Read
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Into the Water
Finished
Entertaining. Felt a bit more “standard mystery/thriller” than The Girl on the Train, but it was well told and had me wondering through most of the book.
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Believe Me
Finished
Listened on Audible, which adds (as far as I can tell) even more rambling digressions than the book apparently has (in the form of footnotes – called out as such in the audiobook). It’s an interesting memoir. Didn’t answer a ton of questions – in fact, it prompted a few I still don’t have answers for. He discusses “regrets” and then lists things that of course he should be proud of… that one stuck out to me because it was as the book was ending.
It’s not just a book of his comedy. It’s heartfelt. But there’s still a lot of comedy interspersed. It’s a fun read (or listen). I’d recommend it.
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Fangirl
Finished
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The Blinding Knife
Finished
As I approached the end of the first book I was not convinced that I’d read the second. It was fun, its magic system relatively unique, but the overall story just hadn’t pulled me in too much; I didn’t get a sense of the world, or its inhabitants besides a small few. But the last chapter of the first book, the cliffhanger with the other prism (to avoid spoiling anything), intrigued me. I said, alright, I’ll give it one more book. And I’m glad I did, because this one was a lot of fun. The world really filled itself out; the many interwoven plots were fun and constantly intriguing; and now I have to finish this whole long series. I’ve just gotta know. Sounds like I’ll have to wait for the fifth book too.
My one complaint is that this one had a few superfluous and silly sexual encounters – an issue I tend to have with the genre as a whole. I’m sitting in traffic listening to this audiobook when all of a sudden this entirely unnecessary sex scene or a few paragraphs about breasts interrupt the flow of the story. I’m no prude, but I don’t really read for titillation, and when it does so little for the story especially, it just undermines my enjoyment of a book. Thankfully these little interludes were a small fraction of the book.
I’ve already bought the third.
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Norwegian By Night
Finished
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Fear the Future
Finished
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Let My People Go Surfing
Finished
There’s some interesting stuff here but it’s shoved between hypocritical self-aggrandizement (so much disdain for “businessmen” while simultaneously describing himself as the same thing in different words), weird takes on science (in one breath bragging for creating polyester garments; in the next ranting about the risks of nuclear power and GMOs), and company promotion. Some thoughts about what a business can do to be responsible in the modern world, some thoughts about what humankind can do to stem the tides of climate change … these were good things. But they were delivered in weird patches and at times filled with assertions that made many assumptions I wasn’t willing to make.
He has a weird relationship with science. And he says “dirtbag” a lot in a context that I’d never heard before, but I guess that’s a thing.
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Fight and Flight
Finished
Didn’t feel like a full story. Felt like a mini-adventure, which I’d assumed was because it was tacked onto an otherwise-complete trilogy … but the epilogue indicates there’s more coming. So this is a mini-adventure between real stories? I’m annoyed, because the tease at the end and the foreshadowing throughout is way more intriguing than this story was. That said, it was fun to pop back into this world, regardless.
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The Fire Next Time
Finished
I read Ta-Nehisi Coates’s [b:Between the World and Me 25489625 Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1451435027s/25489625.jpg 44848425] last year, a book that obviously draws a lot of inspiration from this one (including, I think, its title?). I’d recommend this book to anyone. It’s a very short read, and it’s very insightful. On top of that, while it’s always worth noting that the abused have no obligation to consider the feelings of their abuser, Baldwin’s words here are sympathetic and perhaps forgiving. I want to say more but everything I write just sounds dumb. Just read it, it’s short.
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Big Little Lies
Finished
Took a little while to get started. Dwelled maybe a bit too long on the politics of being a parent in an upper class community – I see why those bits were there but I feel like there was too much of it before the book established its pace and intent. But once it got going it was surprisingly interesting and well-told.
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Warbreaker
Finished
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Fear the Survivors
Finished
This is a pretty fun series. I have to read another book before I pick up the third, but I’m looking forward to it.
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Thirteen Reasons Why
Finished
I have very mixed feelings about this book. I think it handles a lot of issues with delicacy and appropriate gravitas – understanding consent, with no hint of “boys will be boys” or anything – but the very premise is really concerning to me. As a YA book, especially, its premise of a girl who’s killed herself and left tapes to point the blame at other people is worrying. Having had my own struggles with depression in adolescence, I think that the idea of weaponized suicide is dangerous and could be easily seductive to a kid who has those same struggles. The line between recognizing the consequences of our actions and saying “ You are to blame for this person’s suicide” is a tough one to find, but I think it has to be drawn.
SpoilerWeak spoiler, I guess: in the end, I think the focus on listening, reaching out, not just watching things happen to people is a good one. I think the lesson Clay learned, shown as he tries to reach out to someone else he thought might be troubled, is alright. But it feels secondary to the overarching narrative of punitive suicide.
I also think that Hannah was portrayed as far too lucid and balanced. Her decision is presented as a rational one, when in reality the mindset needed to actually do something like this is the opposite of rational, and while it’s good to express sympathy, it’s dangerous to treat such actions that way.
I’m not the kind of person who says “let’s not let our kids read things like this,” because … well, that’s stupid. But I did have concerns about how the core premise was presented, and I think it’s the sort of thing that, if I had a kid reading it, I’d probably want to discuss with him or her.
I also thought there were some minor issues with two-dimensional characters, and the kind of strange connection between Clay and Hannah (which felt forced).
I think it’s probably worth reading (it’s pretty short, if nothing else), but with a lot of caveats.
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Daemon
Finished
First: it’s one half of a book. Apparently book two vindicates a lot of book one, but I’m not sure I want to give Suarez the pleasure of making me read a whole second book after this one.
Second: it takes a really interesting and plausible near-future premise and then, in the final act, switches to absurdist sci-fi. Killer robots, man.
Third: there’s a nightclub scene very early on that is awful, unsettling, and unnecessary. It’s supposed to, maybe, make the character bad? But then a few scenes later, the narrator clearly wants us rooting for him.
I guess that’s it, really. Disappointing after some strong setup.
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The Circle
Finished
Very much not the book I was expecting – and that’s probably good. I was expecting a kind of techno thriller along the lines of a bunch of other books (did anyone ever read Format C? I loved that book when I was a kid ). What it turns out to be is a satire. And it provoked much more thought in that way, I think. The thoughts it addresses are far from new but the way in which they’re presented had me defending myself and my own worldview in the context of the implicit criticism.
It’s still a bit shallow and oddly paced, but I enjoyed it and I’d probably recommend it.
