Books I've Rated 3 / 5

• 

  Fight and Flight

  by Scott Meyer

  Finished 2017-05-19

  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.

• 

  Thirteen Reasons Why

  by Jay Asher

  Finished 2017-04-15

  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.

• 

  The Circle

  by Dave Eggers

  Finished 2017-03-25

  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.

• 

  Find Her

  by Lisa Gardner

  Finished 2017-03-12

  Intriguing premise kind of fizzled at the end. Lots of weird over-emphasis of unimportant stuff (the detective’s family, the counselor’s handsomeness) that led me to believe something would come of it but really just filled space. Without spoiling anything, I’d say I’m kind of fuzzy about how the detective reached the conclusions she reached. I can’t tell if some of the details that were revealed as the book progressed were red herrings or things that were supposed to provoke thought, or even imply things that I just didn’t end up inferring about the protagonist.

• 

  Sleeping Giants

  by Sylvain Neuvel

  Finished 2017-01-19

  It’s certainly an intriguing premise. I found myself getting a little bored – I think the interview format can take away some of the interest and excitement from what they’re actually talking about. I was pretty sure I’d leave this series after the first – not because it was bad, but just because I have a long list of books to read. But the cliffhanger-ish ending has me unsure whether I’m pissed about the cheap gimmick to get me to pick up the next one, or intrigued enough to do just that.

• The Book of Three

  by Lloyd Alexander

  Finished 2016-12-22
• 

  The Penelopiad

  by Margaret Atwood

  Finished 2016-12-14

  Not quite what I expected. Witty and interesting. A bit disjointed (although it’s clear that that’s intentional). I wish some of the things she explored were fleshed out or explored a little more. I also think Atwood walked a tough line between accepting [b:The Odyssey 1381 The Odyssey Homer https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390173285s/1381.jpg 3356006] as truth and treating it as an unreliable narrator.

• 

  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

  by C.S. Lewis, Tormod Haugen, Per Svein Paulsen

  Finished 2016-11-28
• 

  The Black Prism

  by Brent Weeks

  Finished 2016-11-26
• 

  The Ghost Brigades

  by John Scalzi

  Finished 2016-10-13
• 

  The Forgotten 500The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All For the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II

  by Gregory A Freeman

  Finished 2016-10-01
• 

  Compendium

  by Alia Luria

  Finished 2016-09-29
• 

  The Mote in God's Eye

  by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle

  Finished 2016-09-20
• 

  A Torch Against the Night

  by Sabaa Tahir

  Finished 2016-09-08
• 

  The Forgotten Room

  by Lincoln Child

  Finished 2016-08-26