it for the first time that day and cried my eyes out at the ending. i read it a million times more after that, not putting it down for what would ultimately be the last time until i was well into teenagedom. i didn't always answer the question "what's your favorite book?" with this, but i sometimes did.
in other words, because i had just turned 12 and because i lived in a mostly white area and and because my library selection was well-meaning but white and because i went to a public school where we didn't learn about slavery or jim crow or reconstruction until middle school, and we didn't REALLY learn about it ever, this book, by a white woman, was one of my first encounters with the concept of race.
this book, which is about a white woman being better equipped than black women to tell their story twice over, both on-page and off.
this book, which serves as an instruction manual for white women on how to use their tears. (an unnecessary one, since we've always been fairly good at that, but one all the same.)
this book, of white saviordom and of black women as background and as supporting characters to white protagonists and as both nannies and mothers but only one role matters to the story.
this book, in which black women speak in dialect and white women (even the "white trash" ones) speak in unaccented grammatically perfect english.
this book, which begins and ends in the 1960s and yet is feel-good above all, attempting a "we're all people!" happy tone that ignores privilege and racism and what is to come in order to try on the kind of color-blind belief system that eases the existences of white people everywhere.
this book, an account of black women losing their jobs and livelihoods and white women becoming what they always dreamed of being.
how to begin to undo the impact this story had on my brain?
this is part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago and reveal my addiction to getting yelled at in comments...more
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