Between 8 and 9
Look, I had a ton of hurricane books to read. And hurricane snacks to eat. And hurricane beers to drink. (And all we got was gentle rain and breezes!) And I really didn't want to read a six hundred page diary.
Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik - I always enjoy her. Didn't like this one as much as Uprooted, because the bazillion points of view together with the plot got pretty over-complicated in the middle, but still quite a solid "fractured fairy tale" (although it took me a ridiculous amount of time to realize it's Rumplestiltskin.) Also avoids that weird fantasy trope of clearly talking about Jewish people and culture but calling it something different - these Jews are Jews, with a Jewish history of persecution.
Intellivore, by Diane Duane - look, sometimes you've got a nasty virus and you don't want to move your eyes too much. Not her best Star Trek book, not her worst.
Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn - finished the show. Expected some of the more cludgy elements of the show to not be in the book, but they were. Still enjoyed Flynn's basket full of nasty women.
Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn - wanted some more nasty women. My goodness, got them.
The Tower of Swallows, by Andrjez Sapkowski - I want to like the Witcher books because I love the video game so much, and they always end up leaving me kind of cold, but then they're close enough that I go back to read another one. Maybe it's the translation from the Polish?
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century, by Kirk Johnson - look, there was a massive heist of dead birds from the British Museum of Natural History, and it turns out the guy who did it did it because he's a vintage fly tier. This is really a thing that happened. Great true-crime-with-no-murder (unless you count the birds).
Heart Berries: A Memoir, by Teresa Marie Mailhot - short, poetic memoir. I found it very effective.
American Hippo, by Sarah Gailey - omnibus including River of Teeth. So it's the 1850's but there's been a hippo boom (and then of course a hippo bust), and this is a heist plot but everybody rides hippos. I know!
The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, by Kim Fu - I wanted to like this more than I did. I found the "modern day" stories of the girls affecting, but something about the structure where the story in the past is doled out in such tiny rations... eh.
Annihiliation, by Jeff VanderMeer - Very neo-Lovecraftian. Hard to love female protagonist, which I often enjoy (and is hard for male authors to get right.) Watched the movie the same day I finished the book, which makes it absolutely impossible for me to assess either independently but the book is better.
Leah on the Offbeat, by Becky Albertalli - I liked this more than Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, honestly. Leah is a great character who feels like she really is a high school senior, not a twenty-something pretending to be one.
One Day We'll All Be Dead and None Of This Will Matter, by Scaachi Koul - Excellent essays, often funny, on the second generation immigrant experience and living in a world poisoned by rape culture.
Next Year in Havana, by Chanel Cleeton - perfectly enjoyable, but a total Mom Book.
Artemis, by Andy Weir - ugh. The plot was great! The worldbuilding was great! The main character was... look if you can't write women you need to work on that, and you need to not publish it until you get better at it, because ugh.
Red Clocks, by Leni Zumas - I was expecting something less.... poetic? More Handmaid's Tale. Once I understood what it actually was, I really liked it.
The Hazel Wood, by Melissa Albert - along the lines of The Magicians, for fairy tales. I very much enjoyed it but felt it was a bit rushed at the end.
Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik - I always enjoy her. Didn't like this one as much as Uprooted, because the bazillion points of view together with the plot got pretty over-complicated in the middle, but still quite a solid "fractured fairy tale" (although it took me a ridiculous amount of time to realize it's Rumplestiltskin.) Also avoids that weird fantasy trope of clearly talking about Jewish people and culture but calling it something different - these Jews are Jews, with a Jewish history of persecution.
Intellivore, by Diane Duane - look, sometimes you've got a nasty virus and you don't want to move your eyes too much. Not her best Star Trek book, not her worst.
Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn - finished the show. Expected some of the more cludgy elements of the show to not be in the book, but they were. Still enjoyed Flynn's basket full of nasty women.
Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn - wanted some more nasty women. My goodness, got them.
The Tower of Swallows, by Andrjez Sapkowski - I want to like the Witcher books because I love the video game so much, and they always end up leaving me kind of cold, but then they're close enough that I go back to read another one. Maybe it's the translation from the Polish?
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century, by Kirk Johnson - look, there was a massive heist of dead birds from the British Museum of Natural History, and it turns out the guy who did it did it because he's a vintage fly tier. This is really a thing that happened. Great true-crime-with-no-murder (unless you count the birds).
Heart Berries: A Memoir, by Teresa Marie Mailhot - short, poetic memoir. I found it very effective.
American Hippo, by Sarah Gailey - omnibus including River of Teeth. So it's the 1850's but there's been a hippo boom (and then of course a hippo bust), and this is a heist plot but everybody rides hippos. I know!
The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, by Kim Fu - I wanted to like this more than I did. I found the "modern day" stories of the girls affecting, but something about the structure where the story in the past is doled out in such tiny rations... eh.
Annihiliation, by Jeff VanderMeer - Very neo-Lovecraftian. Hard to love female protagonist, which I often enjoy (and is hard for male authors to get right.) Watched the movie the same day I finished the book, which makes it absolutely impossible for me to assess either independently but the book is better.
Leah on the Offbeat, by Becky Albertalli - I liked this more than Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, honestly. Leah is a great character who feels like she really is a high school senior, not a twenty-something pretending to be one.
One Day We'll All Be Dead and None Of This Will Matter, by Scaachi Koul - Excellent essays, often funny, on the second generation immigrant experience and living in a world poisoned by rape culture.
Next Year in Havana, by Chanel Cleeton - perfectly enjoyable, but a total Mom Book.
Artemis, by Andy Weir - ugh. The plot was great! The worldbuilding was great! The main character was... look if you can't write women you need to work on that, and you need to not publish it until you get better at it, because ugh.
Red Clocks, by Leni Zumas - I was expecting something less.... poetic? More Handmaid's Tale. Once I understood what it actually was, I really liked it.
The Hazel Wood, by Melissa Albert - along the lines of The Magicians, for fairy tales. I very much enjoyed it but felt it was a bit rushed at the end.
Comments
Post a Comment